Last night was very cold but it was cozy and comfortable under the blankets. V and the girls did not sleep at all well. At about 1am I woke to find V sitting upright and gasping. She was struggling to breathe and every time she tried to sleep the feeling of suffocation would wake her. Egle & Manouk had similar experiences. I guess it was a small taste of what high altitude mountaineers have to deal with – not a lot of fun. We had breakfast in the dark at 7h30 (being on Beijing time this far west is silly) and then set out on foot for the real EBC an hour up the track.

The walk was breathtaking in every sense of the word. V and Egle had a tough time with the steep sections in the thin cold air and the sun broke through making the surrounding hills glow against blue skies. On the way up we were treated to a stunning highlighted view of the summit on a deep blue background as the clouds swirled. Unbelievably magnificent. By the time we reached EBC the cloud had unfortunately moved back in for the day. We waited around for 40 minutes hoping it would clear as the sun strengthened behind our backs. My GPS put our location at 18.3km almost due North of the summit :gps:(GPS)::28.14052::86.85184:gps:. 18.3km !! Now that is just cool. After collecting a pebble each V and I turned our backs and walked away. We definitely have to get back to the Himalayas one day. It is just too incredible !

V and Egle opted for a bus ride back to the tourist EBC – I walked with Bob – we chatted and took a lot of interesting shortcuts. Time to stand on my soapbox again:

Bob told me stories of previous groups of tourists he had taken up to EBC. In a recent group, two of the travelers had walked up to the higher base camp alone after Bob had told them that they needed to go as a group with him. Their passports were confiscated and the entire group was held there for two days while the transgressors refused arrogantly to assist Bob in the diplomacy and begging required to get the passports and permits back. If you want to travel in Tibet, obey the rules ! Failing to do so only makes the situation worse for the locals and future travelers.

Turning to the issue of Tibet, Bob and I continued our chat. It seems to be a complicated issue and I know very little about it. There are a lot of problems and the way Tibetans are forced to live under China is almost comparable to apartheid with no end in sight – not cool. Tibetans are now out numbered 20 to 1 by Chinese immigrants that have been encouraged to move here. Four trains a day arrive full of Chinese – Tibetan culture is doubtless endangered.

That being said, Bob’s biggest fear is his tour groups doing stupid things like unveiling a Tibetan flag in public. A stunt like this will get the traveler fined and deported (back to the comfort of home and video games) while the guide could end up spending 18 years in prison.

So, if you want to protest to ‘Free Tibet’ here are some tips and notes;
– Travelers are bound by the laws of the country they are visiting. Don’t try to be a hero in Tibet. It will just make everything worse for everyone.
– Go home. Start a blog, a petition, organize a protest at an embassy. Protest within the law.
– Most importantly be aware of what you are asking for. The return of the Dali Lama to power is NOT a good solution. It could even be worse than the current situation. Remember when the Dalai Lamas were in power, Tibetans were reduced to a population of peasants forced into subservience to the Lama class. It was never a democratic country, it was a theocratic dictatorship. I recommend checking out Penn & Teller’s treatment of the subject (Bullshit episode – ‘Holier than thou’. I think ?)

Stepping off the soapbox… Phew.. Won’t do that too often !

The rest of the day was spent uneventfully on the road back to Shigatse. Our third full day on the road, we were all knackered and longing for some palatable food which we found in the Chinese fast food chain ‘Dicos’. Tomorrow we have another full day on the road to get back to Lhasa.

[Pictures: Big E in the morning. Don’t worry. We got much better shots with the camera]

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The Tenzin hotel in Shigatse was very good by our diminishing standards – clean and quiet. We slept in a little while our guide went to arrange permits for Everest Base Camp (EBC) and then we delayed the start even more trying to find some palatable breakfast. The town was still waking up so we settled for munchies from a supermarket and got on the road just after 10. The roads all over Tibet have been fantastic with crash barriers and centre lines. Potholes have been a rarity. The weather was perfect with blue skies as we started climbing up towards the Himalayas through beautiful flowering rape fields.

The trip started to drag out as we slowed to 30km/h for the longer and steeper climbs – Our Land Cruiser seems to have a few issues with going uphill. Eventually we reached the top of a pass just over 5000m. V had read in her guide that a view of Everest was possible from this viewpoint. It was a stunning view of snow covered peaks stretching across the horizon but Everest was obscured by heavy clouds to the South. We didn’t last long in the freezing cold before bundling back into the 4×4.

The road dropped down into another huge valley and four hours after setting off we stopped for a quick Tibetan lunch and to buy park entrance tickets in a tiny village followed by a visit to one of the worst toilets we have seen yet. Back on the road we cleared more checkpoints with our ‘Alien’ visa before turning off onto the 100km of dirt road to EBC.

The road was still good (not being in the back of a minibus helped) and our driver occasionally veered off onto side tracks I think to play with or test his off-road skills. We climbed up endless switchbacks past mind-bending geology including towering outcrops of folded rock (need to learn more about this stuff). From a viewpoint at the top of the highest pass we could still not see Everest through the cloud even though we had blue sky overhead. Another two hours of dramatic switchbacks took us down to the valley floor and then slowly up to EBC passing crazy groups on mountain bikes that made us feel even more like soft-core tourists.

