Darchen to Saga, Tibet and Saga to Kathmandu, Nepal 7th and 8th May 2025

Today (7th May) we retraced our steps from Darchen to Saga, staying overnight before continuing to Gyirong, a town 26 km from the Nepal border where we were due to cross early the following morning.  We had a brief stop at Kaire Waterfall on the way to Gyirong.

However, having arrived at our hotel in Gyirong at lunchtime, Lak spoke with a fellow guide who advised that the road to the border was only open from 12.30 to 16.30 each day due to a major road reconstruction. We had to make the decision whether to hang about for 24 hours or whether to go immediately, a day earlier than planned. We chose the latter and commenced the 26 km journey which should have only taken 40 minutes, but due to the complete chaos of cars and big lorries in both directions trying to negotiate a single track of unmade road, we arrived 2 hours later than anticipated. We had to say hurried farewells to our driver, Nam, and our guide, Lak, who had been our constant companions on this unforgettable journey. Once through Chinese border control, we were met by a driver in a typical ramshackle Nepali jeep devoid of suspension; the contrast between this and our Tibet car couldn't be greater. The same was true of the modern clean and efficient Chinese border post, and the corrugated metal hut on the Nepali side.  We dug in for a bone-shattering 8 hour ride from the border into Kathmandu,  arriving late evening.

As you may have noticed from the lack of website updates during our time in Tibet, information is tightly controlled by the Chinese government. We were unable to access Google, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, YouTube or Facebook. We always had wi-fi available but it was pointless as we couldn't access anything. The agent in Kathmandu who helped us with our visas had warned us to delete any Buddhist images or references from our phones and other devices and associated reading material on our Kindles. We were warned not to say anything provocative in the car as there was a video camera continuously recording. We were also careful in our hotel rooms through fear of covert surveillance. Paul's paranoia led him to wonder whether the man who came to sit next to us in a restaurant with his phone open was recording our conversation. Tibetans cannot obtain a passport and their cultural life is tolerated within bounds.

On other hand, the massive investment in modern infrastructure has made life more comfortable, for example, the tunnel on the road to Gyirong which opened two years ago saves time as previously the only option was to go round the mountain, and road conditions in general are excellent and superior to those in the UK. Modern education is freely available although Tibetan language is being superseded by Chinese. 

Once again a big thank you to all those who contributed to Paul's 70th birthday collection which helped to fund this trip to Tibet.