Kangding was 2700 metres in altitude, and 5 hours later, we
arrived in the small Tibetan town of Tagong, 3700 metres in altitude. Tagong is
a tiny town up in the Tibetan grasslands. In the heart of the town was a
beautiful (if not a little run down) monastery, surrounded by a few shops and
restaurants. This is the place where we planned to do some lovely hikes and
also a nomadic homestay, but before that could happen…
As soon as we arrived in Tagong, I immediately began feeling
the effects of altitude sickness! The pounding headache, loss of breath,
dizziness, nausea – Thyson was fine, just a little short of breath – so we
spend a couple of days doing very little, trying to acclimatise to the
altitude.
The one main activity that Thyson really wanted to do (I did
too actually) was a homestay with a nomadic Tibetan family. Only days before,
nomads had just moved their herds of yaks to their summer pastures high up on
the grasslands, and it was an opportunity to experience their way of life and
give Thyson a chance to herd and milk the yak. By day 4, I was feeling better
so we decided to give it a go.
We were still quite out of breath so we didn’t think we
would be able to hike in to the area we were going so we decided to ride in on
horses, stay 2 nights then hike out back to Tagong. The horse ride in took 6
(painful) hours and the scenery was just beautiful as we followed a river, cut
across hills and valleys. At one stage we were joined by a family moving their
herd of yak (their possessions all tied onto the backs of the yak) to higher
summer grounds. Anyone we came into contact with greeted us warmly along the
way.
Unfortunately, halfway along the ride (we were passing 4000
metres in altitude) Thyson began feeling the effects of altitude sickness, and
was quite unwell by the time we reached our destination – a large black tent,
on a hill, surrounded by yaks, nothing else! We went inside the tent and
greeted the very friendly family, and then Thyson lay down and slept for the
next few hours. I had a cup of milk tea (yak’s milk), and a bowl of tsampa
(ground barley mixed with yak butter and tea) before I too started feeling very
unwell again due to the altitude.
That was the longest night in my life! Apart from feeling
quite ill, the conditions up on the grasslands were very basic indeed. In the
middle of the tent was a central fire where all the cooking was done. There was
no covering on the ground. For a bed, shrubs were bundled up from the hills,
laid out on the ground to act as a mattress, and covered with some blankets –
it was so uncomfortable! In the evening, the yak calves were all brought inside
to keep them safe from wolves (and away from their mother’s milk) and tethered
along a rope no more than a metre from where we slept (they were so gorgeous!
Until they all started peeing!) The level of hygiene was very poor with no
washing of hands and the mother picking lice from the children’s hair. And as
for a toilet, I was told before we left that one just goes behind a bush.
Unfortunately, there were no bushes left on the hill! The family just waved
their arms, indicating anywhere is OK! They don’t need bushes! That night was
the scariest storm I think I’ve ever heard, with the thunder pounding over us
and the rain coming in through the holes in the tent. We pulled a tarp over us
which kept us mostly dry but it didn’t stop all night – we were cold, wet,
uncomfortable, dirty and sick! What a long night!
The next morning Thy and I were still suffering from
altitude sickness and we knew we couldn’t stay any longer but we also knew that
we were too sick to walk out, so we arranged to be picked up by motorbikes and
driven out (for a price!). It was cross country riding, some parts over
grasslands, some along tracks – Thyson just loved the ride, it was quite
exhilirating and as we descended in altitude, we started to feel much better.
I was also enjoying the ride, until my driver took a bend too quickly and the
tyres just slid out from under us and we hit the ground! Luckily my beanie took
the brunt of the impact as my head hit the track, and my coat protected my
body, but I stupidly put my hand out to break the fall. It was so painful that
I thought I had broken it, I could barely move it without feeling the pain. But
apart from my hand, we got up and walked (unsteadily) away without any more
injuries. The rest of the bike ride back was not pleasant. I thought we were
going to come off again every bend we took and was so relieved to get back to
town! The hostel owners who spoke English took me off to the hospital to get
x-rays, and luckily no bones were broken so they dosed me up with pain killers
and sent me on my way!
The next day, we decided to head back to Kangding. As
beautiful as Tagong was, and even though we were over most of the altitude
sickness, we were not going to be able to do the hikes – I was in pain and
couldn’t use my right hand at all. Thyson labeled me ‘Crips’ but didn’t complain
when he had to do things like tie my shoes and carry my bags!
We were quite relieved to arrive back in Kangding and looked
forward to a good nights sleep before the long bus ride back to Chengdu the
next day. We went out for a quick tea but unfortunately chose the wrong place
to eat! That night back in the hotel, I was as sick as a dog all night long! It
took the next 2 days in the hotel room to recover my strength enough to get the
bus to Chengdu! And it was that moment that we both decided that we had had
enough of this trip! The next morning we flew back to Beijing and booked
tickets home to Oz – should be a relaxing time catching up with family and
friends for a couple of weeks!
