Tibet part 3

Ok I'm getting a little behind on these posts, i shall attempt to be more concise. Where i last left you where were in Lhasa, we left Lhasa on the 24th of July which happened to be the day that Ridley Scott's new project 'A life in a day' asked you to film your day, so we did.

This is it, its in very limited release because we arent very proud of it



So as you can see, we left Lhasa, drove halfway to Everest and i vomitted a lot. The part that i will most remember from that day though is not in that video. It was the second time I experienced the generosity of the Tibetan people. I was in the monastery with Cathy, feelin like shit and sitting down outside a temple while Cathy, being more able bodied, walked around. So i was sitting there and then suddenly decided i needed to vomit and so crouched on all fours on the floor. Nothing came out but I became very overwhelmed and started crying. I could see a few people looking at me and a couple of Tibetans came and sat close to me and watched. When Cathy came back the floodgates opened and i sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. Now i couldnt see it because i was crying but Cathy could and apparently as we were sitting there all of the Tibetans that were approaching pulled out their prayer wheels and prayer beads and started praying for me. How beautiful is that! No one approached me but by the time it ended i understand that there was quite a crowd building. In ordinary circumstances i would have felt very humiliated crying in public, especially when being so obviously watched, but the warmth of these people made me feel so comforted and at ease that crying in the middle of a monastery, watched and surrounded my pilgrims felt very right and natural. Then it ended, a bunch of Chinese tourists came and started taking photos of the whole scene (I suppose it was kind of comical) and Cathy told them off but the pilgrims assumed she was telling them off and so dispersed. And thats about it.

We never got to Mount Everest, i felt mildly better the next morning but when we got to Tinggri at lunch time i decided that i wasnt willing to climb another 1000m and sleep at that altitude and, as it was illegal for me to be in Tinggri without my guide, Cathy was forced to descend with me instead of going on. I'm not sure I've ever felt as low as i did in those next couple of days. I was still unwell, Cathy and I werent speaking and we had nothing to do but to sit in a car for hours on end. I remember feeling incredibly guilty at having cost Cathy the main reason why she had come to Tibet at the first place and debating in my mind whether i could have pushed myself further and gone and then at the second moment knowing that my decision was sensible and justified and resenting Cathy for making me feel that it wasnt. Either way, it was shit. And then when we got back to Lhasa Cathy and I started venting our anger in the form of throwing packets of noodles and other various food items at each other in the hotel room and relations were vastly improved.

I still feel awful that my stupid altitude sickness cost Cathy Everest and i think i will only feel better about it when she does get there. I'm also fairly resolved to make it there now having come so close to it but i think ill approach it from the Nepal side, its not as high there plus Nepalese food is so much tastier.

Thus ends out Tibet trip. We had a slightly arduous journey home consisting of bus, plane, hours in transit, plane, hour in a cab accross Ghuanzjou, train, train. And then got home. Also my altitude sickness improved in leaps and bounds as soon as i got to Lhasa and my first breath of thick, dirty, smoggy China air was the sweetest breath i have ever taken. We take breathing for granted, in Tibet you really have to suck in every breath.

So I'm in England now but havent written a thing about Hong Kong, so i think my next blog entry will be from there.