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Shangri-la High Road High Road to Shangr1-l: Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Roof of the World t an unmarked turmoff about quired taste to foreigners or ingsee, but appears soaring above the snow-c, A eleven kilometres south of the once acquired provides a warm and ridges; an imposing massif halo checkpoint at Xegar nourishing beverage which can sustain clouds of ice created by fierce ux (pronounced shegar) on the Friendship travellers on the high plateau. It’s con- Highway between Lhasa - the ‘forbid- | sumed in great quantities by Tibetans Mountain Gom} den city’ of Tibet - and Kathmandu in and when offered can be an introduction Nepal, a dirt road winds off into the desolate landscape. Passing by crumbled ruins Rongbuk Gompa (M tery) was almost total! and the small Tibetan village stroyed during the exces of Chee it climbs innumer- the Cultural Revoli able hairpin bends to reach There were once thousa the summit of the pass called Pang La, Standing amid the fluttering colours of tattered prayer flags one can look out upon a panorama of the mightiest Himalayan peaks - Makalu, Lhotse and the long ridge of Cho Oyu - and tower- ing majestically above them, ary. An English expedit Qomolangma (pronounced the turn of the century Julmo Langma), better to their dismay tha known in the West as Mount Everest. to the good-natured local people. Chang Buddha’s compassion extended e: Traffic along the road is infrequent | (barley wine) also makes an excellent | geological samples, which the e to say the least. Apart from the seasonal ice-breaker. Tsampa is eaten after being tion was not permitted to remove." convoys of trucks that deposit climbing mixed with ihe remnantsofabowloftea | a small group of hardy monks an expeditions at base camp and return oa grims still brave the intense col months later to retrieve them, every few high altitude to live in this lonel days an army truck from the garrison at beautiful place, with a few crows, Xegar will travel as far as the more rows and the rare and delicate | fertile valley of Kharta to collect fire- layan Blue Deer. wood, Otherwise the trek from Chee up The landscape is rocky and to Pang La takes about seven hours - ed, and even on a sunny day th¢ assuming a reasonable degree of fitnes: rature doesn’t climb far above and acclimatisation to the 17,000 fee dicy patches persistin the shado altitude. Another four or five hour: e afternoon a biting wind blows down to Peruche, a road branches off to ‘om the glacier and at nightfall « the Kharta Valley. At the turnoff is an hing freezes. A couple of hours inn, appropriately called the Qomo- from the gompa, at the very ed langma Hotel, where basic accommoda- Rongbuk Glacier, huddle the ten! tion and food can be obtained. yaks of the mountaineering expedi When they pull out only the small of headstones erected in memc when they rise 1 those who lost their lives in the at The fifty-five A trek from to conquer the world’s most fé The Tibetan diet consists mainly of | Peruche up to the small monastery at peak remain to mark the site of Shokurr (potatoes), tsampa (roasted | Rongbuk takes about twelve hours. Af- Camp * barley flour), and Tibetan tea which is ter descending the pass at Pang La one salted and buttered. Pho tcha soo doesn’t glimpse Qomolangma again from mahng, as it is called, may be an ac- | until Rongbuk Valley, where it suddenly Himalayan Correspor monasteries in Tibet 1979, when General Rong was removed fro fice and enforced comr were disbanded, on couple of hundred rem: The whole of Rongbuk ley was once a total si Himalayan Gourmet 32 NEXUS New Times Seven - Summer 1989 eleven kilometres south of the once acquired provides a warm and tidges; an imposing massif haloed by checkpoint at Xegar nourishing beverage which can sustain clouds of ice created by fierce updrafts. (pronounced shegar) on the Friendship travellers on the high plateau. It’s con- Highway between Lhasa - the ‘forbid- | sumed in great quantities by Tibetans Mountain Gompa den city’ of Tibet - and Kathmandu in and when offered can be an introduction Nepal, a dirt road winds off into the desolate landscape. Passing by crumbled ruins and the small Tibetan village of Chee it climbs innumer- able hairpin bends to reach the summit of the pass called Pang La, Standing amid the fluttering colours of tattered prayer flags one can look out upon a panorama of the mightiest Himalayan peaks - Makalu, Lhotse and the long ridge of Cho Oyu - and tower- ing majestically above them, ary. An English expedition at Qomolangma (pronounced the turn of the century found Julmo Langma), better to their dismay that the known in the West as Mount Everest. to the good-natured local people. Chang Buddha’s compassion extended even to Traffic along the road is infrequent | (barley wine) also makes an excellent | geological samples, which the expedi- to say the least. Apart from the seasonal ice-breaker. Tsampa is eaten after being tion was not permitted to remove. Today convoys of trucks that deposit climbing mixed with ihe remnantsofabowloftea | a small group of hardy monks and pil- expeditions at base camp and return ox: grims still brave the intense cold and months later to retrieve them, every few high altitude to live in this lonely and days an army truck from the garrison at beautiful place, with a few crows, spar- Xegar will travel as far as the more rows and the rare and delicate Hima- fertile valley of Kharta to collect fire- layan Blue Deer. wood, Otherwise the trek from Chee up The landscape is rocky and glaci- to Pang La takes about seven hours - ed, and even on a sunny day the tem- assuming a reasonable degree of fitnes: rature doesn’t climb far above zero and acclimatisation to the 17,000 fee dicy patches persist in the shadows. In altitude. Another four or five hour: e afternoon a biting wind blows down down to Peruche, a road branches off to om the glacier and at nightfall every- the Kharta Valley. At the turnoff is an hing freezes. A couple of hours walk inn, appropriately called the Qomo- from the gompa, at the very edge of langma Hotel, where basic accommoda- Rongbuk Glacier, huddle the tents and tion and food can be obtained. yaks of the mountaineering expeditions. When they pull out only the small group of headstones erected in memory of when they rise 1 oming. those who lost their lives in the attempt The fifty-five kilometre tek from | to conquer the world’s most famous The Tibetan diet consists mainly of Peruche up to the small monastery at peak remain to mark the site of Base Shokurr (potatoes), tsampa (roasted | Rongbuk takes about twelve hours. Af- Camp * barley flour), and Tibetan tea which is ter descending the pass at Pang La one salted and buttered. Pho tcha soo doesn’t glimpse Qomolangma again from Our mahng, as it is called, may be an ac- | until Rongbuk Valley, where it suddenly Himalayan Correspondent 32 NEXUS New Times Seven - Summer 1989 A t an unmarked turmoff about quired taste to foreigners or ingsee, but appears soaring above the snow-capped Rongbuk Gompa (Monas- tery) was almost totally de- stroyed during the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. There were once thousands of monasteries in Tibet. By 1979, when General Ren Rong was removed from of- fice and enforced communes were disbanded, only a couple of hundred remained. The whole of Rongbuk Val- ley was once a total sanctu- Himalayan Gourmet from Our Himalayan Correspondent 32 NEXUS New Times Seven - Summer 1989 a a | Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Roof of the World Mountain Gompa Himalayan Gourmet