American Autumn Shishapangma Expedition 2005: Bright skies in Lhasa

Sunset on Shishapangma from Base Camp

This morning I awoke to the seemingly continual hazy skies and claustrophobic humidity in Chengdu. Even on the seventeenth floor. At the breakfast buffet, I was glad that it is almost impossible to screw up eggs. And rice. The bread with bean curd inside was pretty good too. Best of all was the lovely jasmine tea with leaves and flowers still floating inside the cup.

On the plane to Lhasa I saw the most westerners I've seen so far, which is pretty easy considering I saw probably three in Chengdu. Not that I need westerners around, but rather their presence may indicate a certain amount of English that might be present in a city. Two languages is enough here though, as I mainly see Chinese and Tibetan. Even in the biggest bookstore in town they don't have an English map.

My room is beautiful and clean. The surrounding mountains are stark. This internet station has many computers crammed next to each other (with most people playing a shoot-em-up video game); the person next to me is smoking. The mountain range we flew over had awesome jagged peaks with glaciers in every direction--unnamed, pretty inaccessible and undoubtedly unclimbed. The cement factory on the way into town was busy making cement blocks. The bright blue sky, low humidity, and temperature here remind me of Boulder in the fall; the trees here are beginning to turn.

I'm anticipating what new juxtapositions tomorrow will bring.

-Val

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