The last of China.

Much of our long drives days this time involved a lot of driving around narrow mountain clinging roads hanging over raging rivers. The scenery was beautiful and stunning but hard going at about a maximum possible speed of 15km per hour due to the steep roads which were almost just dirt.    

One of the roads had 72 switchbacks taking us up to an altitude of 4618m.

 

 

 

We arrived in Lijaing on Sunday the 25th of September. We stayed in a nice hotel for three nights. It was nice to stay in the one spot for a few days. The Old town of Lijiang is cool with lots of very narrow little roads and alleys with clean streams running through the town. It is quite touristy but it has a nice feel about it and the traditional architecture is what makes it.

We were able to take our time in Lijiang and just catch up on stuff like the internet (China does not allow access to Facebook or our blog site), enjoy some nice local food, we also sent some parcels home of souvenirs and winter clothes that we would no longer need along the way, which was handy. Also got to make phone calls to the bank and home.

                                                                                                           

 

                                                                                 

On Tuesday the 27th of September we left Lijiang and drove to Dali. On the way we stopped at the Chongshen temple and three pagodas. Glen wasn't too interested so I went in with a few others from the group. It was interesting big place. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

 

 

We then went on to the town of Dali where we stayed the night. We had a large lunch/dinner with our driver Will at one of the local restaurants and then wandered around the old town. It would have been nice to spend another day here but unfortunately the Chinese government had other plans.

Our last two days in China were drive days. One night we ended up camping in a grave yard. We also had our first tent blow out when part of our roof pole snapped but luckily some people in the group had some spare bits and pieces so that we could repair it.

We left China on the 30th of September 2011 and crossed over to Laos.

Tibet the land of the prayer flag.

So we left Kashgar on the 8th of September and drove for 12hours.

The 9th of September we drove for 14hours we got a flat tyre.  

10th of September drove 12 hours.

11th September 12hours drive day. Got stuck in a traffic jam due to a break down for about 1 hour.

12th September, YAY we got to do some sight seeing. We went to the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuong. These are caves that have been painted and decorated with statues by monks. The worlds third largest Buddha was here-32m. It was a pretty cool place but we were not allowed to take photos in the caves….booooo

Yay finally we arrive in Tibet and we saw some prayer flags!!!!! On the 13th of September we started to climb in altitude in our driving and at our first high pass point we saw prayer flags and snow. It was 4767m above sea level and we were all short of breath! That night we bush camped at an altitude of 4500m and it was freezing. It even sleeted on our tent during the night and in the morning I had my torch on in the tent and it was all sparkly on the inside due to the frost and ice crystals on the inside…..pretty but bloody COLD.

Wednesday the 14th of September was a killer. A lot of people felt really crap due to the altitude. I think Glen and I were pretty lucky with just the breathlessness and an occasional dull headache. Some people were finding it difficult to even walk around and do normal stuff.

Thursday the 15th of September we finally made it to LHASA!!! This is where we were able to have a shower as it had been 6 days since our  last ahhhhh it was so good.

That night we went out for Norman’s birthday to dinner. Here he is in the Birthday outfit.

16th of September. 17 of us decided to make the extra trip to see Mount  Everest and visit Everest base camp. We were in a 19 seated van thing with a driver and a Tibetan guide. We drove to Shigatse where we had our lunch stop. We also had a bit of extra time to wander when our guide was organising permits. Here there is a large monastery and so we watched the monks walk buy as well as people praying and holding the prayer wheels and prayer beads as they walked past.

We then drove on to New Tingiri and stayed in a hotel the night. There were no showers and the toilets were communal which consisted literally of a room which had a concrete floor and a hole in the floor to go to the toilet in.

17th of September. One long long day. We started our next leg at 6am. We drove up the epic dirt road 102klm of winding mountain road towards Everest base camp at a speedy rate of about 15km/hour. We stopped at 9am in a small town for Himalayan pancakes which are pancakes with an egg cooked into them. They were very nice. We stopped a few times on the road to take photos of the Epic mountain but we did not arrive at Everest base camp till 2pm. The Mountain itself is incredible and well worth seeing for your own eyes. I thought the base camp was a bit of a let down. Glen said he thought it was cool. I guess I just expected a little bit more….I don't know. I actually had to clarify with the guide that this was the actual base camp and not just another photo stop point haha. Anyway we were there for about 1`hour taking photos etc and I bought some prayer flags and hung them up there so that was cool.

We sent our postcards from the highest post box in the world and then left Everest at 4pm for our long drive back to Shigatse. We arrived at our hotel in Shigatse at 1:30am. EPIC. I actually thought I was going to loose my mind in the last hour or so before arriving we were all just totally exhausted and strung out.

