Blogs from Friendship Highway, Tibet, China, Asia
October 13th 2011
Hi Everybody! In this blog, I am going to let the photos tell the story. I am starting with the train from Ulan Bator. The landscape changed many times as we traveled across the Gobi Desert to Beijing. Walt thought that it would be better if I published the blogs for Beijing and Tibet after leaving China. The Communist government blocks many internet sites including Facebook, Firefox, newspaper sites, and many others. The people are very kind especially the service workers that you come in contact with at hotels, restaurants, etc. Yet, these people have a fear of their superiors, the police, the military, etc. They do not want to be the center of attention. Sometimes, they would not take a tip if their supervisor was watching but would gladly take it in private. Police and ... read more
October 9th 2011
So, nach etwas längerer Internetpause hier wieder ein neuer Eintrag mit dem ersten Teil der etwas verspäteten Tibet Fotos. TIBET IST DAS DACH DER WELT!!! Und nach Tibet gehen die Drachen zum schlafen, zumindest hatte es den Anschein wenn ich mir die Bergformationen immer betrachtet habe. Eine unglaublich schöne Landschaft breitete sich aus ab dem Zeitpunkt wo man den Friendship Highway von Kathmandu (Nepal) befährt. Alle paar Kilometer verändert sich das Bild dieses Landes. Zuerst ging es mit dem Jeep bis zur Grenze, die Landschaft gesäumt mit bewaldeten Bergen und Wasserfällen. Dann zu Fuss über die Grenze an der es nach chinesischem Gesetz verboten ist Fotos zu machen. Die Strassen sind teilweise echt holprig gewesen da durch die Regenzeit immer wieder Erdrutsche stattfinden und teilweise rutschen da wirklich riesige Brocken durch die Gegend. Zum Glück blieben ... read more
June 14th 2011
On my first day in Nepal, I was seriously disorientated and didn't have a clue where I was when I woke up. I had to go down and fill in some forms to sort out my visa for Tibet. As I was still half asleep, my poor tour leader only got grunts out of me. He told me there was going to be an optional tour at 9am, if I wanted to go, where we'd go to an important Buddhist temple, and then a Hindu temple. Outside the Buddhist temple was a stupa, that was absolutely amazing. It had a tower with eyes, perched on a mound, covered with prayer flags, and as it was a beautiful day, it looked particularly impressive. The low wall around it had hundreds of prayer wheels in it, which you ... read more
Seven days in Tibet (and one night in Tingri hospital)
Published: October 28th 2010Asia » China » Tibet » Friendship Highway
October 24th 2010
The decision to go to Tibet was a difficult one. On one hand we really wanted to see the culture and environment before it is completely changed, on the other hand, we weren't too keen on being forced onto a pre-arranged guided tour and given a carefully selected view of the country courtesy of the Chinese Government. In the end, our desire to see the country won and we signed up for a very typical seven day budget tour of Tibet taking in Lhasa, Yamdrok-Tso Lake and Everest Base Camp before heading on down The Friendship Highway to the Tibet / Nepal border. As if we hadn't had enough of trains, we opted for the 48 hour train ride from Chengdu to Lhasa, sharing our sleeper cabin with a lovely French girl and shy German man. ... read more
Tingri to Zhangmu (Boarder town with Nepal)
Published: September 18th 2010Asia » China » Tibet » Friendship Highway
September 9th 2010
9/9/2010 Thursday - Today was a very “blue sky” kind of day. The crystal blue sky just added to the beautiful scenery we saw on our drive from Tingri to Zhangmu which is the border town with Nepal. We thought it would be a ho-hum drive and boy were we surprised. The BEST scenery yet! We drove about an hour out of Tingri and then had a very clear view of Mt. Everest. We pulled over and took some pictures. I think we were both surprised we got to see it again and with an even clearer sky than yesterday. We couldn’t take our eyes off of the mountain until we passed behind another hill and couldn’t see it any longer. Further down the road we went over the Nyalam Tongla pass. It was the highest ... read more
August 20th 2010
Went up to 5100 metres to aclimatise...felt alright when we began the truck up to the pass.... but once I had gotten off the truck I was so sick that I couldnt see straight. My mind would not work. I was trying to focus on how you say hello in Nepalese - Namaste - but i couldnt work it out... I kept thinking "hgow do I spell Namaste." nutter. Had a crazy headache and spewed in 2 bags on the truck, and more when we got back. I was a bit better when we went down again, and up for dinner by that time. Although i was sick, the pass was beauitful, drapped in prayer flags and nobody around but a few random monks. The dogs are alot cuter up here compared to Kathmandu. Been here ... read more
July 19th 2010
People along the way are so friendly. As we pass through the vilages in our big orange truck, all the locals are so excited and waving. Hmmm big orange trucks with whiteys mustnt pass through here often! Stopped in the truck at Nepal-Tibetan border. Headed for Zhangmu. The roads here are crazy - narrow muddy and rocky with no sides. Crossed the border - took awhile. Dan and I looked after the bags and played cards while we were waiting for the otheers to have lunch.Then we had mixed noodles - so yum. Tibetan Prayer flags drapped all across the gorge. Its so cool. Makes everything so beauiful and colourful....and just cool. Going higher and higher. Went for walk in the afternoon in Zhangmu. Rooms are quite nice, but into squat toilet territory now....ones that dont ... read more
July 11th 2010
On the way to Everest! Sunday 11th July 2010 We set off on the Friendship Highway and it wasn’t long before we stopped to see the biggest river in Tibet, and then the dam and then the Kharola Glacier (5560m). It’s a pity the sky was so grey as there was no contrast between the sky and the glacier, which made it hard to photograph. It was very impressive though and Eoin decided to dip his head in the glacier water and got a numb skull! There were lots of ladies around in traditional dress trying to force the newborn lambs on you for photographs. We got to the town of Gyangtse at 5pm and went out for a walk after being on the bus for so long. It was the night of the world cup ... read more
Western Tibet: roadworks and sand traps mile 8610
Published: August 2nd 2010Asia » China » Tibet » Friendship Highway
June 7th 2010
We through getting up onto the Tibetan plateau was going to be the difficult part of the journey. Obviously riding across the plateau on gravel roads at 4500m was never going to be a walk in the park but we anticipated it being straightforward. What we didn't anticipate was 300 miles of road works. Back home they'd work on one small stretch, complete it and move onto the next stretch. Not here, here they work on the whole 300 miles in one go which means 290 miles of diversions and 10 miles on the road in 10 yard stretches - I am not exaggerating!!! The road appears to need drainage channels across it at 100 yard intervals (=100 meter intervals for the metric thinkers). So every 100 yards there is an enormous ditch across the road ... read more
December 26th 2009
Ok for the lucky ones who read this: I deliberately published this entry silently, just our of compassion for my parents. I think they wouldn't like reading certain parts too much.... Tibet, the uncensored sequel... In March 2008 there were huge riots in the streets in Lhasa. Since these riots guides and drivers are once more required. The military Chinese presence on the streets in Tibet is very clear, especially around and in the Tibetan quarters. But besides the military posts, with at least 4 soldiers, at every road entering a Tibetan quarter and the patrols in the streets, we've seen these guys on the roofs with AK47s and other lethal material. Petrol stations used by only the Chinese have roadblocks + soldiers. Every patrol of Chinese actually has a Tibetan soldier, as the Chinese themselves ... read more
