Monday 28 January 2013

A Grand Adventure

Take a straw poll around your office, your family, your circle of friends. Ask them where their ideal holiday destination would be.  I'm betting that the majority of answers would centre around the luxurious - white Caribbean beaches, maybe a stay on an Indian Ocean island; spa resorts - rest and relaxation.

While all of that sounds attractive, for some reason (and I really don't understand this) I have always been strongly attracted to travel a bit further afield - just about as off the beaten track as the average Westerner gets without rowing the length of the Amazon.  If there were no obstacles, the place I would visit in a heartbeat is Tibet.  

Ideally, I'd get there by flying to Moscow and then taking the Trans-Siberian Railway as far as Beijing (an adventure in itself!)  From there, it is possible to take another train south to Lhasa.  Rather than a hotel (and I omitted the word 'luxury' there deliberately does such a thing exist in Tibet?) I would like to stay with a Tibetan Nomad family - sleep in their tents, experience their lifestyle before they are all forced into towns and cities by the effects of global warming.


I totally accept that I probably have a romanticised view of this whole experience.  Quite possibly I've watched one too many David Attenborough documentaries!  Nevertheless, the 'roof of the world' and the incredible sight of all those prayer flags fluttering in the wind against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains and bright sunshine, stirs something in me.  


So how to do this on a budget?  

Money Supermarket is running a competition - neatly entitled A Grand Adventure - www.moneysupermarket.com/a-grand-adventure which asks that you choose your ideal destination and then say how you would survive on £1000 excluding travel.  For me - fairly simple.  The life of a Tibetan Nomad cannot be particularly expensive.  I'm not envisaging much layout on Yaks or any other kind of quadruped.  I'm kind of hoping that the arrival of a blue-eyed redhead in their midst might cause enough interest for the Tibetans  to offer me shelter in one of their Yurts for the duration of my visit and maybe I could trade free English lessons for being allowed to share their lives for a very short time?  How would we communicate?  I've no idea but I imagine we could find something to yak about.  (sorry - that was truly appalling...)

As for the food, well.....  Let's just say that the prospect of tea containing salt and with a good dollop of dri* butter in it doesn't fill me with happy anticipation any more than the prospect of raw or dried Yak meat or Tsamba which is ground Barley flour to which salty butter tea is added.  This is a staple of most Tibetans' diets. All of which put together means hardly any outlay of cash and loads of weight lost.

It's win-win.  Who needs an expensive spa?!

* A dri is a female Yak. Yaks are male and can't give milk.

26 comments:

  1. Typical woman's post.

    Yak Yak Yak Yak Yak!


    (Only joking - admire yurt spirit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hah Rog, you're a one! Actually, I wish I'd thought of that for a title!

      Delete
  2. I suggest you take marmalade to trade and Marmite to drink instead of salted tea. A pot or two or peanut butter would probably help to stave off starvation too...

    Not sure where I'd go. I think I'd like to visit those islands from the James Bond movie, Thailand I think they were, but I'm not sure if I'd really like to do or I just fancy the idea of it. It's all moot as I'm not likely to go.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm, hadn't thought much beyond cigarettes to trade, so Marmalade is an interesting idea - is it popular with Nomads?!

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    2. It should be, don't you think?

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    3. Definitely! Or failing that, my homemade quince and apple jam.

      Delete
  3. Thanks for the inspiration. I'd been thinking about Lundy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting Tim - I don't know a lot about Lundy but I imagine it's also fairly remote but with less of a Yak population?!

      Delete
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      Delete
  5. We usually go to Dorset but have branched out for a week in the Loire this summer - well, by it I hope. Bit of a home bird really, certainly couldn't hack an adventure with yaks - even if someone else was paying! Everyone should be introduced to marmalade surely?

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    Replies
    1. There's a lot to be said for your own home and hearth, I agree. Hope you enjoy your holiday by/in the Loire when it comes!

      Delete
  6. How did I miss this post? This is just up my street, although, to be fair, my street usually has comfy hotels with minibars and folded loo paper. Tibet or not Tibet....that is the question.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do agree Trish - I am not one for roughing it if at all avoidable but I would make an exception for this experience. Do you fancy coming with? You, me, a Yak and a Yurt...!

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  7. Replies
    1. I think it would be fab, if a bit of a pipe dream, sadly...

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  8. My brother is law's answer to everything - disaster, illness, tricky tummy is to say "At least you lost some weight". So the prospect of seeing those fabulous yurty tents and a wonderful people - and lose weight really is a win-win.

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  9. Be a chance to wear ribbons in the hair too!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ooh bugger, never thought of that!

    ReplyDelete
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  12. The idea sounds fabulous. Australia had that drawing effect to me. I went. It changed my life. I came home. Hope you manage to go asap- it'll change your life, undoubtedly too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good for you! I like to think I'd grab the opportunity if it ever came my way...

      Delete
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