18th of September. Glen and I dragged our sorry selves up at 7:30am to go and visit the Tashilhunpo monastery in Shigatse. We are very very glad we did because it was very cool. We visited the chapels which had pilgrims visiting, praying, giving their offerings and chanting. The monks were in each chapel looking after everything. One of the chapels had the worlds largest gilded Buddha statue inside which was awesome and there were yak butter candles lit up.

                                               

 

We then drove back to Lhasa and arrived around 5pm in the evening. Glen and I went and walked around the Jokhang in the Barkhor area of Lhasa. Here people do a pilgrimage clockwise around the Jokhang temple. People with prayers wheels, prayer beads, prostrating monks and people amongst tourists and markets stalls selling anything from prayer flags to t-shirts. Its a very busy area and lots to see and take in.

We had dinner in a restaurant which had a few monks dinning in it…so it must be good. We had a dish of BBQ’d yak meat which was tasty.

On the 19th of September we visited Potala Palace, where the Dalai Lama resided until he was driven out and over to the safety of India. It was a cool place but again unfortunately no photos were allowed inside. We saw his throne, mediatation room, meeting room etc. The rest of the day was filled with souvenir shopping until we had to leave at midday with the truck.

Another long stint of drive days were to follow to get to our next stop Lijiang.

Kieran

Kyrgyzstan the final stan.

We arrived  in Kyrgyzstan on the  27th of August and left to cross into China on the 6th of September.

Our first stop was in the capital Bishkek where we stayed in a dorm in a home stay.  We paid a visit to the local pubs and a restaurant dedicated to U.S President Obama! It  was then on to the more picturesque areas of the country. 

Our next stop was a bush camp near lake Issyk - Kol. This lake is 170km long and 70km wide. Its so deep it never freezes and is the 2nd biggest alpine lake in the world. It is also said to have a Loch Ness type monster in it! Snow capped mountains surround the lake.

The next place we visited was called Kora Kol where I had to purchase some more walking shoes as I  left mine at the home stay in Bishkek. This was a very small town but had a busy market hiding behind the quiet main streets.

Our next bush camp was at 7 Bulls Gorge (Jeli- Oguz). We spent two nights here camped next to a stream. We went for a 6 hour walk on the second day though the gorge over the rushing rivers, and up into the pine forest. There were people who lived in yurts here and many horses wandering about. We visited a waterfall and enjoyed the stunning views of the gorge.

  We then made our way to Lake Song-Kol, we had a night bush camping on the way where some locals took photos of us as well as blatantly stared and watched us eat our dinner. This is still very weird but we are getting used to it as it seems to be a common occurrence, I guess these tiny towns and rural places don't get many tourists especially ones in a huge orange truck!

 

 

 

 

Lake Song – Kol was beautiful. Here we stayed in Yurts, which was really cool. When we arrived at the yurts the men were skinning and gutting a goat which was cool. As soon as the sun went down it was freezing cold and we were at approx 3000m above sea level. There were 5 to 6 people in a yurt and we slept on mats like mattresses on the floor. It was warm and cosy.

    

We had our lunch made by the owners of the Yurts whilst here for the two days and was able to try horse milk which was a very odd  taste. Very Smokey and sort of sour. Nothing like cows milk. We all sampled it but could only manage a small sip each.

 

 

 

Around the yurts it was so pretty and it was nice to be able to relax and just enjoy the surroundings. There were horses, goats, sheep, and cows around the place, as well as some cute children. Many a photo was taken here.

We spent another 2 nights bush camping in Kyrgyzstan. Every bush camp we have had here has been in amongst stunning scenery either snow capped mountains, lakes and/or fast flowing streams.

 

Kieran

btw this was meant to be posted before China.

China the first stop.

Tuesday the 6th of September we were there for two nights.

So as I think I may have mentioned  previously the Chinese government prevented us from entering China for 5 days and also made us enter from a different border crossing which really was annoying to say the least, as not only was our time cut shorter but we now would not be going through the area of Everest base camp and our whole route was messed up.

Our Chinese border crossing went pretty smoothly according to our guide Lu, who has previously experienced some epic Chinese border crossings before. They can be very strict and search bags for Tibet related material etc.

Our first stop in China was Kashgar. We stayed in a hotel here for two nights and had our first experience of real Chinese food. SUPER SPICY!!!! We stopped in this little place off the street and pointed at some pictures of noodle dishes on the wall and tried it out. Glen’s was hot mine was mega hot but it was still very yummy and it really was very expensive at £1.80 for the two meals. NOT.

We explored Kashgar and its grand bizarre and old town before making our epic stint of 7 days of driving and bush camping headed for Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.   Kieran