Travelling the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway
I reached Lhasa on Sept 19. We left Kashgar as a group of four: the Catalans Imma & Pep, me and Joe from Switzerland. On the 2nd day out of Kashgar a few km’s down the road from Yarkand, we Claude, the Yakman. The perfect time for a break to hang out with this bike-celebrity. The usual bike-traveller chit-chat started and when the topic came to broken rims, I mentioned that my back wheel was behaving funny since Tajikistan. Claude mentioned that he had cracked several rims on his seven year Round the world trip, so we had a closer look and discovered a crack on the rim’s braking surface. I removed tyre, inner tube and rim tape to find out that there was another crack inside in the middle of the rim underneath the rim tape, covering the distance of 5 spoke holes! I didn’t like the idea of backtracking to Kashgar, but it was too close and had a fairly well stocked bike shop. The next place with a slight chance to buy a decent rim would be Lhasa, about 2000km away. It would be questionable if the broken rim would last, especially as the road ahead would be one of the worst to be found on this planet.
So I spent the night in Yarkand and took a bus to Kashgar and paid another visit to the Giant bike shop the next day. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any rims strong enough as I would have liked them to be, so I had to improvise: I rebuild both of my wheels, using the former front rim now in the back wheel and the new rim in the front wheel. There is less stress on the front wheel, so it doesn’t need to be as strong as the back wheel. Fortunately the Spoke length was compatible to the new rim and, as it was Saturday afternoon, and the staff had not been too busy, I could use the shop’s truing stand. After 4 hours I was finished and went to the hotel. The next day I caught a bus back to Yarkand and hit the road towards Yecheng (Karghilik), the town from where Highway 219, the notorious Xinjiang-Tibet Highway started…
2 days cycling equals 200km’s at best, but rather less. That was the distance I had to compensate to catch up with the other guys. The Tarmac ended after 100kms, from now on it was mostly gravel road. I met a Chinese mountain biker which I had already seen and tried to talk to in Yarkand, but he didn’t speak any English. It happened that we cycled together with for a few days, but it was difficult. Communication was an issue. Another issue was his equipment and his attitude: he was carrying camping gear only for emergency cases, and was not really keen on camping. There are dormitories available in towns along the way and road worker stations in between, but I didn’t like to stay in those places. Partly because they were filthy, partly because I had to pay for something which I otherwise could have had for free. Why? First, camping doesn’t cost anything, second, The locals were Uigurs and naturally they didn’t like their occupiers. They have to cooperate, but certainly they don’t have to like them and host them for free. Additionally I wanted to avoid staying in places because of the PSB. Foreign visitors, need a special travel permit to travel in certain regions of China, but these are usually only available to groups because of the Chinese tourism polices. I also did not want to plan my days in terms of having to reach a certain place at a certain time or stay in a place if I feel like moving further on a bit.
In Dahongliutan, last town before the Aksai Chin Plateau, I met the others again. They were staying at the local road workers settlement, in their own room, given to them by the friendly Uigur roadworkers. I joined them, my Chinese friend decided to stay at a Han-Chinese place. When travelling in China, one has to remember, that only a small part of the country is ethnically Han Chinese (the “real” Chinese), whereas large parts have been and still are populated with Muslims, Tibetans and minority peoples. The government encourages Han Chinese people to settle in other parts of the country, but that doesn’t mean the locals have much sympathy for them, as I mentioned before. The next day we headed for the Aksai Chin Plateau, a high plateau, which doesn’t drop below 4800m (approx. 15800ft) for a distance of 120kms. Imma and Pep speeded off, me and Joe took it easier and the Chinese guy decided to chase all of us.
He caught up and passed us when we were having lunch break, pushing up the pass as he always did since I met him. The next day Imma & Pep left early and we didn’t see them until we reached Darchen, the gateway town to Mt Kailash. The Chinese guy also headed off before us, we didn’t see him until we reached the town of Domar. When Joe and I reached Ali, it felt great to be back to civilization and to enjoy such things as taking hot showers, eating tasty food and sleeping in a comfortable bed. The next day we went to the PSB to obtain an “Alien Travel Permit”, allowing us to travel Tibet legally, otherwise we would be exposed to all kinds of risks like getting fined or even sent back, which would mean we would have to bypass checkpoints if possible or dodge them at night if bypassing would not be possible.
After a rest day we took off heading further in the direction of Darchen/Mt Kailash. Mt. Kailash is considered the holiest place for four major religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and the pre-Buddhist Bön religion. The mountain is circumnavigated in a so called Kora, with the most faithful prostrating themselves the entire distance of 54kms and over a 5660m (18600ft) pass. We did the Kora in 2 days. Ordinary trekking tourists usually take 3 days, Tibetans, except for the ones prostrating themselves, 1 day, because they can’t afford accommodation. Extensive cycling doesn’t necessarily mean one is doing equally well in walking, so we left Darchen after a desperately needed rest day.
A little later we met Imma & Pep again, together with a couple from Tasmania. Perhaps I was pushing it a bit as I was dreaming of crossing the entire width of Tibet on my three-month visa, but 3 days later Joe told me he wanted to continue solo. We had got along really well on a personal level, but he was slower than me (in my eyes) carrying a lot of unnecessary items, which slowed him down a bit. Well, we were both sad to say good-bye, but did it in a respectful way. At least it wasn’t a personal issue apart from the desire to be on one’s own. So I caught up with the Tassies and cycled with them for a few days, but travelling with couples is always a bit difficult and they were pushing it even more than me.
So I let go. 4 days after the town of Saga I reached the Friendship Highway at Chawu and finally tarmac again, all the way to Lhasa! Now that Lhasa was so close and aspirations to reach this place and with it the amenities of civilisation had grown stronger, I pushed it even more and cycled the remaining 450kms in 3,5 days, when I finally got to see the famous landmark of the Potala Palace!
As a summary, cycling the western Tibet Highway was an awesome experience! Some of the highest road-passes in the world, remoteness, unique people, blue skies and mostly bad roads – a challenge for mind and body, but a place I am dreaming to go to back to ever since!
