9.4.2007
There’s something wrong, this is not our Klara! Is high altitude physiology having its effect or is she simply seeking unconsciously to dissipate any pressure she may be feeling to others? If the latter, she can certainly be very good at it - especially at night when she has a captive sleeping audience…“Even at 4000m the altitude is already having an effect, but I can manage, I sleep well.
The difficulty is that occasionally sleep can be erratic and dreams a little wilder – which was unfortunately why the hotel guests in Gyantse were woken up earlier than they might have wished this morning when, I’m reliably informed, I yelled in the night like a Himalayan lion! Everyone was staring at me at breakfast as if they were in the presence of some exotic animal, but by then I was conscious and rested and ready to face the world. I’d apparently managed to do something very similar at the Base Camp at Cho Oyu last year. But the whole tent-town was awake that time. Those cloth tents really don’t provide any useful sound insulation!”
“Night in Tingri (Xegar) proceeded without any alarm which was particularly appreciated by our two sherpas and our young cook, Dawa from Darjeeling, who have now joined us and desperately needed an uninterrupted nights sleep after a long exhausting journey through Kodari and Nyalam. Our Expedition Team is finally together! It’s Easter today and to celebrate, I’m going to surprise them with the traditional Czech ‘pomlazka’ custom. It may well be a shock for them! In time honored tradition, I will wait until the evening comes and then “beat” them with braided branches whilst singing Czech Easter carols. I just hope they won’t stare the same way the Team did last year when I taught them the apparently select European custom of how to build a snowman!
By the way – we have now reached Base Camp (5.200m) and there’s no snow here unsurprisingly...
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