July 20, 2005
Tyler's Tibetan Numerology
Kathmandu, Nepal
Total KM 6531
Elevation 1300 M
"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world."
-The fat man himself, Buddha
Numerology is the study of cycles. We lead our lives in 9-year cycles and we can also track cycles for individual months and days.
In Numerology, we work our Personal Year Number by adding the month and day of our birth to the current year, and then deducing the answer down to a single digit.
I'll use myself as an example: I was born on October 29. In 2005 I am a 1 Personal Year.
10 Month (October)
29 Day
2005 Current year
-------------------------------
2044
2 + 0 + 4 + 4 = 10
1 + 0 = 1
I found it very interesting that 2005 is a 1 year for me.
1 Personal Year- This a a year of new starts, as a whole nine-year cycle of experience is just beginning. The person will be full of enthusiasm, energy, zest for life, and will be wanting to start something.
That's all well and good, but here are some better number stats. I hope you enjoy -
Tyler's Tibetan Numerology!
# of days in Tibet - 45
Km's cycled - 2421 KM
# of packages of instant noodle consumed - about 50
# of flat tires - 17
# of mountain passes cycled - 15
# of mountain passes cycled over 5000M - 5
# of hot showers - about 10, all but 4 of them were at my hotel in Lhasa (what can I say, Tibetans don't wash, I'm serious)
# of wash basin showers - 2
# of times I woke up and found people watching me - 5
# of times someone has been peeing (with their back towards me) and they had their head turned around so they could watch me as they drained the lizard -6
# of times someone has been peeing (facing me!) and staring at me at the same time -2
# of times I was offered jasmine tea at Everest Base Camp - a dozen times in half an hour, easy.
# of people who stroked my arm hair (creepy) - at least 10
# of people who tugged my arm hair (not as bad...) - not as many
# of times children threw stones at me - 5
# of children I made cry - 1
# of people who begged for Dali Lama photos - a dozen
# of people who offered money for Dali Lama photos - 3
# of people at the largest staring squad I ever managed to muster up - 35. At one restaurant in East Tibet over 35 people all crowded around watching me and Matt eat. I was eating dumpling and Matt had noodles (in case you were interested...they sure were)
# of people who stuck their tounges out at me (to prove they were not devils, of course! Devils have green tounges even after they take the form of humans) - 2
# of people who came up to me with their hands out and said "Hello money!", as if "money" was my name - 8
# of times I replied "Hello, but my name isn't money." and then cracked up laughing - 6
# of times they understood what I was laughing at - 0
# of Tibetans who asked to borrow my pump - 11
# of times it came back broken - 1
# of times I was sleeping by the side of the road and people drove/walked by honking or shouting "Hulo!". I suppose they weren't content with just watching me sleep, they wanted to see a real-live foriegner in action - 5
# of times I reciprocated the favour towards sleeping Tibetans. It's payback time! -4
I hope you've enjoyed Tyler's Tibetan Numerology
Posted by tyler at 12:33 PM
July 11, 2005
wet dream
Somewhere along the Friendship Highway, Tibet
Total KM 6223
Elevation 4390 M
"To die will be an awfully big adventure."
- Aristottle
After so many cold nights up at higher elevations I was kind of relieved to be down lower. I wanted to celebrate by sleeping under the stars (and I couldn't be bothered to put up my tent...) I just unrolled my sleeping mat and climbed in my sleeping bag. Perfect. What a beautiful night!
About 3 hours later I woke up feeling a little wet. "Have I pissed myself?" I thought. No, it can't be, it's wet everywhere. Quickly the rain poured down, and even quicker I set up my tent.
Posted by tyler at 11:49 AM
July 08, 2005
dogs
Camp 2 on Mount Everest, Tibet
Elevation 5970 M
"Adventure is just an excuse to do something stupid. But it's one excuse that I can accept."
Yesterday my gloves somehow disapeared, so it was a bone chilling trek up to the Advanced Base Camp (ABC) today. ABC is at 6340M and the site is littered with garbage and feces, but nonetheless, it is breathtaking.
I took a rest day yesterday, while the Danish fellow and his "guide" went up to ABC and back. I almost died laughing when the dup came back about 9 hours after setting out - they both looked like complete shit! The "guide" (and I use that term loosely) didn't bring any food with them. That must have been a long day, so they were understandably tired. I wasn't at all suprised when the guide - I can't keep using this word to describe this, this boy. Yes, Even though he was probably 35 he will now be referred to as "the boy." As I was saying, I wasn't suprised when the boy couldn't manage to get a fire going with his yak dung (seriously, they use dung for fuel- waste nothing of an animal) and bamboo. What I want to know is where in the hell are they getting bamboo from? I haven't seen a tree in a month, let alone bamboo! He coudln't get a fire going so he wanted to use my stove. On the first day he was giving me a hard time b/c I was using a stove and not a campfire, like he was a big man and I was just some loser who couldn't start a fire. Now he wants to use my stove. Seeing as how he could speak neither English or Chinese I pretented to be blissfully unaware of what was happening and watched as he, in vain, tried to light a fire. Eventually I gave him my stove.
