Day 6
This morning we left Shigatse and drove for nine hours across spectacularly twisted landscapes, across Lakpa La pass (17,121'), arriving in Xegar, the town closest to Mount Everest or, as the Tibetans call it, Mount Qomolangma! We had time after our long drive to wander through the small town, and another close encounter was experienced!
After walking around the small village of Xegar I decided it was probably time to head back to the hotel. I saw a young woman in the doorway of a home, beckoning me to enter. I had heard of a couple of other people in our group being invited in to Tibetan homes, so I decided that I wanted to go in. I entered the home to see a baby. Please Note: my Tibetan is limited to one phrase, and my Mandarin is wretched (Mandarin is spoken by most Tibetans because of the Chinese invasion of 1959), so our means of communication was a cross between my really bad Mandarin and pantomine. I asked the woman how old her baby was, and she said "two"... the baby (a girl) looked pretty big for two months! The baby was sleeping, but mother pulled back the blanket (so I could ohh and ahh - which I did!) and when the baby awoke and saw me, burst into tears! I may have been the first foreigner she had ever seen! Mother picked her up and we went into the living room. She breast fed her (no breast seen) and the little one calmed down. We chatted for a little while, hopefully exchanging some bits of information of interest to each party. Then I decided it was time for me to head back to the hotel. As I was about to leave I noticed a pile of white/beige coloured drying (yak?) cheese (?). They looked like regular cheese curds. I asked if I could try some and the woman said "Yes". I took a tiny 1/2" piece and, as it was as hard as a rock, began letting it warm up in my mouth. By the time I got back to the hotel it had softened up enough to be of a very chewy consistency. It was pretty good! In the end I think we both got what we each wanted - the company of a stranger!