To Old Tingri: Everest Hotel Alt 4324m

May 22, 2007

This night was Rachel's turn of not sleeping well, and a terrible headache that Patrick tries to soothe by rubbing her head.

We break camp and on the road before the Kiwis. It is cold but not as cold as on other nights camping. The tent and gear are covered with frost. The climb continues, walking steep sections, then we reach the watershed marked with prayer flags.

The road drops down to a stream, we cross walking the bikes, then climb along the hillside. When we reach the opposite side, we see the Kiwis by the prayer flags. The road steeply drops (we need to walk part of it down), we take a food break at the bottom expecting to watch the Kiwis fly down, but we head out before they arrive. We then have to scramble over rocks and the road is a stream. This is when the Kiwis caught up with us. A little further on the stream is wider and deeper. Patrick takes off his shoes, rolls up his pant legs and shuttles the bikes across. Then one by one the Kiwis ride splashing through the water, their support vehicle arrives and gives us a ride across.

We ride through a valley, the road up and down, mostly down, the surface rocky and loose sand. The mountain bikers are in their element, it's slow going for us. One steep narrow section, halfway up we have to wait for a herd of yaks to come down the road. The Kiwis have stopped for "tea" and invite us to join them, it's a beautiful spot; we see the snow capped mountains. We are served a hot juice, potatoes and red sauce baked beans, a hard boiled egg and bread--best of all a slice of real cheese with a second serving!

We set off and soon one by one they pass us again. We catch up with them when they have stopped and are soon to reach their campsite outside of Tingri. Graham tells us there is a bridge over the river and a short cut to Tingri. So we set off only to discover that the last part of the road is almost un-cyclable, big rocks some corrugation. Only a tail wind saves us...It took us 2 hours to get to Tingri and we felt beat up! Our bodies hurt from the bouncing around.

We found a basic guesthouse that advertises hot showers. We have to wait until 7pm when the water will be heated....the shower ends up being only a step above a sponge bath, just a small trickle of water from the spout, not enough for Rachel to wash her long hair, but enough for us to feel refreshed.

Only a few more days to the Nepal border and then to Kathmandu....with a real hot shower!