But our traveler did not worry about what ever nominal woes the road had, for it quickly became the highway of his dreams. Not twenty minutes out of Lhasa, our traveler finds himself in long valley with stunning mountains snow-capped mountains at the far end. But what really elates our traveler is that he is heading towards these mountains. Valleys are not what our traveler came to Tibet for, though, and soon they are climbing their way out of the valley up into the heights of the Kamba-La pass (15,820 ft.). Working their way up towards the top of the pass, the scenery is not especially majestic. The valley they are leaving behind, looks very much like the Lhasa valley where our traveler has spent the last three days. And the steep hillside which they are climbing is merely more of the same brown dirt hillsides which are so common in Tibet.
Our traveler does remark with pleasure that every passing moment brings him higher than he has ever been on earth. But all these thoughts are banished from his mind in the moment they cross over the pass. The road, which has until then merely been along and up brown mountain sides, suddenly reveals a huge drop into the Yamdrok valley where the brilliant blue Yamdrok lake twists. The lake is shaped like a huge scorpion, and so clear that it perfectly reflects the surrounding mountains. The Kamba-La pass rises up at the far northern end of what would be one of the scorpion’s pincers, and just past the end of the southern pincer can been seen the corniced peak of Kula Kangri (24,928 ft.) which marks the border with Bhutan. Not only has our traveler been higher than he has ever been before, but he is also looking at the tallest mountain he has ever seen.
As our traveler drops into this magnificent valley, dotted with tiny villages and ancient ruins, they keep close to the shore of the lake, wrapping around it for almost an hour, before they come to the largest village on the lake, Nangartse, where he eats lunch. Nangartse is nothing special to note in his travels, as it half resembles a small, but beginning to develop Chinese town, and the other half a Tibetan city. Although during lunch our traveler is treated to a spectacular form of Tibetan cuisine. Samdim the ingratiating guide brings our traveler a curious string of irregular white-gray cubes. Our traveler has seen various Tibetans selling these things, but always imagined them to be something connected with religion, since they clearly were too ugly for any sane person to purchase. After several minutes in which our traveler awkwardly thanks Samdim for this new gift, the guide clears up what confusion there might have been by saying, "It's cheese. Very good to taste." Well, with this revelation, our traveler suddenly knows all--string cheese! But our traveler is slightly reserved since this cheese has the consistency of concrete as well as the appearance. But our traveler is an adventurous fellow and tries this local product. Much to his surprise, the food actually tastes like concrete (the powder form of course). After eating enough to be sure he didn't just get a bad piece (as well as to entirely remove his appetite) our traveler chucks this horrible travesty to cheese into the nearest garbage can. Cheese in Tibet can be good, but if it comes on a string, run!
As he leaves the Yamdrok valley, he begins to rise again heading towards the Karola pass (16,632 ft.). Just past the pass the glacier covered
But even the driver must suffer some defeats. The coming around a bend, the car pulls to a stop and the driver gets out. There has been no explanation offered for these strange actions, but it seems as though something is not right. There is a small camp of construction workers here, and the driver saunters over to them. He chats with them for what must be ten minutes, at least long enough to rule out the stop as an emergency bathroom break. Finally, getting frustrated, our traveler asks Samdim why they have stopped. Samdim says with complete frankness and almost no emotion, "There is a bomb planted ahead."