We arrived at the lower EBC around 18h30 – only the base of Everest visible though. EBC is a large rectangular, baren and dusty clearing lined by ‘Hotels’ and has a post office but no mains power or running water. Probably will have all that and a cable car in a few years if the rest of China is anything to go by. Our driver pulled up to ‘Holy Mountain Hotel’, a large semi-permanent tent with comfortable sleeping space for 5 and an attached kitchen. Our host provided bottomless cups of green tea as we sat chilling out after the long day on the road while occasionally popping our heads out into the cold thin air to check the view status.

[WARNING: Gush]

Around 20h00 one of the girls popped her head into the tent to announce that the summit was visible. We rushed outside and were joined by tourists from various hotels in the open area, everyone excited and clambering to get photos. If it were possible for me to have a spiritual experience, the sight of that chunk of rock peeping through the cloud would have been it. V and I were ecstatic. We stood gawking in awe. Awesome ! Another highlight, possibly the highlight (haha) for us. We felt very lucky to catch a glimpse. After 30 minutes or so and more than enough photos the clouds shuffled back in and we retreated to the warmth of the tent high on the experience (or possibly the lack of oxygen).

Dinner in our little tent was simple but excellent (not sure if the food was good or it just tasted good after the high) and shortly thereafter our host converted the chairs to beds complete with duvets and 3 layers of warm weighty blankets. Perfect. What a day !

[Pictures: Himilayan view from the first viewpoint. Oxygen anyone ? Cans of air in a shop on the way (just above the chips). The Big E is in those clouds ! V warming up with some tea]

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Woohoo! 4 months on the road and still going strong if a little fatigued with China. I get a bit snippy after being in a car all day long but Simon is a sweetie and puts up with me still.

And today we were able to actually get on the road and out of Lhasa. We bundled into the car at 9am and headed off stopping ten minutes later at our first checkpoint. Papers had to be checked before we could even leave the city.

As soon as we left the grubby city we were rewarded with beatiful views of bright yellow rape seed fields against a backdrop of barren mountains and charming rivers. The road was new and smooth and trees had been planted alongside large portions.

About 2 hours out we hit another checkpoint. They don’t seem to do speed trapping here, instead at each checkpoint they write your arrival time on a slip of paper that the driver has to carry and then you get fined if you arrive at the next checkpoint too early. It’s ridiculous as what generally happens is that just out of sight of the next checkpoint all the drivers land up stopping for up to 20 minutes waiting till they have killed enough time to carry on. It’s either that or stick to the incredibly low speed limit of 40km/h.

About 4 hours in we reached the top of a pass which had views of Yamdrok lake. It was freezing up there and the lake view was obscured by cloud. Of course we had to buy tickets just for driving past the lake and to my annoyance, pay for the filthy poo plastered toilets. We also encountered what was to be at every stop, hawkers trying to sell stuff.
They were either trying to sell the usuall crappy trinkets, ropes of yak cheese or were trying to get you to pay for pictures of their yaks, dogs or goats. Occasionally they would try to muscle in and get themselves in your photo to try make a few bucks. The yaks were usually done up quite nicely and the dogs were Tibetan mastiffs with bright red fluffy collars which made them look like they had a lions mane. The goats were these cute long haired miniature ones that we had not seen anywhere else. We did not feel like paying 5 to 10 Yuan for a photo though.

As we drove on down to the lake, the clouds cleared and we could finally see the lake propper. It was a beautiful turquoise colour and we stopped at the bottom to take some more photos. There were plenty of other tourists all stopping at the same points and at least one idiot was taking a swim (against the current regulations).

We carried on and stopped at another point much further :gps:(GPS)::29.16094::90.50997:gps: on where the colours of the water were more striking and spent ages taking photos. Something to be noted is that at almost all the stops there were prayer flags plastered over everything, rocks, pylons whatever they could be attatched to and coloured prayer confetti ( 50mm x 50mm coloured pieces of paper with prayers printed on them) littering the ground. Plus the usual trash left by the people who stop at these points to take pictures or go to the toilet.

We continued on to our lunch stop in another nondescript Chinese looking town that pop up every now and then along the route. Pretty much every other land cruiser on the route had stopped at the same place.

Continuing on for a few more hours and we arrived at the town of Gyantse. It was one of the the more pleasant towns we had seen so far. Driving in we could see the Gyantse dzong (fort) on a rocky hilltop and in the afternoon light the scene really look quite wonderfull.

Closer to the fort, there was a large Chinese monument. We were told that the Chinese had erected it to celebrate their driving off of a contingent of British soldiers. On checking our guidebook however, it turns out that the British did send a diplomatic force into Tibet and did have a bit of a skirmish with some Tibetans. But since the Tibetans were armed with a motley assortment of arms that included rocks and protective charms from the Dalai Lama they soon got their bums kicked. The British hung out at Gyantse for a while before getting bored and moving onto Lhasa. So not quite what the Chinese make the situation out to be.

We stopped at yet another monastery :gps:(GPS)::28.92067::89.59610:gps: this time the Pelkor Chode to see the famed Gyantse Kumpum (building) Underwhelmed yet again, but the views of the town, monastery and fort from the Kumpum were quite pretty.

