Page 19 - Cape-Camera-January-February-2021

Cape Camera January/February 2021

to see many high-rise office and accommodation blocks, traffic
lights etc. A complete transformation had taken place and very
obviously done by the Chinese.
Downtown Lhasa was no longer a semi-rural town but had be-
come a metropolis with the same hectic traffic - although the
monasteries and the Potala Palace had remained unaffected. I
again visited the Jokhang temple and spent the day in the area
photographing the perambulations and other religious rituals
performed by the Tibetans around the temple. This time, I no-
ticed some large furnace-type structures in front of the temple
where worshippers would pass make smoke offerings, called
Sang Sol – something that has recently been banned by the
Chinese

Mount Everest North Side at sunset

Sunrise over Kanchenjunga
My friend Reinhardt and I on the roof of the Potala Palace to take the photo with frozen shaking hands, but I was deter-
mined as I will NEVER go there again.
The next day we started the road trip west to Everest. It was a
two-day trip so we stopped overnight in Shigatse. The Chinese We descended and eventually passed through Darjeeling. I had
have built a hi-speed train link between Lhasa and Shigatse. read of the hotel where the British expedition to Everest stayed
Compared to our earlier trip, one noticed the infrastructure de- in 1924. I entered the foyer of the hotel and asked about the
velopment with electricity pylons, radio masts etc, and so we records of George Mallory. The concierge paged through the
could maintain mobile connectivity. These seemed to us sym- registry and announced that “Sorry Sir, Mr. Mallory has not yet
bols of how the Chinese are infiltrating Tibet and in time elimi- checked in”. To which I replied “Thank you. May we have tea?”
nating its culture. Of course, we suspect the youth, like every- Of course, to those who take an interest in the expedition, the
where else, welcomes such connectivity. question remains: Did Mallory and Irvine reach the summit and
The second day’s drive took us from Shigatse to Everest base were they the first conquerors? - the answer is probably NOT.
camp north. I was staggered to note that the Chinese had built They may have reached the record of 8,570 meters set by Nor-
a new tarmac road all the way to this spot at about 5,200 me- ton who led an earlier attempt - in which case they were about
ters altitude. Close by is the Rongbuk Monastery where in 1924, 245 meters from the summit when they disappeared. Mallory’s
George Mallory and the other members of the 1924 expedition body was finally discovered in May 1999.
received the blessings from the Lama for their ascent, as Everest Source of References: Lonely planet; Eat the Buddha: Life and death
was and remains of religious significance to the Tibetans. in a Tibetan Town by Barbara Demick and Tibet: A personal History
The monastery is a shadow of the place of 1924 with few if any of a Lost Land by Patrick French; The Potala Palace: Holy Place in
monks remaining. We slept overnight in the abandoned monk the snow land.
dormitories. The following day we were transported (almost
mandatory) to the actual base camp, which has been turned
into a busy market place with stalls selling all sorts of wares and
souvenirs.
Stepping away from this, I was able to get some excellent pho-
tos of the mountain during sunset and stood in wonderment
and imagined that 1924 expedition on the mountain and the
challenges they faced then.
On a later trip via Sikkim, we climbed the Zonga Ri (4,300 m) to
capture the sunrise on Kanchenjunga with an elevation of 8,586
m - the 3rd highest peak in the world.
We arose around 03:00 and hiked in darkness to the Zonga Ri.
The colours of the picture lasted but a few minutes and then the
sun was up and the crimson was gone. It was a real challenge Mount Everest

Cape Town Photographic Society 18