Drive, Baby, Drive

13 July 2009

                

Recall those lovely Chinese roads we've recently been discussing? New theory—good roads only go to areas that might be contemplating an uprising, and hence might need military vehicles in a hurry. Xianjiang, Tibet, decent roads. No one in Golmud is talking about a revolution, and hence the roads? Not a priority. The Qinghai-Tibet Highway is a case in point; crap, but currently undergoing complete renovation. The upside of this is that the road is only open between 9pm and 9am...so, we'll night drive.

       

The Dragoman truck we met with in Kyrgyzstan had also done this, so it wasn't entirely unexpected. Still, 17 people plus guide and crew on a truck for 20+ hours, going over an extremely high pass, with no lights, in the middle of the night? This is the adventure part of Exploration & Adventure that Odyssey promised, I gather. We stocked up on massive quantities of junkfood and water, scrimmaged for the better seats on the truck, dressed warmly, and got stuck in. Dinner in a roadside hovel with really very nice soup (served boiling) and really very dirty floors, then off we went. David managed two seats at the front, and I settled on the bench at the front with Abby, which at least meant I could lay down and try to nap. Most of us were sleeping sitting up, between constant pee breaks...altitude means loads of water to drink, and hence the breaks. In reality, all more entertaining than it probably sounds!

 

The only real issue was the aforementioned altitude. We hit well over 5000 meters in the passes, so more then 15,000 feet. It's a strange thing, you're perfectly healthy and yet you suddenly feel like utter crap...nausea, shortness of breath, blinding headaches, exhaustion. We're mostly all popping the Diomox, the usual treatment. 125Mg twice a day, which is meant alleviate the symptoms while you acclimatize. The side effects are hilariously similar to the altitude sickness—nausea, shortness of breath, etc., with the extra bonus of tingling. Fingers, toes, and even faces all feel slightly numb. Remind me while I am on vacation in a place that makes me feel ill?