Monday 14th May:

We awoke with frost on the inside of the vestibule of the tent. Actually, I tell a lie - K awoke to frost on the inside of the vestibule of the tent. I was in the middle of a dream (which must have involved a warm cosy fireplace or something of a similar nature) when I was rudely awakened by a orange buff topped mass making it's way towards the door inside the tent and shouting that there was frost and that it was a beautiful morning and that I should really open my eyes and come have a look. Sure I thought turning over and going back to a land of bright warm sun and radiators. I am still baffled by how someone can be fast asleep one moment and then within a matter of seconds turn into a highly energised buzzy humanoid :-)

Some time later I awoke to condensation on the inside of the tent and damp grass outside in the pasture, with very little sign of any frost. K made me some coffee using the firewood as fuel that she had gathered the night before. With this she enticed me out of my dream like state and managed to engage me in a conversation regarding our plans for the day. We decided that we would have a day washing ourselves and our clothes in the cold river and that we could ride into MG and get some supplies - most importantly some more kerosene for the stove.

The day was now bright and sunny. We washed our hair in the river and ceased any blood supply to our cerebral complex as a result. Once our scalps had thawed out we decided to wash our clothes. Behaving like proper little housewives we managed to get everything rinsed, wrung and hanging on the line quite quickly and then had the excuse of sitting around the campsite whilst we waited for the clothes to dry.

We both felt a little hungry so we lit a wood fire again and cooked up some noodles with extra garlic and ginger - delicious. We were both feeling incredibly relaxed too because we no longer had to behave like fugitives keeping out of sight of people who would find us more interesting than TV. In fact, the worse thing about being a tourist is gawking at people and it is certainly not nice when you find the tables turned.

We have been reading the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allen Poe to one another so we spent an hour or so reading a few chapters before "Action K" shot off into town to hunt for a spare fuel bottle and some kerosene. We had worked out that we would need more fuel for our assult on the pass and that our one bottle would not be enough.

K returned unlucky. She could not find any bottle that would be deemed safe enough to carry explosive liquids and she had no success in finding any kerosene either but she was offered something that was scribbled in the back of our Mandarin book that we still did not know what it was. She had also been offered corn oil elsewhere - you go figure out the connection between corn oil and kerosene, we can't :-)

We decided that I would take the fuel bottle that we already had and that I would purchase the unknown flammable liquid that was written in the back of the book but that I would try and find out a little more regarding what it was. Given great directions I found my way to the same store and had a confused conversation in Chinese about the unknown character in the back of the book. The store man motioned that he would have to go down the road to buy the liquid for me. I decided that I may as well go myself because I had the bike if he would only give me directions. He explained and I was none the wiser. Then in a sudden flash of inspiration I remembered a petrol station further down the road and asked him if I could buy the unknown liquid there. He laughed and laughed and then replied yes, then seated himself down next to a friend and I could tell that they were laughing at the dumb foreigner (things will become clear in a moment).

I jumped on the bike and after riding for a minute or two I managed to get K's pannier (which I had borrowed) caught in the spokes of the rear wheel and slam dunked myself into the ground. Many people were concerned for me but I dusted myself off and got on the way. I went to the petrol station and this is where the fun begins. Please bear with me, it is hard to explain....

"Mei you" means "Kerosene".
"Mei you" also means "not have".
"You" means "have".
"You mei you" means "have or not have?"

Are you following this?

So, I asked the petrol pump attendant "You mei you mei you" (do you or do you not have kerosene?)
To which he replied "mei you"
I said "mei you" as a means of justifying the fact that I wanted kerosene and he said "mei you, you chee yoh"
"mei you" I said, indicating again that I wanted kerosene.
"wo mei you mei you, you chee you" he said.
Now I was confused and frustrated so I said in English "Do you or do you not have any kerosene?"
I received no reply.
So, I brought out the Mandarin book and showed him the mysterious character in the back of the book which he confirmed that he had saying "chee you". I soon fathomed out that chee you meant petrol - now we were getting somewhere and it also explained why the guy was laughing at me earlier (I could picture him thinking of course you buy petrol from the petrol station - duh!). Now all I needed to do was work out whether he had kerosene in addition to petrol.

After some more confusing exchange I pointed at the petrol pump and said "chee you", he confirmed "shi" (this means is). Then I pointed at a nearby smaller pump and said "mei you" to which he said "shi".
Success, I had worked out that he had petrol and kerosene. Promising to return, I went back to the camp to consul with K and explain what had happened. It was only when I went back the next day that I found out that what I had pointed to and said "mei you" (kerosene) was in fact a strange looking fire extinguisher - this amused us even further :-) :-)

Back at camp we decided to change our plans and that we would not head toward the pass the next day due to my cut tyre and that we were unlikely to have enough fuel to see us through. We decided to head back to Lhasa very slowly and that we would stay in the pasture for another night. We spent the night playing cards, reading more Poe and sipping whisky from my hip flask :-)