Tina's Yak Attacks
One fateful day in Lhasa, Tina decided to skip out on breakfast and had some instant noodles in her room instead.
Uh oh, bad idea.
Not sure if it really was the noodles, but I had a feeling that if she came downstairs to eat with the rest of this, she wouldn't have had to deal with the yak attacks that were to come. And I'm talking some serious yakking!
A few hours into the drive, she was already complaining about nauseau, irritable bowels, and cramps. Man, what a truly crappy triumverate to have! Especially when bouncing up and down on rocky all-wheel-drive roads. Finally, on one of our infrequent stops to the rare town that randomly appeared before us, Tina's stomach let it all out right in front of the Turks.
Bilge ran to his car to give her some pills that, according to him, "simply make you not throw up."
Tina popped those in. Minutes later, she promptly threw those pills back up. Somehow, the of throwing up pills that were supposed to make you not throw up was lost on most of the now growing circle of team members surrounding Tina.
Bilge tossed her another pair of his pills. "Take these with hot water this time."
Of course, the yakking continued. We stopped in front of a glacier and well got out to take pictures, except Tina, who got out to continue her puke fest. Poor girl. At that point, I had already given her Immodium for her potential diarrhea, Dramamine for her motion sickness. She had also mentioned that she had taken Advil to counter her headaches, as well as two pills of altitude sickness medicine.
When we arrived at the hotel, Tina crawled upstairs and refused to come down for dinner. While eating with Bilge, I mentioned that Tina would probably be tired because everything I gave her, except for the two Charcoal tablets I made her down before going to bed, was sleep inducing. Bilge paused.
"So are the pills that I gave her."
Christine then piped in. "I also gave her some cold medicine that was supposed to relax her."
"Let me get this straight," said Bilge. "We all gave her pills that make her go to sleep, and she took them all? And now's she in her bedroom completely passed out? Perhaps we should go check on her."
We all looked at each other.
"These potatoes are excellent," said Ertan.
And they really were! So we ordered more.
----------------------------
By the time we reached Base Camp Everest, everyone except Rainer was in top form, save for the occasional altitude-induced headache. We excitedly unpacked our stuff in the tent, meticulously assigning cots based on who would most often get up, who would get up the earliest, and who had a tendency to snore. We even arranged it so that no one was sleeping by anyone else' feet. It was a beautiful group effort (except for Rainer, who had already taken the first cot and was snoring in a grumpy fashion). While, Tina went outside to use the "water closet," which was nothing more than a hole in the ground, I stuck my head out the tent to breathe the fresh air. I couldn't believe I was here, at the doorstep of the tallest mountain in the world!
I heard a yelp, and I turned. Tina had finished up and was apparently trying to walk back to the tent, but one of the yaks lounging nearby had gotten up and was attacking her. This was a surprise on many levels, particularly because most of the yaks Simon and I had tried to approach earlier ran away in fright.
Tina yelped again as the the yak tried to knock her over with his horns. Raphael and I started running toward the creature, who indeed saw us and turned around and bolted. We turned to Tina, who was in shock at nearly being mounted by the mountain animal.
"I can't believe I got attacked by a yak!" she cried.
"I can't believe it either!" I yelled, and gave Raphael a Hi-Five. To see someone brave the perils of not one but TWO yak attacks in the span of days...well, let's just something you don't see every day, is it now?!
Uh oh, bad idea.
Not sure if it really was the noodles, but I had a feeling that if she came downstairs to eat with the rest of this, she wouldn't have had to deal with the yak attacks that were to come. And I'm talking some serious yakking!
A few hours into the drive, she was already complaining about nauseau, irritable bowels, and cramps. Man, what a truly crappy triumverate to have! Especially when bouncing up and down on rocky all-wheel-drive roads. Finally, on one of our infrequent stops to the rare town that randomly appeared before us, Tina's stomach let it all out right in front of the Turks.
Bilge ran to his car to give her some pills that, according to him, "simply make you not throw up."
Tina popped those in. Minutes later, she promptly threw those pills back up. Somehow, the of throwing up pills that were supposed to make you not throw up was lost on most of the now growing circle of team members surrounding Tina.
Bilge tossed her another pair of his pills. "Take these with hot water this time."
Of course, the yakking continued. We stopped in front of a glacier and well got out to take pictures, except Tina, who got out to continue her puke fest. Poor girl. At that point, I had already given her Immodium for her potential diarrhea, Dramamine for her motion sickness. She had also mentioned that she had taken Advil to counter her headaches, as well as two pills of altitude sickness medicine.
When we arrived at the hotel, Tina crawled upstairs and refused to come down for dinner. While eating with Bilge, I mentioned that Tina would probably be tired because everything I gave her, except for the two Charcoal tablets I made her down before going to bed, was sleep inducing. Bilge paused.
"So are the pills that I gave her."
Christine then piped in. "I also gave her some cold medicine that was supposed to relax her."
"Let me get this straight," said Bilge. "We all gave her pills that make her go to sleep, and she took them all? And now's she in her bedroom completely passed out? Perhaps we should go check on her."
We all looked at each other.
"These potatoes are excellent," said Ertan.
And they really were! So we ordered more.
----------------------------
By the time we reached Base Camp Everest, everyone except Rainer was in top form, save for the occasional altitude-induced headache. We excitedly unpacked our stuff in the tent, meticulously assigning cots based on who would most often get up, who would get up the earliest, and who had a tendency to snore. We even arranged it so that no one was sleeping by anyone else' feet. It was a beautiful group effort (except for Rainer, who had already taken the first cot and was snoring in a grumpy fashion). While, Tina went outside to use the "water closet," which was nothing more than a hole in the ground, I stuck my head out the tent to breathe the fresh air. I couldn't believe I was here, at the doorstep of the tallest mountain in the world!
I heard a yelp, and I turned. Tina had finished up and was apparently trying to walk back to the tent, but one of the yaks lounging nearby had gotten up and was attacking her. This was a surprise on many levels, particularly because most of the yaks Simon and I had tried to approach earlier ran away in fright.
Tina yelped again as the the yak tried to knock her over with his horns. Raphael and I started running toward the creature, who indeed saw us and turned around and bolted. We turned to Tina, who was in shock at nearly being mounted by the mountain animal.
"I can't believe I got attacked by a yak!" she cried.
"I can't believe it either!" I yelled, and gave Raphael a Hi-Five. To see someone brave the perils of not one but TWO yak attacks in the span of days...well, let's just something you don't see every day, is it now?!