Lhasa to Yunnan

I had planned to stay five days or so but in the end left Lhasa after almost two weeks. I had caught a cold with a strong cough and cycling without being well didn’t sound like a good idea. The cough was persistent, though after a couple of days when I felt fit enough I decided that there was no point in hanging out for another week, so I hit the road hoping it would vanish with some exercise. Lhasa is a great place to hangout and I could have easily stayed for another month or two, but the winter was approaching and my visa was about to expire – and try was no way to get an extension in Tibet. So I left on the 2nd of October. The first part of the road was flat, and then climbed steadily up the Mila La to an altitude of about 5010m (16450ft).

A long descend followed which lasted for some hundred km’s until the road climbed up the 2nd pass behind the town of Bayi, a newly built Chinese town, and best avoided because of potential trouble with the PSB. In general the scenery in Eastern Tibet is completely different from the west, green and lots of trees, somewhat like in Scandinavia. From Serkhyim La, the 2nd pass, the road dropped down from about 4500m (14800ft) to less than 2000m (6560ft) into the Brahmaputra valley. Further up one could see settlements that could be mistaken for ones in Switzerland, Austria or Bavaria. It was quite humid and in some parts there was a serious problem with leeches in the underwood when leaving the road. I didn’t have any, I had been warned and passed this area within a day anyway. What followed was a long climb up to the 3rd pass, Ngajuk La, again almost 4500m (14800ft). In the next town, Baxoi, I slept the first time in a hotel since I left Lhasa.

This was due to the special circumstances that accompany travelling in Tibet: officially it’s illegal to travel individually or without a travel permit, which individuals can’t get for Eastern Tibet anyway. And because of this I didn’t want to get in trouble with the PSB until I had made it at least half the way to Yunnan-Province. I have chosen to camp whenever possible (I usually prefer camping over paid accommodation anyway). From Baxoi the road dropped again into the valley of another big stream: the Salween River. From here, it was a climb of about 2000 vertical meters (6560ft) on unsealed road up to my favourite pass, the Game La.

It was a long tough climb, and further up there was no place so crash safely, so I pushed on. At 9pm, it was already dark for at least an hour, I had finally managed to reach top, immediately pitched the tent and fell asleep without having dinner. The next morning began with a downhill on tarmac to the town of Zhogang. What I had expected to be an easy day turned out to be more strenuous than climbing the pass the day before: lots of road construction, annoying kids who regarded me as some kind of entertainment, and headwind. Worst of all, I dropped my camera which made the lens stuck, so I couldn’t take any pictures any more. That sucked pretty much!

When arriving in Zhogang I was pretty exhausted and therefore didn’t care about the PSB. I checked in a quite expensive hotel (the only one) to relax for a few hours – there was no suitable camp spot before Zhogang anyway. After I had checked out the room, I saw police down in the backyard… I thought… and yes I was right, they came for me! The receptionist approached me and took me down to meet them. They demanded to see my passport and started asking questions which was funny because I still didn’t speak Chinese apart from numbers and they didn’t speak much English. Furthermore, the receptionist also spoke only very little english. I told them that I was going to Yunnan, but it seemed, that they were not PSB interested in my illegal status, but just ordinary police satisfying their curiosity.

In the morning after I had left the hotel and bought some supplies I was greeted by headwind and another 5000m+ pass on unsealed road was waiting for me. This time it was quite a struggle, but once I had made it, I was amazed once again, how far one can push oneself if the mind is adjusted in the right way! As tmy camera was broken, I didn’t bother remaining on the chilly top for long and went downhill as fast as possible (actually pretty slow…) to reach some warmer regions. I didn’t like to stay in any of the villages I passed through, so I camped a few hundred meters behind a small village on a harvested field. The next morning the day started with another climb, but this time a minor one. On the other side the road dropped down into the Mekong Valley with some gorgeous views!

Down at the shores of the Mekong a small town with the barrier across the road. Pushing my bike I ducked underneath and was greeted by a friendly policeman. In the shops I bought some supplies and decided to have lunch in the restaurant, when a mixed group of Chinese and Tibetans invited me. This was quite interesting because it had never happened to me before that I was invited by locals in China, and also because I had never before seen Tibetans and Chinese who were obviously friends or at least didn’t mind each others company! After I was finished with lunch and just about to continue, an older Chinese guy walked up to me gesturing that there would be some cyclists staying at a somewhat camp site further down the road. It turned out that it was Patrick and Sophie from Holland, and the place they stayed was something I would have never expected to find in this area: a nice park with shady trees, perfectly well kept lawn and even a swimming pool – I am pretty sure that there’s no other place like this in Tibet!

Two cyclists, nice locals and a perfect camp spot – it was not difficult to call it a day. But Patrick and Sophie had to leave the next day and I crossed the Mekong, followed by another long climb up a double pass which ultimately lead to the town of Gartog/Markham, a key location for every Tibet traveller. Having heard lots of stories of people travelling in the other direction, who where visited by the PSB in the middle of the night, interrogated, fined and sent back to where they came or worse, been deported, I was excited how this town would be. For me, as I only had two cycling days left to cross the provincial border into Yunnan Province, and with it being legal again, there was no need for them to cause me major trouble. On the other hand, I wouldn’t have liked to pay a fine, now that I almost made it without any trouble. After I had found a cheap hotel I went for a stroll around town. At a corner, I was trying to decide where to go next, I was stopped by the police! They demanded to see my passport, and after handing it out, the officer browsed the pages with a serious, expressionless face. Then, one of them who spoke a little English, explained that they would like me to be their guest and to have diner with them! A basic conversation developed when the head of the Police even wanted to host me at his house for the night!

After Markham the road led through some villages populated with people kids and adults sporting strange behaviour. Approaching them, they smiled but once one had passed them, stones were hailed. It didn’t happen to me, but later on I met cyclists who experienced this. The only strange experience I made was a little kid throwing his big plastic toy truck right in front of my bike when moving. What for? To raise attention? To do me harm? I don’t know, these are the moments when I deeply regret that I’m not able to speak their language. In the afternoon I climbed the final pass on Tibetan soil. From halfway up it was all road construction, which, as a cyclist I doesn’t bother me much, I can’t go faster uphill anyway. The, when I reached the top, I was greeted with gale-force winds. I descended a bit and the wind was gone. Soon after, I found a nice camp spot with a beautiful view on the snow-capped peaks of the Meili-range. The next morning was downhill through 40km of road construction, until I finally crossed the provincial border of Yunnan. I was really annoyed a great deal that my camera didn’t work any more. The scenery was just spectacular. The Mekong and big mountains with huge glaciers which sometimes appeared as close as if one could touch them when reaching out with one’s hand. From here I had three more passes to go to reach Zhongdian, the place where I could get the desperately needed visa-extension – a big triple pass and 2 minors, with 50km of downhill down to the banks of the Yangtze River inbetween.