final preperations for 5th trip to tibet

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hey

well, i am in the final stages of preperation for my 5th trip to the kham region of eastern tibet. i will be leaving this sunday, april 16, flying directly to hong kong, then taking the ferry to shenzhen to catch a flight to kunming that same day. it will be a very long and taxing journey, but will get me to where i want to be as quickly and as seamlessly as i can manage.

"n" will meet me in kunming (hopefully when i arrive) and will travel with me for up to 4 weeks through kham and possibly south amdo. it will be good to see him again.

we will immediately head to derong via zhongdian to visit the tibetan schoolgirl i sponsor. that should be very interesting!

from derong we head north to litang, either via batang or xiangcheng, it will depend on the rides made available to us.

from litang i really would like to revisit yachen gar via xinlong, but may be forced to go via ganze, which would mean taking a very much longer and very physical route. we won't know until we get to litang, i suspect.

from yachen gar, i would like to visit lurang gar near serthar, but may find that the area is restricted access and not open to foreigners. again, we won't know until we get in the area itself.

then it's on to chengdu and areas north to visit friends, and finally to fly to hong kong.

from hong kong i fly to tokyo, where i will then go to yokohama for a week of r&r.

then it is "home again, home again, jiggity jig."

talk to you again soon

kalsang

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