We moved on and arrived in Shigatse where we were overnighting. We tried a local restaurant that had an English menu but it turned out that it had not been translated properly and Egle spent a good while trying to explain to the waitress and then to the waitresses 8 year old daughter in Mandarin that she had ordered the fried yak with vegetables and they had given her fried yak with mushrooms which she could not eat. They eventually just walked away which inevitably led to confusion with the bill which was uncomfortable to resolve.

[Pictures: Beautiful lake. View from Kumpum of the fort. The view of Kumpum]

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More noise. Even less sleep ! We are both zombies today. We walked again to Potola Palace in the rain but the weather started to clear a little as we had our water confiscated at security (guess they only allow holy water). The main complex in Potola is quite a climb up but the views of the city and surrounding mountains are fantastic. We toured around the buildings, chapels, audience chambers and past one of the Dali Lama’s private bathrooms (complete with bathtub and prayer flag wrapped western toilet – it’s very good to be the king). The Palace also houses the tombs (in the form of Stupas) of past Lamas. Some of them are massive and all are covered in gold and precious gems. When an important religious figure dies the Tibetan people donate a wealth (and more than they can afford) of gold, gems and money to build the tomb. The more they donate, the more credit they get for the next life. P.T. Barnum would be proud. The excessive amount of gold and mountains of cash donations lying around (seriously – 100 US dollar bills in some chapels) started to annoy me as I imagined how many people it could feed or how many medical schools it could build.

We moved quickly through the place as Bob is a stickler for rules but I think he also wanted to get done early. I was relieved having seen enough after an hour. While the girls where taking more photos I had a chat with Bob. He identifies himself as Tibetan (not Chinese) and is very weary of the authorities. He is also paranoid with regards the rules for tourists. When tourists do stupid things or blatantly ignore their guides more rules are added and life becomes more difficult for the Tibetans. It can’t be fun living like that. So our soapbox advice to travelers in Tibet: Just behave and try not to make the situation worse for the locals.

After Potola we managed to get a bus out of town to see the final tourist hotspot (the Sera Monastery). We saw some beautifully crafted mandalas made from coloured sand and again were led around the dark chapels. One of the chapels attracts a lot of attention with its horse-headed Buddha of health. Worshipers Queue for ages with infants and the elderly to be able to touch their noses to the statue in the belief that they will be healed quicker. Bob explained that they come to this temple and then head to the hospital. Better late than never I guess.

We got back to the hotel early and were able to move our room to one with a few more prefab boards between us and the road. To celebrate the deafening silence we went in search of a well known Internet cafe and coffee shop. A brilliant spot – the cake and milkshakes were excellent (expensive) and if the Wifi had been working I doubt we would have left there until bed time. On our way back we stocked up on supplies for the next few days on the road and managed to spend a few minutes online at an Internet cafe. It’s seems so odd to find a huge hall brimming with fancy computers manned by hoards of online gamers in downtown Lhasa when our hotel a few doors down doesn’t have flush toilets !

V spent a good hour reading me sections from our LP about Buddhism. It really is an odd, complicated and confusing mix of beliefs. Tonight we should sleep (finally) and tomorrow we are off into the sticks – can’t wait.

[Pictures: Potola Palace]

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What a night ! Our room is above the main street in Lhasa and it only quietens down between 1 and 4am. It was like having a demolition derby in our room with the addition of raucus crowds, bell ringing rickshaws and hooting taxis. Today was going to be hard going. First on the agenda was to arrange a time slot to visit Potola Palace. The place gets so busy that you have to book a time the day before you visit. Our guide led us there on foot (about a 20 minute walk in the rain through Lhasa) and booked us in for 10am tomorrow. The Palace looms above the town and looks impressive from the road – the quintessential Tibetan postcard shot – even in the wet.

The plan for the rest of the day was to tick off a few temples. It seems temples (and/or monasteries) are what you do in Lhasa. First up – the Summer Palace (Norbulingka). Another couple kilometers on foot to get there. By this stage we were feeling out of breathe. Not sure if it is the altitude or the flu still toying with us. Bob led us around the palace grounds, gardens and through a few ‘chapels’ passing the offical seats (not really thrones) of various Dali Lamas (it’s good to be the king) – interesting but not excessively impressive. The Chinese horseplay is obvious at times for example: the officially recognized Tibetan 2IC (Panchen Lama) is ‘missing’ but not to worry because Beijing has ‘found’ a second one – who happens to be Chinese. Fishy me thinks.

With throbbing temples I vetoed walking all the way back into town, instead opting for a taxi which refused to let us squeeze 4 onto the back seat (no problem anywhere else in China) – so two taxis then making it even more expensive. The rules governing tourists are a little crazy. We are not permitted to enter any tourist attaction without our guide and are not supposed to use the cheap local buses – capitalism run amock.

