TIBET TO BE

Saine uu! Burged, our crew geotech, says hi!

In a couple of hours, fellow geo Iain and I will leave camp in one of the cruisers for Dalanzadgad, about 2 1/2 hours west. We a have a flight to catch to Ulaan Baatar. After a long, cold night shift, I bet we'll sleep through the flight and then upon arrival, will be met by fellow geo Ian and will proceed to the only Irish bar in the capitol city for a well-deserved Guiness. After 5 weeks of not drinking, I'm sure it will taste very good.

In a couple of days, the three of us will leave for Beijing and then Lhasa, Tibet for a 9 day tour of monasteries, lakes and mountains, hopefully making the trek to Everest base camp. After reading Michael Palin's book Himalaya I am ready for an exhausting journey to the snowy heights of the world. I'm really looking forward to experiencing a Buddhist culture, driving in a car at 15,000 feet and seeing the beauty, the art and the tradition of the Himalayas.

We return to Beijing and will have a few days there to rent bicycles and tour the forbidden city.

It is a good time for a break from camp and work. So I will update you later, on the flipside of the Himalayas! And I just uploaded a bunch of photos to my flickr account so if you would like to see them, just click on the picture above and it will open up wuzupandrea @ flickr.

Bayartai!