Posted by tyler at 10:08 PM
July 06, 2005
Warning Sign
Camp 2 on Mount Everest
Elevation 5970 M
"There once was a man from nantucket..."
I'm experiencing some breathlessness and a little bit of a headache, but that should almost be expected at an altitude with less than half the amount of oxygen compared to sea level. I'd like to take a rest day tomorrow, I've been going pretty much non-stop since I left Lhasa. It would be nice to just lay in my tent, reading, eating and sleeping all day while enjoying the views and listening to the rocks fall. But, I should do at least a short day hike to further aid acclimatization.
Besides breathlessness and a headache, I was experiencing another sympton of mild altitude sickness - irrational behaviour. Some people may say that everything I do could constitute as irratuional behaviour, and maybe they are right, but this was different. For example - I was following a Danish trekker who had hired a local Tibetan guide who could speak neither English or Chinese. Well, that's not entirely true, in addition to "Jasmine tea, sweet tea, sleeping?" he could also say "this is, NO, tomorrow, Base Camp, SLOW!"
Anyways, I was keeping about 50 meters from the duo and the Tibetan guide, when he wasn't littering candy wrappers and cigarette butts, kept turning around and yelling "SLOW!" I wasn't even with them, why was he so interested in my pace?
Eventually I just lost it on him - "If you don't keep your mouth shut I'm gonna throw you off this fucking mountain!" I was filled with rage by the dirty little Tibetan, and for a split second I contemplated grabbing the Danish fellow's walking stick and charging the unwashed fool. He didn't understand what I had said and I didn't feel any better.
Posted by tyler at 08:10 AM
July 05, 2005
EBC
Mount Everest Base Camp, Tibet
Total KM 6055
Elevation 5200M
"Not all who wander are lost."
-J.R.R. Tolkien
I am finally here, there is more life than I had imagined, you can't walk anywhere without being pestered by "Tea Tent" owner's trying to sell you some jasmine or sweet tea. The tone of their sale's pitch is truly hilarious though. It goes a little something like this - "Jasmine tea, sweet tea, sleeping? Jasmine tea, sweet tea, sleeping? Jasmine tea, sweet tea, sleeping? Jasmine tea, sweet tea, sleeping? Jasmine tea, sweet tea, sleeping? Jasmine tea, sweet tea, sleeping? Jasmine tea, sweet tea, sleeping?" This just keeps on going until you are out of earshot.
Tomorrow I will follow a Danish guy and his guide up the mountain, the guide is one of the tea tent owners but hopefully he won't be humping any goddam jasmine tea up the mountain and pester us to buy some.
Posted by tyler at 07:30 AM
June 30, 2005
Zheme Ban
Shigatse, Tibet
Total KM 5761
Elevation 3950
"Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth."
- Katherine Mansfield
I'm back in Shigatse... I was heading south-west on the Friendship Highway (not another one!) toards the Nepalese border when things went all pear shaped. I believe I unknowingly entered into a "Bermuda Triangle" like section of land which sucks up digital cameras, bicycle trailers and bags with all of your gear - including the new equipment you may have just purchased the previous week for trekking in the Everest region. This "Tibetan Triangle" also likes to kick you when you're down, but I'll talk more about that later.
I was riding on some extremely corraguated roads when I glanced down and noticed that my camera, attached to my handlebars, was missing. I quickly turned around and re-traced my tracks, but the going was tough b/c of the 20kg that I was towing so I unhooked my trailer and quickly rode back to where I was camping the previous night. No camera. I had been riding for about 2 hours now, without breakfast, so I was understandably hungry. I quickly raced back to where I had unhooked my trailer and was looking forward to an oatmeal and dried fruit breakfast while comtemplating what to do about my camera. No trailer. Well, I'm fucked now aren't I? I go and ask a few different construction crews if they knew the whereabouts of my camera - somewhat important - or my trailer and all my belonging - very important. As I was getting on my bike after questioning the third crew, my seat fell off! The bolt that clamps the seat onto the seat post broke. Talk about being kicked when you're down. Now I'm fucked! Tyler, you are quite articulate aren't you? You must have been an English major, no?