Jokhang Temple in the centre of old Lhasa is one of the oldest and most revered temples in Tibet. It was packed with long queues of pilgrims and worshippers going through their rituals. The temples are very dark and feel stuffy with the smell of burning incense and yak butter candles. Not at all ‘inviting’. The pilgrims loop around all the chapels (each for a different form of Buddha or holy person) mumbling prayers and leaving cash and yak butter as they go. Some pay for the monks to write prayers for them to be executed at the next session. It was educational even if extracting information from our guide is like pulling teeth (he really isn’t enthusiastic).

After lunch at a resturant full of tourists (I suspect all the guides get a comm) we twisted Bob’s arm (he wanted the afternoon off) to take us out to Drepung monastery which is some distance out of town – so another expensive taxi (or two). Drepung was one of the largest at one stage and home to 10 000 monks but was mostly destroyed during the cultural revolution. It is being rebuilt and renovated at the moment – soon to become another typical Chinese tourist attraction. The most interesting part was the original kitchen with every surface and fixture stained black with soot. No taxis waiting when we finished meant we had to walk down to the main road but at least we were able to sneak (not really) onto a local bus for a ride back to town for one tenth the price of a taxi.

I have now had enough of temples but there are at least two more on the schedule for tomorrow. Back at the hotel we were not able to change our room so another sleepless night is waiting for us. We did however find a good dinner and our first ‘Bounty’ bar since Russia.

[Pictures: One of the main chapels and it’s courtyard at the Summer Palace. Back alleys and a Stupa at Drepung. No photos allowed inside the temples – unless you are willing to pay more ! ]

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This morning we woke to amazing scenery and clear blue skies. Endless grass plains with rolling hills and large lakes. The background is dotted with snow covered peaks. Truly beautiful. The train PA provides the occasional English announcement talking about the construction of the railway and what you can see on the way. A large portion was constructed on permafrost at great expense and is apparently the highest railway in the world (we passed the high point at over 5000m this morning). The compartments are equipped with emergency oxygen (we heard airflow at the valves but i think they try to pressurize it like a plane a little) and an announcement urged staying inside at the train stations even though it has an ‘oxygen production plant’ – whatever that is.

Dropping onto the Tibetan plateau there were patches of desert and a few station stops in between the engaging landscapes. 44 hours after leaving Chengdu we slid to a very smooth stop (the entire trip was very smooth) at Lhasa train station. The station is new (5 years old), immense and reminiscent of a scene from a James bond flick. Immediately obvious is the extra ‘official’ presence – Police, military and government all standing guard.

We were met by our guide (we’ll call him ‘Bob’ so he doesn’t get into any trouble if I report that he has told us things he shouldn’t have) who presented us with white Tibetan prayer scarves. They don’t seem to work… I instantly dropped the new camera to the parking lot floor – damit ! We boarded our ride – a solid old Toyota Land Cruiser that definitely looks the part – for the short trip into Lhasa. The place is nothing like what we had imagined. Four lane freeways, shiny new spaghetti interchanges and manicured traffic islands – a far cry from the atmospheric home of Tibetan Buddhism clinging to our minds. Our guide delivered us to some rather bad accommodation – but we had expected this as Lhasa is know for its crummy budget options. After settling in and a quick shower we set out with the girls for an early dinner along the main streets. Both the town and the meal did not impress but we were so hungry and tired it did not really matter.

[Pictures: More Landscaping – there be snowy mountains !]

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Fantastic news !!! I am now the exceptionally proud brother of a Bona fide Doctor (PhD). Not sure if there is some title I get just for being here – maybe like a Royalty thing ? ;). Kidding aside. Congratulations brother. We could not be more chuffed. Enjoy the success you have worked so hard to achieve. Wish we were there to help celebrate !

So… What’s Next ? 🙂

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We met the two girls who are sharing the expense with us at the hostel just before leaving for the train station. One is from Holland – a final year Med student who was born in Korea and lives in Holland. The other is a very young Lithuanian studying international business in Denmark – sounds like she and her family have spent their lives moving around Europe. So easy to get exposure to so many different cultures and languages growing up in Europe. The train station was business (chaos) as usual and we got to our train without hassles. It’s a newish train so is still clean and tidy. We are in ‘hard sleeper’ class again – open carriage bunks stacked 3 high. V and I had been booked two opposing bottom bunks – we prefer to be tucked away on higher ones but that is jut how it turned out. An old Tibetan looking lady arrived at our isle showing us her ticket. She had one of the top bunks (over 2m up) V was happy to trade with her. She was too sweet and ecstatic, even insisted on paying for the change (bottom bunks are more expensive). At 10 the lights went out plunging us unexpectedly into pitch darkness. With nothing else to do everyone turned in. We slept well.

Today was the first full day on the train. Nothing to do but sit back, relax and make a huge loop North and West (a very long way round). I attempted some audiobooks but the novelty of moving forward without being bounced and bruised encouraged me to nap just about all day. It was great. Overcast and rainy – perfect video weather but without working electrical sockets we had to ration WW eps. By late afternoon we had left the last of the big Chinese cities behind and darkness fell quickly over what looked like hilly tundra (something like the Karoo).

[Pictures: Landscaping]

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We’ve been hiding in our hostel room trying to recover for the past three days. I’m feeling much better but V’s is turning into a head cold. Besides watching too much ‘West Wing’ and listening to weird books (like Neil Gaimen’s ‘American Gods’) we have snuck out only to get essentials such as tea, biscuits & meds. Excursions are limited to a couple hours – after that we both start feeling horrid.

