Collected at 5.30 am by motorbike so got to ride thru streets of KTM with backpack and a tight grip. Landcruiser Toyota to the border with Devin (21, US) and Jon (33, Dutch) and guide and driver.
Nepal is so endlessly fascinating. You can hardly blink in case you miss some wonderful bit of street life. I gaze and gaze as we drive. The boys and I change palces often so no one is always in the middle. At Kodari we stop and change money at a good rate from woman in the street with apron full of money - then have lunch till the road clears. Then off to the border.
It is Saturday and le tout Nepal is nipping across the border to do some Saturday shopping in China. We are whisked ahead of the crowd and leave Nepal. Will definitely come back. One of my favourite places.
A walk up the hill to spanking new customs and passport control. Devin is held up for a while as his visa is very short. Then we are in China! or rather Tibet Autonomous Region. We get new driver, Tunde, Tibetan Mafia looking and the very pretty and young Pema - which means Lotus.
The road is not wide and mostly there is no barrier between us and a long way down. They are still making the road ahead so our guide has to have a word with the police and they let us thru. At one point we have to stop as the road makers dynamite a bit of cliff face. Twice. And that is a noise which bounces off the walls of the gorge. It is a really scary ride but the driver goes slowly and sounds his horn often.
We spend the night in Nyalam - a one-cow town with terrific internet and a good greasy chopsticks. Tempting tho 'A dumpling of sand' and 'Return to a pot of meat' are, we all have thukpa (soup). Then bed in Nga-Dun Hotel in bare, clean, cold room bit like a nursery with bright wallpaper. Take a while to warm up and sleep badly and a little breathlessly. For the first time, excluding nerves at Lahore Station, I am seriously scared. Scared about going higher and dying from altitude sickness; scared about going higher and falling off a mountain; scared of the unknown.
