Nicholas Rice: Xixabangma Dispatch

2007 Xixabangma Expedition

Dispatch Five: September 1st, 2007

Day Five: Kathmandu to Nylam via Zhengmu

Today, we woke up at 4:00am, got our backpacks together for our overnight in Nylam and checked out of the Manang Hotel. We were on the road by 6:00am, I might add without breakfast, but we were made hopeful by Mike’s comment that the previous year they had eaten at a very nice resort in a picturesque location. We however were not so fortunate, as our Nepali guide fell asleep and didn’t stop the driver at the restaurant. Instead, we stopped at a very sketchy restaurant stall along the road where we ate a small cup of watered down curry with uncooked pees and two potato cubes. After this unfulfilling meal, I was quite glad I had been pessimistic about food and brought a dozen granola bars. I supplemented my calories and we continued towards Kodari, the town on the Nepali side of the border with China. We waited around for our duffels to be picked up by the local porters to be carried over the border to the demilitarized zone between Nepal and China over the “friendship bridge”. We continued to the Nepali immigration office where they stamped our passports and then over the bridge to the Chinese Health and Quarantine Station where we filled out a questionnaire and had our temperatures checked. We then proceeded to the passport inspection station (which is still not immigration), after which we walked through the arc that was being guarded by Chinese Military and up the hill to our bags and jeeps. We separated our gear from the Polish Cho Oyu Expedition’s things and continued on to Zhengmu where we passed through Chinese customs and immigration. The road beyond Zhengmu to Nylam was undergoing construction and was closed all day, so we had to wait in Zhengmu till 11:00pm Chinese time to depart for Nylam. When we finally did, we drove through some of the thickest fog I had ever seen (even the driver was cursing it in Chinese) and after four hours finally arrived in Nylam and were given our room which consisted of four beds in a room the size of a closet. We were however exhausted so the beds were very welcome.