We’ve paid up our Tibet trip and made another change. We leave tomorrow night by train. It will take around 36 hours to get to Lhasa. After our 8 day tour we have booked a flight to Kunming (the cash we saved having two extra people join us has saved us from spending 3 nights on trains getting back to Kunming). We haven’t yet met the other two people – apparently two girls (from Belgium and Holland).

Yesterday we went on a bit of a mission to replace the camera. We hopped on a bus and headed South to the area known as ‘Digital Plaza’ (intersection of the first ring road and Ren Min Nan Lu). The place is incredible. Imagine a 6 storey mall with almost every square metre of floor space crammed with stalls and shops selling every piece of cool tech known to man. What a spot ! I could have blown our entire trip budget in 30 minutes. Walking around made us feel instantly better – it must have been all the excited electrons and wifi signals affecting our auras 🙂 We replaced our camera with exactly the same one (so I can pretend it never happened) for the same price we paid in Hong Kong. For sure we could have bargained it down but we were getting tired. One thing to note about the place – every time you go up a floor the price drops (and not by a little). I left there drooling. Across the street we found a strip of outdoor gear shops. Double bonus. Maybe not. Not the greatest selection of gear – mostly clothing.

On the we back to the hostel we stopped in at a pharmacy armed with some aids – photos of pill boxes that have worked before and a translation for Cortisone Cream – 氢化可的松（副肾荷尔蒙之一种）药膏 – from Google (I have got a nasty rash that is quite concerning). We entertained the pharmacy staff for 20 minutes before leaving with a pile of drugs – mission accomplished.

We only leave in the evening tomorrow so we have the day to get supplies for the train. Spotted a fancy bottle store the other day. Here’s hoping for a small bottle of decent Scotch.

[Pictures: There be a Mecca in there]

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We were dreading today. Another full day of road travel and we suspected that the minibus to Kanding would be as rough and uncomfortable as the last one. Sim is marginally better – still not at all well. We’ve seen the worst driver China has to offer and this morning we got into a much snazzier looking minibus that felt like it could go the distance. Pity the driver was the slowest and most inexperienced in the country.

We left the hostel at 8:30 but it was gone 9 by the time we actually left Tagong. Drivers tend to only leave when they have enough people so you end up waiting while they troll up and down the street yelling out their destination. Our one drove 10 metres then would stop, get out and have a conversation with some mates then repeat this process 3 or 4 times. We stopped in XinduQia and did the same thing. Our driver was incredibly slow (in more ways than one) and did not inspire confidence with his indicating when going round bends or slowing to a stroll when answering is cell. It must also have been a new vehicle – he stopped about 15 minutes from our destination and spent 20 minutes washing his van with all the passengers waiting patiently inside. In the end it took 3 hours to drive 100km! but at least he got us there and the roads were thankfully nice smooth brand new Tarmac.

Outside Kanding bus station we were immediately assaulted by a half dozen minibus drivers. We brushed them off and went into the bus station to buy tickets to Chengdu (Our LP indicating they leave every half hour and take 6 hours to get there). To our utter disbelief the only tickets available were for the following day. We really did not want to stay a night in Kanding so we went back outside, agreed to £20 each and braced ourselves for yet another minibus journey. It took another hour to fill the 2 mini-vans that were traveling in convoy. Ours was stuffed with 15 people (incl the driver) but it was a far more comfortable Hyundai people carrier.

As we got going it became clear that our driver was a real character. First thing he did once out of town was stop and change his number plates (fakes I guess) and add s Buddhist prayer ribbon to the front – yikes. He was a lunatic driver, chain smoker and cell user. Something like a SA taxi driver but without the carnage. He managed to hoot, nudge, shout and squeeze through some huge traffic jams and must have saved us hours of waiting (we did get completely stuck for 2 hours because of an accident though). After a stop for food and another disagreement with traffic we made it to a freeway and freedom. After removing the number plates completely our driver dropped the hammer and cranked up the stereo (only adding to Sim’s pain). We came to a screeching halt in Kunming 11 hours after leaving Tagong. A short taxi ride and we were lucky to find Mix Hostel (good thing V had picked up a map somewhere along the way). It was a very hard day again.

Seems all we have been writing about for ages now is long days on the road. We are seriously done with minibuses and have only one more long bus ride in China (the one from Kunming into Laos). Hopefully we’ll be able to write about cool things again and can leave the tales of bruised buts behind… for now !

On the up side. Sim is getting better. V is possibly getting a sniffle (but thankfully not flu) and Mix hostel found two more people to join us in Tibet which makes a big difference to the price. What’s next ?

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Sim is still feeling sick, so he has spent the day in bed staring at the funny creatures painted on the wall of our room, desperately hoping for his headache to go away and the fever to break. He managed to get some sleep and was feeling marginally better by the evening and coughing less.

I attempted to forage for supplies but was not entirely successfully. In my defense the dozen or so tiny spaza type shops were all selling the exact same things and there was not a lot to choose from. I spent the day holed up in the room with my love trying to nurse him back to health. The alternative would have been to go for a hike in the countryside on my own in the rain.

