Sailing on the Tsangpo. Travel in Tibet, China

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Sailing on the Tsangpo
New trip in Tibet, a new journey on Gowa. The plane leaves on time and landed at Gonk airport. What changes! Now seems to be at an airport in western professionalism, fast and very few checks. Indeed something has changed! The main change concerns in Lhasa visiting the Potala. Because of the enormous influx of tourists, and Chinese-and Western, the local government has limited the number of tickets per day. We get the "holy stairs" on foot and you have just entered "exactly" one hour for the visit, or face a rebuke and possibly other penalties for the local guide. Then there breathless rush to the halls of the Potala, many are closed, in others it can no longer enter, you can only watch from the door. Obviously this is not able to admire the magnificent mandala gold in all their details. Find the exit in time, missing a minute - we're saved! The next day begins the most special trip, 3 days of sailing boats on the Tsangpo of yak hide. Before leaving, we look at the railway station in Lhasa. The guide prevarication, warns us that we can not take pictures etc.. But we go anyway. Building futuristic, incredibly clean, stained glass, the board in English, Chinese and Tibetan announcing train times, costs and the type of train. We even have some photos from the outside, although there is a short walk to the police does not show the slightest interest in what we are photographing. The coach, with the same tape of music for two hours, goes now to SIMPORÉ. The camp is placed under the trees on the left bank of the river, where two huge pigs scratching not far from the tents. Staff them away with a targeted launch of stones and we are calm. In the morning we climb on boats. My rower named Tsering. Though it is not very tall and solid as a rock, and has eyes like slits, always laughing, even when we are on the Tsangpo very angry. Behind, to the west, we see dark clouds and low, front, toward the east, a sandstorm. A few minutes later we find ourselves smack in the middle of the storm. The Tsangpo receives the wind against the tide, the rowers and they seem to laugh in spite of the tireless effort of rowing against the wind. And finally we come to Dorje Drak. I realize immediately that a new road, they say, combines Lhasa to Samye on this shore. The Chinese are amazing with their fixed the streets, go anywhere! Fortunately it is not paved, merges with the sand dunes and basically makes life easier for the inhabitants of these villages which until two years ago had no road connection. Today we expect only 4 hours by boat to reach Ngadrak, and we will stop them two nights. Arrived climb on a tractor in which a bin, covered with semi-cushioned benches, was transformed into "passenger compartment," and begin to shake for about two hours. We pass through villages still "natural" yak grazing, well-cultivated fields, little Chinese presence. At one point, the tractor-bus stops and someone throws the compartment above the cab with a sheep's belly open, then the stomach and intestines. The journey continues, and stops after a long time to download the sheep and what was hers. Arrive in Gompa Zade. We are at 4400 m. The next morning we go up very slowly for a steep path towards the caves in the eighth century. hosted by Guru Rinpoche Yeshe Tsoghiel. Wonderful walks, which reaches 4900 m. The next day, last day on the Gowa: with 3-4 hours of sailing we reach Samye, one of the most important monasteries in Tibet, where Buddhism was declared the state religion. Arrival, greetings, hugs with rowers, and off to the monastery on a pick-up in the midst of sand dunes and dust. A Tsedang I'm unbalanced when we go to visit the Lhakhang Yumbu: I see rows of Chinese address the few minutes of ascent on horseback or camel. I see a crouching, while a woman tries every way to climb it, slide, try again and finally with the help of the camel salt satisfied! In the coming days our journey continues westward. To arrive at Gyantse, leaving the main road, there inoltramo on a track of sand dunes and sand seem to be in Africa! Fortunately so far the Chinese have failed to asphalt ... A track like we expected after Sakya. The drivers are reluctant, so does the guide, who spends his time sleeping, whether by car or on boats. Now that is ready for a wonderful paved road Shego, who makes you do suffer in the middle of nowhere, dunes and desert? However, I insist and go. We meet a small village, 4 houses, half buried by sand, with a hot spring where the women bathe, we meet well-cultivated fields and green-where to fetch water is a mystery, encounter a horse-drawn carts, which are carrying in the wind and sand. Finally we come to Shego, the starting point for Rombug and the Everest base camp, base camp nevischia.Rombug and dell'Everes! The next day we climb towards Rombug under a black sky. We stop on the hill, 5200 m, where you can see the Himalayan chain, with Everest in the middle, threatening and imposing, wrapped in black clouds, does not deign to show us his top. Contrary to what has been reported recently in newspapers and on Rombug this road [the road has been paved with a significant environmental impact; to Rombug there are stalls selling everything, and there are even prostitutes, say to 5000 m? ? mah] nothing is true, as I discovered two years ago, maybe level a little better, but nothing else! Base camp is an incredible cold and there's snow. On the way back we visit the monasterino that houses a community of nuns and monks inside we hear: "cu cu" - on a column hangs a Swiss clock! The descent towards Nyalam promises adventurous because due to "road works" is open only from 19 onwards. Let the dark stretch ugliest and most dangerous flights to Zhangmu, where we have dinner at a restaurant type pub-pity that they forgot to bring an order and Barbara goes to bed fast! A cold, waiting in line for the opening of the border in the morning ... Border officials are very serious and the tasks and do their utmost to speed up the practice. Too bad that in a Toyota and the other slips into a flock of sheep that does not seem to have wanted to speed up anything. Slipped under the machines, walking careless kick received decide to leave room for cars. We return to Kathmandu, we go back home in India, who knows what next year will find in Tibet, the year of Chinese Olympics,-assuming that we do get in? From Lhasa comes the news that the Tibetan people burning incense throughout the city for the gold medal of the U.S. Congress awarded the Dalai Lama, and I say there is a lot of police control, but without intervening, and that the monks of Drepung are confined in their monastery. And President Hu, meanwhile, speaks of democratic reforms. Well!
A nice trip ....
Franco Pizzi