Nyalam is a one-street town jammed with cars queuing to cross into Nepal. It’s a construction site during the day which means vehicles have been amassing ready for the border opening at 6.30pm.
Once the border opens, hundreds of vehicles start to descend from the Tibetan plateau into a mossy gorge studded with endless waterfalls. It’s a shocking transformation of landscape. We’ve gone from dry, sunny with sparse vegetation to wet, misty and waterlogged in the space of a couple of hours. Although this is still The Friendship Highway the road is nothing more than a mud track, under construction apparently, to be ready for the Beijing Olympics. I can’t see this happening. In the land cruiser we’re thrown around like rag dolls, and unable to see anything in the sea of fog.
‘Nyalam’ means ‘gateway to hell’ in Tibetan. I feel like I’m descending into the bowels of the earth. Despite the deluge, the descent to Zhangmu is stunning. It feels like a lost world. Following a winding mountain path we pass under waterfalls, towering green cliffs, past lush vegetation and across raging rivers. I feel I could be in Venezuela or Vietnam.
1 comment:
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