[Sim] My V was absolutely fantastic taking care of me and getting what we needed to survive – she is the best ! It was a really long crappy day drifting in and out of drug and virus induced comas. I was feeling so dizzy that the steep, narrow stairs down to the shower were a real danger. DuPont may have been interested in the stuff coming out of my lungs. It would have stuck to Teflon and confounded their scientists – no problem ! Not much else to say about the day. Was just bad and we want to get out of here but aren’t looking forward to more minibuses. I haven’t felt that sick in a very long time.

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What an absolutely atrocious day we have had. 7 hours of bone jarring traveling in minivans, Simon sick as a dog and the curse of the camera striking again.

It started out with Sim waking up with some sort of flu in the middle or the night. By morning it had developed into the worse case he has had in years. He was feeling horrible, but we were desperate to get out of Litang so instead of bundling Sim into bed for the day we chose to move on. It must have been from the bed – The sheets did not look clean and possibly the previous tenant on Sim’s bed was a day away from death.

Change of plan with the mini driver telling us he could only take us to Yajiang. We would have to transfer to another bus once we got there. It took us 3.5 hours to travel along 140km of very bumpy road that rollercoastered up and down mountains. We are getting bored describing how bad the roads are in China – let’s just say that in a mini-van with ‘go-kart’ sized wheels they feel far worse than in a bus. About an hour into the ride the driver took on more passengers so in addition to us and the two monks already in the van 4 more people plus luggage were added. The 4 of us sitting on the back bench made the remainder of the even more uncomfortable and cramped.

When we arrived at Yajiang we were bundled into another minibus controlled by the most sadistic madman in transportation and sandwiched between 6 other passengers plus a toddler. So again there were 4 of us on the back seat. But his time there was no room for our packs anywhere except on our laps. I cannot describe how awful this part of the trip was, more so for poor Sim who was already feeling like death without having a further 2 hours of what I can only call torture.

We bounced over every bump, lump and pothole in the road, our bums repeatedly leaving the seats and heads frequently hitting the roof. The driver didn’t give a damn about slowing down or trying to avoid any of the sharper jolts and indeed seemed to take delight when our heads hit the roof of the van. Sim, who had been quite all day with his eyes closed save for the odd groan, broke silence swearing loudly at the driver every time he crunched full tilt into an obstacle. We hope he understood the English. He deserved every curse. [Sim: I would loved to have smashed his stupid little face through a windscreen by the end of the trip]. We passed through towns along a vicious raging river that was frightfully at at eye-level from time to time. The kind of scenes you see on CNN when there is footage of an apartment complex collapsing into a river. Along sections the military where out rebuilding sections of the road and reinforcing the dykes as traffic continued to weave past. It was a very bad experience. By the time we reached XinduQiao it felt like our someone had pulverized us with a jack hammer. We would have been in better shape if we had spent 4 hours in the ring with an angry Mike Tyson ! Plus we were severely dehydrated as it was impossible to do anything except hold on for dear life. By far the worst part of our journey so far.

We sat on our packs on the pavement barely a metre from where the driver dropped us off and had to gather ourselves, eat and drink before searching for a ride to our final destination. Simon was by now feeling completely knackered but the end was almost in sight. Just another 30 or 40 km to go to Tagong.

This time thankfully there was some recently constructed super smooth concrete to drive on part of the way. It was bliss. I even managed to enjoy a little bit of scenery along the way. Lots of hills with thousands of colourful prayer flags, beautiful looking houses. It was just pretty.

Tagong is a bit ugly but a vast improvement on Litang. About 5 minutes after arriving Sim realized he didn’t have the camera on him. Usually it gets clipped to the day pack but he had unclipped it to take a photo and somewhere between getting in the van and taking our jackets off neither of us thought to clip it back on. Both knackered from the long drive neither of us noticed we had dropped it in the van until it was too late 🙁 The driver had carried on along the road and we spent about 2.5 hours waiting at the side of the road hoping to spot him on his way back. No such luck 🙁

We think we have backed up all the photos up till Shangrila and we don’t think we took too many of interest after that. It’s just so depressing to have gone through 3 cameras in just over 3 months. Sim feeling so sick is feeling particularly bad about losing the camera this way. I guess we are going to have to buy another camera, in Chengdu probably. We are both annoyed and saddened over this.

Sim is finally in bed dosed up with whatever meds we could find in our packs. The hostel, although better than Litang’s, is very basic and not really comfortable. No Internet, no electric blanket, shared bathroom. We will see how Sim feels in the morning. If he feels up to it we will try to move onto Chengdu as quickly as possible where we can be guaranteed some comfort for him to recuperate properly (and me if I catch whatever he has by then). If he is still really bad, a solid day in bed will be better for him.

Taking a loop north to get back to Chengdu has been a total disaster. The places are supposed to be amazing for views and day walks but we have been plagued with terribly cold and wet weather. The travel time and conditions are also so bad that you need time to recuperate in between each leg but we are on a tight schedule and can’t stop long. Add to that getting flu at over 4000m and losing our camera – you see what I mean !

