I am more than half way thru my journey thru the entire Tibet, along the northern slopes of the entire great Himalaya range. Here is a brief summary of the last 3 months.

After leaving Kashgar on 22 Jul, 2000, I finally arrived in Ali(ShiQuanhe), Tibet on 7 Aug, Experiencing the hardest truck ride in my life, perhaps the hardest I could think of. According to the truck drivers, that was also their hardest in their 20+ years of driving career. It was the worst weather season and the worst road condition for that region in 20+ years. I saw 6 big trucks turned over and many other trucks broken or half -burried in mud. I ad to spend 3 different nights in the truck's cabin with no warm things, on passes above 5200m in raging blizaard and subfreezing temperature. It took a team of 7 trucks 8 days to make less than 600km; the whole trip was 1070km and took me a total of 18 days. In one of those days, we only made 30km in about 7 hours. I stopped at a place called Marzaar(4100m) 90km north of K2, I needed to climb 8 hours to reach a high ridgetobe able to see K2, but K2 was in the clouds. I only saw maybe the shadow of K2 behind thin clouds for 1 second, but I had a great sunset view of the central group of the Karakorums and had to come down the steep and sliding slope in the dark. At about the same time, the American K2 north ridge expedition, which was unsuccessful in the end, was also waiting in their tents in bad weather, so were 3 other less hopeful teams from Spain/Mexico, Japan and China/Taiwan/Tibet. I then spent 2 weeks in Ali(4200m) to wait for money and climbed a dangerous mountain(about 5200m) twice from different sides. After a brutal 18-hour truck ride, I finally got to Darchen, but I decided to go to Purung first. The room cost at Darchen was 60RMB a night, so I slept in the postal truck for a night, on top of big bags of fertalizer. The next morning, I had a breath taking sunrise view of Gurla Mandata(7694m, or called Namu Lani in Tibetan) and nearby peaks, right in front of the compound. About 4 hours later, I was in Purung, a town less than 40km from both the Nepalese and the Indian borders. There, climbing up the plateau above the town, I saw the best sunset over snow peaks that I've ever seen, so was the sunrise. I also climbed 8 hours up a ridge of Gurla Mandata. High on the ridge, I ran into a big herd of wild dunkey, and saw several Lamageiyas. I spent a total of 6 days at Purung to check things out, and walk to the little border village Korjia, a 30-35km round trip. Somebody there told me that Purung got more rain fall this year than the last 80 years combine. Next I went to Lake Manasorova(4590m), staying in the little village called Chiu. There I took my most expensive bath ever, 20RMB(US$2.50)! But, it was great, because the water was from the natural hot spring right next to the holly lake, and especially after 4 weeks without washing! When walking around the pound created by the hot springs, I saw two great big owls! That was a total surprise for me. I took 3 days to circle the lake, a 120km trek. In the proccess, I sawm in the lake, naked! Then before reaching HorQu, I spend a whole afternoon and a whole morning trying to find a way through the swamp. Ultimately, I had to cross 3 streams and then crossed a smaller lake with waist deep water for about 300m, to reach HorQu. For the rest of the Kora, I crossed another 6 rivers or large streams, and it rained periodically! In total, I had to spend 2 nights out in the open, without a tent or a sleeping bag and no stove. All I had were 2 large nylon bags and a thin blanket. On the lake, I saw 3 pairs of endangered black neck cranes and many geese. The weather remained depressing for another 4 days after I finished the Kora, so I waited there and stared at Kailash afar every day. Eventually, I packed up and got to DarChen south of Kailash. There I went into an old friend, a Japanese world traveler I met in Ali. He already made 4 Koras around Kailash, and 3 of them were 1-day trip. He also tried twice unsuccessfully to make the inner circle, which goes right in front of the south-face of Kailash and over the east shoulder of Kailash above 5800m. I made my kora in 2 half-days, a total of 16 hours, including climbing up a small hill right next to the 5636m pass. That brought me up to around 5900m. I had been trying to get above 6000m for some time. I like to climb. After the kora, I went in to see the south-face up close and personal. Then, I climbed up the ridge connecting to the west shoulder of Kailash, again got to 5800+m. Finally, I went with Inue to make the inner circle, and we did it! Through deep snow and sketchy loose rock sections! Man, that was an exciting and awsome trip! Great views and a lot of anxiety, when chunks of ice screaming down the cliff below the south-face! I went above 5800m for the 3rd time. When doing the kora and later hiking near DarChen, I had good remote views of Nanda Devi(7816m) and Kamet(7756m), and of course, magnificent sunrise/sunset views of Gurla Mandata. The next 6 days was completely clear and with a full moon, but I was too tire and lazy to get to the north side for a clear sky view of the scary north-face of Kailash.