No camera, no trailer, no belongings and no seat! Maybe now would be a good time to turn Buddhist (I'm in the right place for it at least) - no desires equals no suffering. Material possesions can bring so much unhappiness, it is only when you have nothing (possesions) do you realize how much you really have in your life!
Zheme Ban? (sorry my Pinyin is crap, zheme ban? is Chinese for "What now?", "What to do?" Please feel free to correct my spelling/translation.) That's what everyone kept saying to me, and I to them, after I told them what had just occured. It was a long afternoon running around and being drivng throughout this "Tibetan Trianlge." Everyone wanted to help me and they all thought that they could get my bag back. I was told 3 times that my bag/trailer had been located, but to no avail. I got a ride back to Shigatse in a Land Cruiser with some moneyed Tibetans and Chinese who are overseeing the massive construction projects going on along the Friendship Highway. I went out for dinner with them and afterwards we went on a wild goose (bag?) chase around the city. Apparently my trailer will be here tomorrow morning at 10:00. I'm now contemplating my options if it is truly gone. Only time will tell. There has been one more unpleasantry in my life as of late, just read the title of the previous entry...
Anyways, whether or not my bag is really gone, I have got to keep heading down towards Nepal. I won't be able to update this until July 5th at the earliest.
Posted by tyler at 10:59 PM | 1 Comments
June 27, 2005
Preperation H
Shigatse, Tibet
Total KM 5613
Elevation 3950 M
"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."
- Andre Gide
The ride from Lhasa was nice because of road construction. How does road construction make for a nice ride you say? Well, about 150 km were blocked off to cars and trucks because they were laying asphalt, but bicycles and motorbikes could pass through without hassles. That made for a quiet two day ride.
Posted by tyler at 02:40 PM
June 24, 2005
The Holy City
Lhasa, Tibet
Total KM 5260
Elevation 3600 M
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
- Arthur Godfrey
8 days, lots of pavement, a 5000+ M pass and 6 hours of night time riding through "closed" cities has brought me to Lhasa, a city full of colorful Tibetan pilgrims and mostly Chinese shopkeepers.
I visited the Potala the other day, the traditional winter home of the Dali Lama. Of course, it's been quite empty since he fled Tibet from the invading Chinese almost 50 years ago.
Tomorrow I will head down south along the Friendship highway towards Nepal, stopping at Everest Base Camp. If energy and spirit are still intact after reaching base camp I'd like to go a little further, possibly to Advanced Base Camp (Camp 3) at around 6500 M. We'll see what happens.
Posted by tyler at 04:53 PM
June 14, 2005
High altitude lows
Bomi, Tibet
Total KM 4695 KM
Elevation 3000 M
"Many Tibetans believe we live in the age of Kali, a world full of suffering, hatred, environmental destruction and war. They believe that this will be followed by Shambala (Shangri-La), a world with peace, happiness, environmental harmony and understanding."
Just a quick update here, I'm not supposed to be in town but at least a dozen cops already saw us, and I even had a chat with one of them! He was really curious about our journey through Tibet and didn't seem to care that we don't have the proper permits. Still, I don't really feel comfortable spending too long in town, so I must keep this quick.
Something ridiculous has happened every day on this trip across Eastern Tibet, one of the worlds most remote and unexplored regions.
We are now about 600km from Lhasa.
Day 1 - Matt went over the handlebars of his bike because his front shock compressed too much and his handlebar bag bent his brake frame (causing the front wheel to lock up). At least he didn't go over the 1000m cliff!
Day 2 - Matt broke his chain right before a town where cyclists often get arrested and sent back. Luckily we were near a hidden campsite and got off the road fairly quickly.
Day 3 - There was a mishap with my multi-fuel stove, I almost burnt down both of our tents! I have now learnt that a watched pot doesn't boil, but it also doesn't start a forest fire!
Day 4 - We woke up and found 3 people sitting and watching us. I also got a flat tire that day.
Day 5 - Wild dogs chased us and one of them got a hold of one of Matts panniers (saddle bags) and wouldn't let go. Matt was cycling full bore while dragging this huge dog who had his teeth sunk into a bag! The dog punctured a bottle of chain oil! It was hilarious and very scary.
Day 6 - I changed both tires the previous night and then woke up to find that I had two flat tires without even riding on them! Later that day I fell in a river while searching out a nice campsite.
Day 7 - I had pretty bad altitude sickness while climbing a 5008 M pass.
Day 8 - All day was on pavement! Not really ridiculous...
Day 9 - I had food poisioning.
Day 10 - Still suffering from food poisioning, I needed to hitch 20 km to a large town where I could get some rest. We pulled up to a checkpoint and I saw a cops hat sitting on a chair, my heart rate increased ten-fold. It's illegal for foreigners to be in this area without a permit - permits are only available if your're on a tour ie. NOT HITCHING OR CYCLING - but the cop didn't seem to care, he said hello and then I pretened I couldn't speak Chinese. No worries.
Day 11 - We met some pilgrims prostrating themselves to Lhasa. Prostrating is where you get on your stomach and stretch your hands out above your head, then stand up and place your feet where your hands were, repeat, repeat, repeat! They had been at it for 18 months and probably have a few years to go in order to get to the "Holy City" of Lhasa. It was quite a humbling experience. Prostration is a very powerful way to show devotion.
Day 12 - My food poisioning has recovered but now I have Giardia!!
Giardia is horrible, it's a parasite common in many animals so you can easily get it from drinking from rivers and streams unless the area is totally devoid of animals. I've been filtering all my water but you can even get it from brushing your teeth with contaminated water. I need to be more careful.
A 2 gram dose of Tindazole cured it and I'm in good health once again!
Posted by tyler at 05:55 AM
May 30, 2005
Cross Your Fingers
Dequin, China
Total KM 3879
Elevation 3300 M
"Always do what you are afraid to do."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
It was difficult 3 days to get here, but just a small taste of what's in store for me between here and Lhasa. I had a small climb the first day (broke a spoke due to all the food I am carrying) and then a long downhill down to 2000M. The 2nd day included a 30 km climb which was mostly on a cobblestone road. Yesterday I continued the climb on the rough road to reach a series of 4200 M passes. The only side effects of the altitude was my feeling of giddiness on the mountain passes. A Tibetan "medicine man" tried to sell me this pepper-like vegetable for 30RMB on the top of the last pass. At first I thought he just wanted me to try it, but then he told me the price (8 RMB = $1 US) and I broke out in a fit of laughter. I think it was a combination of things that made me laugh. For one - the altitude- second - his clothing, loads of people here wear old, somewhat ragged suits and derby hats - and lastly it was the fact that (for once) someone was offering me Chinese medicine that wasn't specifically meant for men (must I spell it out? e r e c t i o n s)
Now I have about 1450 km of bad roads, night-time checkpoint dodging and some serious mountain passes - 4500 to 5000 meters.
Tomorrow I will be joined by an English cyclist on my journey to Lhasa. Yes, I am aware that the Chinese authorities aren't exactly know for their humane treatment of criminals, but being caught in a closed area (ie. Eastern Tibet) without the proper permits typically only mean a smalle fine and being sent to an open area. For more information on the Yunnan to Lhasa route - go here. It's somewhat interesting even if you don't ever plan to visit this area. If all goes well I should be able to update in about 2 weeks (in Bomi) or a month (in Lhasa.)
Good luck Tyler!
Posted by tyler at 02:32 PM | 1 Comments
May 25, 2005
You Dirty Cheater
Zhongdian, China
Total KM 3673
Elevation 3250 M
"After you've have done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over." -Alfred Edward Perlman)
I took a bus (sort of) to get here, yes I know it's cheating, but I only have a two month Chinese visa and they are near impossible to extend in Tibet- so give me a break, eh?
Actually, the bus broke down halfway so I started asking people how far to Zhongdian, 25km said a local man, 30km said a road worker. No big deal. I took my bike out from the luggage compartment,started assembling it by the side of the road and I was off in no time.
It ended up being 65km... Thankfully it was mostly flat.
Zhongdian is a nice little city, there are a few snow capped mountains in the distance and it would be very quiet here if it weren't for all the taxis driving around, honking their horns constantly - looking for fares. The cool mountain air is a welcome relief from the 40 degree celcius sweltering heat of S.E. Asia. I've been spending my time here sorting out gear, buying supplies and acclimatizing to the altitude. Actute Mountain Sickness, altitude sickness, is not something to be taken lightly. AMS occurs because less oxygen reaches the muscles and the brain at high altitude, requiring the heart and lungs to compensate by working harder.
From here I will be heading north east to towards the Tibetan border.
Posted by tyler at 02:14 PM
May 23, 2005
Replacement Parts
Kunming, China
Total KM 3545
Elevation 1300 M
"Always borrow money from a pessimist, they don't expect to be paid back."
I replaced both crank arms and bought new pedals. I need to stock up on some food for my jaunt across eastern Tibet. I'm really suprised how modern things are here in Chinese cities - everything except the toilets.
Posted by tyler at 12:08 PM