5.5.2007
On 30th April I was finally able to take a proper shower and wash my matted hair with the happy result that on Tuesday (baring revitalized and bouncing curls!) I was able to run down to Base Camp (5.200m). The twenty kilometre journey, passing through two interim camps, typically takes up to two or three days, but we managed it in an unbelievable 5 hours! (Well, perhaps not so unbelievable when you take into account that Tashi was pecking me with a stick every time I dared to slow down!)
I could hardly recognise Base Camp! There are now 5 times more tents than a
month ago, not to mention the sheer numbers of attendant mountaineers and all their provisions! After the first night we headed off (to a much more tranquil community) just 4 km away where we rendezvoused with Tashi’s wife who had travelled over to lend her support.
On Thursday I borrowed a decrepit mountain bike and headed back to Base Camp, much to the amazement of the Chinese tourists in their Land Rovers, who were aghast to discover a cyclist at 5000m! I have never encountered such a battery of cameras and, bathed in the collective fire of their flash guns, felt like an incandescent Hollywood film star! (Well, when they finally get home, friends of this particular branch of the Chinese paparazzi will be quite alarmed to discover that (instead of Everest) they have returned with masses of photos of a crazy Czech lady on a bicycle!)
I also surprised my father when I reached Base Camp (where he is currently planning to scale Lhakpa Ri (7.045m)). At last, I was finally able to chat face-to-face with a member of the family in my native tongue! Today (5.5.2007) I am going back to Advance Base Camp, where we will wait for good weather… and then the real work begins…!
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