philip_pj Offline Upload & Sell: On
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The Friendship Highway tumbles 2200m off the Tibetan plateau, a roller coaster ride into Nepal. The road used to be a scarifying dirt track, now it is a beautifully made two lane blacktop with reassurance provided by concrete blocks at the edges, most of which give way to drops measuring hundreds of meters straight down. So it is still a 'no mistake' zone, and land slippage occurs each season. The pity is almost no one travels this road, the only land border between Tibet and any adjoining country. We saw just a handful of cars each day, mostly traffic police.
Image one: this is Shegar, the base town for a short drive - all on new bitumen - to the north face base camp of Mt Everest at 5000m; you just drive up, whereas in Nepal it's either a brutal 20 day walk or a terrifying flight into the most dangerous airport in the world, at Lukla:
..followed by 4-5 days of trekking to EBC. a7r / FE55
Shegar is an admin town located in this surreal landscape, the authorities are clearly planning ahead.
Image two: this is a from-the-road shot of the crumple zone north of the Great Himalayan Range, at 5100m, following a rare winter time blizzard that blocked the road for days. a7r / CY 100/3.5
Image three: this is a typical Tibetan homestead, everything must be anchored down here. Stock feed and yak dung is stacked on the flat roof, locals still use the latter for fuel in outhouses but you can see electrification is provided, transforming life in this desolate location - the world's highest and coldest desert. You almost expect Fred Flintstone to roll up in his pedal car. a7r / CY 100/3.5
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