Thankfully, we were all feeling better this morning...probably because we knew the end was in sight. It was only a 2 hour (ish) walk to the meeting place arranged beforehand with Tenzin. I popped up to the Zutul-puk Monastery before we left camp (feeling I really ought to visit one monastery before leaving this area. It was small and has a 'miracle cave' out back where Milarepa (a Tibetan saint) was supposed to have raised the roof with his head and hands- you can still see the imprint!
After a lovely almost leisurely walk of about 2 hours, we found Tom waiting for us, with Tenzin, Si-Shi-la, the car, the truck and all other staff. Hurray! Tom was looking much perkier and smiling- what a relief! He'd even got us a bottle of mineral water- the hero (we'd got tired of drinking sterilised river water- didn't taste great!) After many pictures (which I don't have as my camera batteries went flat- hopefully someone will send me some), a rest and update on events, we set off rather quickly. Apparently, some stupid foreigner at Darchen had handed out photos of the Dalai Lama. The Chinese army didn't like that so surrounded the town, started searching everyone in sight (Tibetans included), tore up travel permits (Tibetans included) and shut down all businesses and restaurants. Darchen had suddenly become a no-go area. Tenzin, our guide, decided, probably sensibly, that we should flee just in case the army decided to tear up our permit which would cause huge trouble for getting out of the country. we still wanted to visit Lake Manasrovar though so headed that way, only to find that the army had control of that area too, so we couldn't go down and take photos by the shore, only from a point far above. Very disappointing as it is a gorgeous Lake and we had all been looking forward to staying there. Mind you, Tom was still suffering terribly from altitude sickness and the Lake was almost the same height as Darchen, so we carried on moving just to get a bit lower. We could tell things were hot as we had 2 check points to get through on our way (although that could've been my imagination, fleeing as we were).
We ended up at the same campsite we'd been at 4 nights before- the one with the goats pretending to be reindeer. It had been a long day and dinner was very late but we were on our way down so all were feeling much more cheerful and with improved appetites. Good thing too, as Prem outdid himself: pizza and chips for diner (how do you cook pizza when you only have a 2 ring stove, a presure cooker and a couple of other pots and pans?)
resting after breakfast, before the final trek
A handsome beast before loading
Zutul- puk Monastery
Gyaltsen cheekily riding Yak man's pony out of camp
A marmot, the highest mammal in the world, which sounds eerily like a seagull!
Lake Manasrovar, possibly with army presence
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