[Pictures: Prayer flags on the hills above Tagong – construction cranes in the foreground – typical]

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Up early and waiting for the minibus to Litang. After being picked up the driver decided to pfaff around for half an hour sorting out one of his tires (they jacked the car and replaced the tires with all the passengers inside – but not as fast as an F1 pit stop). We got going eventually. The road was a little bumpy but not too bad. Would have been some nice scenery along the way but the weather was still being uncooperative. The young Israeli couple that were at the same hostel last night were very quiet. Sim asked them about their military service. They had been in intelligence and were not allowed to talk about it. We left it at that fearing that if they told us more they would have to kill us.

Arriving in Litang after 3 hours or so we checked into Peace Hotel which was a grubby little place down the road from the bus station. From our research we had been led to believe that there wouldn’t be anything better so we settled for it (When will we learn to check more than one spot ?!)

Litang, one of the highest cities in the world and an important place in Tibetan Buddhism (a couple of Lamas were born here – the Dali kind, not the ones with 4 legs), is described as one of the most atmospheric stops on the Sichuan-Tibet highway, ‘more Tibetan than tibet’ and a true treasure. It looked horrible. Construction causing chaos everywhere, pigs and yaks roaming the streets. Apparently atmospheric actually means poverty stricken dump that requires a 4×4 to safely commute down main street. Reports say it’s nice once you get out of town and into the hills but since it was still overcast, drizzly and freezing cold, that wasn’t going to happen for us. We wanted to move on, as far as we could which meant a bus to Kanding.

We immediately headed for the bus station to buy a ticket. When we eventually found the station turns out everyone was at lunch. We went to lunch ourselves at a smart looking Tibetan restaurant. Can’t say the food was that memorable. Back to the bus station we hung around the window until 2 people who appeared to work there arrived. One of them opened the window but then went and sat back down to carry on with washing her clothes in a bowl. Eventually the other one decided she felt like breaktime was over and seemed to come to the window. We were right at the front of the window but another woman immediately pushed in and ordered 4 tickets to somewhere. The ticket lady took 10 minutes to issue those 4 tickets I kid you not. I have never seen anyone work so slowly. First they all had to be given the official red stamp (nothing in china is official without some sort of red stamp on it) then she had to initial every one then count them all twice, then tear them off of the pad, fill in some other form, count them all again and pause every now and then to say something to her mate doing the washing. It was ridiculous. Then finally after the buyer had handed over her money, a monk tried to shove in front of us. Simon, fed up by now, promptly shoved him back out of the way. Think he was pretty surprised by this.

We eventually were told through the usual sign language that there were no tickets for tomorrows bus only for the day after. We could not bear the thought of staying in this cruddy looking town and went back to the hotel to ask Long life (the guy who runs the hotel) for advice.

We got chatting to a nice Israeli bunch that were on their way to Daocheng. They had come from Tagong and Danba which was where we were aiming for next. Even gave us a detailed map of the province and some advice to get off at XinduQiao instead of Kanding. We in turn recommended the hostel in Daocheng and the stone forest when they reached Kunming. It was a pleasant exchange.

Long life told us he could organize a ride in a minibus to XinduQiao the next morning for about £8 each which seamed reasonable. That organized we set of to go see the only sight in town, the tibetan buddhist monastery. It was a pleasant walk just outside town past interesting buildings and polite locals who all greeted us. A couple of cheeky kids dived into Simon’s pockets expecting sweets but were sorely disappointed to find nothing at all. [sim: I felt like swatting them – really annoying]

We reached the monastery, which was huge, in the drizzle, took a photo and took a slow walk back through the main part of town which turned out to be larger than we thought it was. Lots of monks around, on motorbikes too which always cracks me up for some reason. Tibetans swinging prayer wheels, and people working away fixing, making, cooking or selling things as usual. It was a nice enough afternoon walk but it was getting chilly (we were at 4000m after all) and we headed back to our hotels fly infested communal area for a hot chocolate.

We had dinner at Potala guest house which had gotten a lot of bad reviews but looked a lot better than the place we were in. Sim had a yak pie thing and I had cheese dumplings that were a bit odd in taste and texture (they come with a sort of condensed milk type dip) but were edible.

We retired to our room which thankfully had electric blankets though how they expect people to plug both blankets in when there is only one plug socket I don’t know. [sim: hehe. They didn’t expect me to have my own adapter – problem solved] We went to bed content in the knowledge that we had been to Litang and would be leaving the next day.

[Pictures: Useless bus station staff doing their laundry and the monastery complex entrance gate]

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Well we didn’t get our shower last night. Just after the power came back on the water was cut off – no idea why. We were up just after 5 to get a taxi to the bus station. It was way to early for us and I was feeling terribly groggy as we waited for the bus station to open – we were the first people there. Within a few minutes a local arrived. He was way too happy and talkative for that time in the morning but the smell of booze offered some explanation. Next to arrive in the dark on the steps was a food vendor. His bike trailer was packed with food, snacks, pots and stoves already burning. Our new drunk/happy friend insisted on buying us some steaming hot corn on the cob. We ate it with long teeth weary of the 12 hr bus ride ahead and the consequences of street food (in retrospect is was very good, and safe).

