Updates From Everest Tumpach Travelling Through the Tibetan Highlands Sunday, August 31, 1997 (Tingri, Tibet) Well, today we arrived at TINGRI, elevation 14200'. The distance from Nylam to Tingri is 150km and it took 3 hours. It is a gravel road, which is in good condition. From Nylam, we drove 35 km to La Lung-la Pass at 5200m (17160'), the highest point between Nylam and Tingri. We then slowly descended to 14320' and the village of Tingri which is over 2000 years old and is on the original trading route between Tibet and India. The road we see today is approximately 500 years old and it is one of the most spectacular places in the world. The people in the villages are farmers and when here you have the opportunity to meet and see the original people of Tibet — the Nomat Tribe people. The Nomats live in tents outside the village and come to trade their goods. They are yak and sheep herders, traveling continuously looking for the green pasture for their herds. If the pasture is good they might spent up to 2 to 3 months and within that period they come to the village to sell the yak milk, cheese and butter to local hotels in exchange for money. When they have a lot of cheese and butter they make a long trip, 7 to 10 days, to the market in the large village of Shigetse where the market is open 365 days and Nomat people come from all directions to trade their goods for rice, vegetables and batteries for their power supply. Traveling through this region is very interesting. The villages are different from each other. As you are closer to the Nepal border you see more influence of Chinese control. In the villages of Zangmu and Nylam, the Chinese authorities have audio speakers installed in the windows of local government buildings blasting out, all day till 10 or 11pm, the Chinese national songs and propaganda. It is very annoying, but nobody dares to complain. Everyday many Tibetans are escaping to Nepal to find the way to India to follow the Dalai Lama, who asks them to defect to build a strong resistance movement against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Today I had a chance to talk to Tibetan tourist guides who were educated in India and speak English well and are knowledgeable in Tibetan history. They speak about their pasts with pride, but when I ask about the present, it is a different story. They will not speak for fear that somebody will report them to Chinese authorities and they will go to jail. I have been told by the guides that when they take tourists through the monasteries they are being watched and listened to as to what they tell the tourists. They are afraid to talk. I asked them to draw me the sketch of Tibetan flag and the answer was — what flag? We don’t know what you’re talking about. When I persisted they told me to stop because it is dangerous to talk about. I can relate to that fear and frustration, because it reminded me of my past in Czechoslovakia — the country I was born in and I had to Escape to fulfill my dream to be free and live in Canada — a country where I am able to follow my dreams and personal goals; one of them is to be on the highest summits of the WORLD. The latest news from Everest is: one Swiss climber had to be evacuated to Katmandu for pulmonary edema and a 2nd member is sick at ABC (21200'). One Colombian climber is also sick at BC (17500’). The condition of them I will confirm when I arrive in BC tomorrow afternoon. We are leaving for by tomorrow morning from village of Tingri. I decided to spend 2 days in Tingri instead in Xegar because Tingri is almost 1000' higher. — George Tumpach PREVIOUS UPDATE | UPDATES HOME | NEXT UPDATE