They say that all good things must come to an end, and so our time in Nepal is almost over. It has been an amazing five weeks filled with adventures in the Himalayan mountains, silent time meditating on the meaning of life, and lots of delightful coffee shops. It was a shame to miss out on Pakistan, but in life when one door (or border) closes, another opens and we wouldn’t have had this special time in Nepal otherwise. I really love the relaxed and laid back vibe here in Nepal and the people are so friendly; it feels reminiscent of New Zealand in this sense. Alice and I are already scheming a return trip at some point to do another Himalayan trek.

Our original planned border crossing into China/Tibet was at a popular tourist destination border crossing called Gyirong. Some of you already know that a few days ago we were informed by our tour guide organiser we might not even be going anymore. This was due to a monsoon flood that washed out the bridge from Nepal at the Gyriong border. The timing for us was awful, it was literally a few days before we were meant to cross the border. But, what was so much worse was hearing the stories of death and devastation in the region. This flood was a direct result of a glacial lake in Tibet overflowing. This occurred due to increased glacier melt caused by rising global temperatures. Alice and her Dad actually recently worked on a project with Protect Our Winters about the impacts of glacial decline on downstream watersheds and communities, and here we were seeing and experiencing the effects in real time. Tibet is known as the world's water table for a reason, there is much to protect up on that very special plateau. 

So, if we can’t go through Tibet the only way to get to China would be to fly! It’s crazy to look at all of India and Nepal and the border with China and know that currently there is no open borders for foreigners! Luckily our tour company (and the very efficient Chinese government) got to work organising an alternative border crossing for tours. There is another place which is mostly used as a trade border/dryland port between Nepal and China, and for local workers to cross. This border crossing is usually closed for tourists but they have opened it temporarily while they repair the flood damage. This happened in about two days, which is pretty incredible! We were warned that the road might be a little dicey, but by now we’re used to the roads in Nepal being a mix between a mudbath and a landslide. 

So we said farewell to our favourite cafes and the lovely staff at our hostel in Kathmandu. Our week of rest and relaxation was over and after one last coffee from our local cafe, we met some of the other people in our tour group, a family from Italy and got on the road in a tough looking jeep. We were expecting the drive to be a nightmare, but it ended up being relatively quick, only taking us five hours to cover the 110km (this is fast by Nepal road standards). 

We arrived in a remote border town called Tatopani where we would be spending the night. It is a small town with a handful of places to eat and a “hot spring” which turned out to be some rooms with bathtubs that were supposedly fed by a natural hot spring. It was kind of weird so we opted for a shower at our hotel instead. This town is 1500m above sea level and it is so lush and green here at this time of year. The people living in this area seem to rely heavily on permaculture for their food supply, and as we walked around we noticed that houses were seamlessly interspersed with fields of corn and various other vegetables. Tomorrow if all goes to plan we will cross the border into Tibet and begin the long climb up to the Tibetan Plateau, sometimes referred to as the “Roof of the World”.