Seats 1&2 were extremely uncomfortable due to the layout of this particular bus – it was going to be a long day. The 3 hour ride up the Shangrila gorge was on good, if windy and narrow, roads. We tried to snooze without luck – good thing too because the scenery was amazing (even though it was overcast and drizzly). The driver was kind enough to stop so all the guys on board could have a pee break, a kilometer or so later he stopped for the girls. Around 10am we pulled into a stop in a little village so the driver could get some food and fill a water tank in the bus. The fun was about to start !

Shortly after leaving the village the road turned into a narrow dirt track which quickly became very steep and very slippery. The recent rain had turned the already bad dirt road to slush. The bus occasionally bopped, shimmied and slid as the wheels battled to find traction. I spent a good portion of the climb with muscles tensed and not at all distracted by podcasts as our driver relished in his ability to get precariously close to the unprotected edge of the road. The higher we climbed the steeper and worse the road got. Eventually we got stuck behind some bogged-down trucks. A chance to breathe ! Nope. As soon as we started moving again our driver decided to overtake the trucks on the perilous side of a road that I think is worse than the one in Bolivia. At the top of the pass (around 4300m :gps:[GPS]::28.57774::99.82734:gps:) we pulled over at an incredibly beautiful spot – towering mountains in all directions. The bus (driver included) emptied instantly as passengers scurried to relieve their bladders after the ordeal. It was worth it for the views in spite of the weather.

The cloud started to clear for the trip down and the road condition improved drastically. It almost seemed like we had driven to Morocco from the look of the buildings. Large trapezoids built from mud/clay bricks. Some painted white and most with brightly coloured doors and windows. Typical Chinese faces are almost as rare as western ones. While winding through valleys and criss-crossing rivers the landscape started to flatten out into wide plains still surrounded in the distance by mountains. We stopped at a police checkpoint in a small village and for the first time were asked for our passports. No trouble. More beautiful climbs and descents occupied the rest of the afternoon. 11 butt-breaking hours after we set off we pulled into the bus station in Daocheng feeling completely spent.

Getting off the bus we were surrounded by touts wanting to supply accommodation and/or transport. We just needed space to get our bearings and think for a bit but they would not take a hint. I ended up losing it (just a little) as we strided away from the madness. V was also on the receiving end of my mood but she knows how to handle me :). It didn’t take long to secure a room at a cool looking hostel we had seen advertised in Shangrila (Here Cafe). Built from mud bricks and wood, the ground level has loose stone pebbles on an earth floor with thoughtful authentic decor (except for the 20″ iMac and MacBook Air for Internet access – no complaint from me). The internal second floor is all wood and houses basic, but acceptable bedrooms. We dumped our gear and went for a stroll around town. Tiny, with only one major street, we walked looking for something interesting. Not too much was going on except to say that this place has a lot of mushrooms ! Huge bins full of them. Even clothing stores had racks of shrooms drying in their entrances.

Realizing how tired we were we headed back for food, the first shower in 2 days and bed (we didn’t care that it was hard). The weather is not looking at all promising so we won’t go to Yangding national park tomorrow, instead we’ll push on to Litang.

[Pictures: The cloud covered view from the top and V outside our hostel in Daocheng]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

It was even more difficult to get up today. Colder, wetter and no electricity in the city meant no hot water for a shower, no lights in our damp cave and no Internet connection – oh the humanity. The weather called for not only our fleeces, but jackets too.

Finding breakfast was a bit of a pain with most of the restaurants unable to function without power. Luckily our local hangout (Noah Cafe) is on the way to the bus station and they were still able to serve an excellent meal. We have acquired tickets to Daocheng for 7am tomorrow morning ! Seat numbers 1&2 which means we were the first to book, or the only ones crazy enough to risk the trip in this weather – hope we don’t end up having to push the bus out of the mud !

The rain has limited what can be done around here. It’s perfect video weather save for the lack of electricity. V found a book in the hostel and by the time she was half way through it we were both getting really cold. We headed back out into the rain in search of hot chocolate and cake in a warm cafe. This combination proved elusive so we stopped in at a supermarket to stock up for tomorrow’s bus-a-thon. As fortune would have it the supermarket is next to Noah Cafe. I think we now qualify as regulars. Hot chocolate and chocolate pancakes in a warm cafe… close enough. Before long I was falling asleep at the table as V ploughed through her book.

We got back to the hostel and with nothing to do had a snooze while hoping the power would come back on. About an hour ago we started packing up in the pitch dark of our room using our headlamps – this is what it must be like to live in Northern Finland during winter without electricity. The cold and humidity here collaborate to create a weird damp climate that causes steam to rise in the beam of my headlamp when I pee. Fearing the worst (no hot water for a shower) I started making a shower based on V’s design out of a 2l water bottle. We prepared a large flask of boiling water this mornig for tea, but a shower is more important. As I completed initial tests V open our bedroom door to discover the power was back on ! We have no idea how long we were unnessesarily clambering around in the dark for. LOL.

To celebrate the return of electricity, internet and hot water we are off out to find some type of yak meat to devour. Possibly no net for the next few days.

[Pictures: Noah Cafe’s mascot taking a keen interest in V’s book]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi