15th May 2005 - lhasa
i'm in lhasa, tibet. one of the highest cities in the world at over 3600m. my first 24 hours i couldn't breath, so this is what it's like to be 80.
you must visit tibet, it's almost gone.
more faces of tibet on my photography site...
18th May 2005 - mount everest base camp
there is something very humbling about this big hill. maybe the fact that you can see it 2 hours before you get there. maybe it's the fact that at 17,600 ft you can't breathe when you look at it. or maybe it's the fact that it's so big, it's the biggest thing you've ever seen, and you just become over come with the insane need to stand on top of it. then you think about the 160 that died trying and the 2000 that endured weeks of oxygen starvation, losing hands and feet, temperatures of - 50 or less and you decide to return to the hostel.
early attempts to be the first to the top were crazy, my favourite, an ex british cornel, with no climbing experience, who decided to fly his sopwith bi-plane from hendon in the uk, all the way to nepal. crash it into the north face of everest and walk the rest of the way... he didn't make it past india.
21st May 2005 - border shock
so we finally got our ever so dusty trusty land cruiser down off everest - i say trusty, we had 2 punctures, the rear brakes siezed up and my door was help shut with gaffa tape.
at the chinese border we were greated with stern gaurds taking they're job seriously, i almost had my camera confiscated.. we were surronded by chinese touts on a back drop of concrete and nasty chinese buildings, as i remember it was damp and cold, no one spoke a word of english. we crossed the bridge to nepal it to a warm and sunny red soil street. check point was a homely office, everyone spoke fluentish english, baskets of indian food, every single thing changed in an instant. WTF.
24th May 2005 - kathmandu dude
kathmandu is cool. ok so there is a civil war on, there's hardly any tourists, all the bars are empty. BUT. everyone speaks english and you can get a hotel for a dollar. not only that but nepalese hashish. mmmmm. oh it's lovely. you can get any food you like, hire a fake harley davidson for peanuts, you just can't leave the city limits and venture into the war zones.
little shops like this one have the same stock as a corner store in england in the 70's. it's very surreal. i've taken very few photos as i promised my self i'd come back. hence i'm writting very little also.
25th May 2005 - bye bye stretchy boy
so it's here that i stop moving for a while. i've got an apartment in shanghai and a load of work to catch up on. this 8 week tour of china, tibet and nepal has been AWESOME.
thanks stretch, it's been a fantastic experience traveling with you. (you have no idea how wasted i was by the time i got to the airport!)
of course you can't travel with out the essential equipment. take note.
so now i've got 280 videos to edit together. they'll all be avaiable on line.
i'll also be explaining what it's like to move to china... incase you're considering it!
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