"One of you can marry me!"

4 June 2010     11:26pm     Zhangmu

One of the most surreal experiences is waking up in a Tibetan tent, going outside, and seeing Mt. Everest directly to your right.  Of course, before we could get out of the tent we had to get out from under the 50lbs of blankets our Tibetan ama heaped on us last night.  I guess it worked out pretty good, because I was sweating last night but it was freezing out from under the covers.

After getting ourselves adjusted and fed (mmm, store-bought muffins), we headed back out to the actual base camp to see the mountain one last time.  Dawa had told us that it's better to go in the morning because it's less windy and cold.  Dawa is a liar- it was ridiculously cold and windy!  I must remember to write to Columbia- that jacked held up pretty good, I could only barely feel the wind cut through.  The mountain of course was beautiful- it was cool to see bits of sunshine peek through and hit the snow.  Beautiful, but a little hard to look at due to all the brightness.

We had written postcards to Ellen and Kyrie last night with the intent of sending them after we returned to camp from the base of the mountain.  As it was 10:30am and the post office (yes, there is a post office- in a tent!) doesn't open until 11:00am, Dawa called to see if the postman could open up early.  Unfortunately, he had left camp for the day and was where we are now.  Epic fail.  Our intent was to stop at a post office on the way, but that didn't work out either.  No matter what, I am determined to send these postcards out before I leave China!

As the post office adventure failed to take off, we left the camp instead.  Of course, we made sure to say good bye to our hosts for the night and especially Karma.  Dee taught him to blow kisses- adorable.  We also got a group picture taken with the family.  By far, I think that's the best hotel I've ever stayed in.  Where else do they tuck you into bed?  I can't even get that at home!

The drive from Everest to Zhangmu was long.  And bumpy.  And dusty.  I think it's a miracle our van survived the journey.  I fell asleep a few times on the ride.  Mostly it was on roads that we'd already been on (we had to backtrack a bit from the base camp back to the highway), but also because there was nothing else to do, and I felt tired.

Once again we stopped in a small village for lunch, where almost all of us (minus Katie) ordered potatoes for our meal.  At least it made ordering easy.  There was an adorable, yet stray dog that kept coming in the restaurant.  I had to keep telling myself that he most likely has diseases and that I can't touch him.  It worked, but those sad eyes got to me.  I made sure to at least get a picture of him.

After lunch we kept driving to Zhangmu, which was pretty uneventful except for this one 1km stretch of highway that wasn't finished.  There was construction materials on both sides of the 'road', which was basically mud (it was raining) and rocks, very uneven.  Also, no guardrails of any sort next to a sheer drop.  After that drive we decided to up our driver's tip- he got us through alive!

In another kilometer, we finally arrived in Zhangmu, our final stop in Tibet before the Nepali border.  This town is incredibly steep and twisty- the one road basically lies parallel to itself, making multiple sharp turns down the mountainside.  We're staying in the Sherpa Hotel, which is amazing.  We have absolutely beautiful views, and it opens up onto a rooftop patio, which gives a beautiful view of the town itself.  We made friends with some children on the roof, one of whom kept trying to teach Cecilia some complicated hand gesture.  I think the girl eventually just gave up.

Soon after arriving and getting settled in, we decided to eat.  Each of us got outfitted in our rain gear to go find a restaurant.  We didn't have to go far- it was literally right next door.  Dinner was pretty good, even though we all ate Western.  We also made another new friend at dinner, Teshi, who works at the hotel/restaurant/somewhere.  He kept calling out to us 'beautiful girls' and tried to get us to go out with him tonight.  Oh, and marry him.  Details.  We found him again outside, where he gave Cecilia the lovely new nickname of 'Sizzler'.

All in all, it has been quite an exciting journey.  I can't believe that tomorrow evening we're going to be in Kathmandu and see the rest of our classmates.  First, though, I must go to bed, which may be difficult with all the music that I'm pretty sure is coming from the Sherpa Nightclub next door.  Oh, joy.