Change of plan

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We are now in Kashgar and here we start a change to the original schedule. It is unlikely that we will get into Nepal or India as the border was damaged by a landslide, so we will be following a road called G219 which is a military road, and rarely used for commercial vehicles. It can go up to 5000 metres, but we won't be camping at that height, probably below 4000 metres. However it could be snowy and we don't know what facilities there are so a bit of an adventure awaits. Obviously no wifi so will update everyone when we get to Lhasa at the other end.

Entering China was challenging. We got to the first checkpoint at about 10.00 and once through we then encountered another couple of passport and luggage checks (and temperature checks - seems mine was quite normal) before we got to one control where we had to wait for 4 hours as our guide was stuck at the next border control which had a power cut - and that was 100km away. Once he got to use we had to go the 100 km to that checkpoint and then we thought we were on our way. But no - 200 metres down the road there was another passport check, and a couple more during the 95 km to Khashgar. The clocks changed by 2 hours to Chinese time too, and we arrived here at about 10.15 pm. What a long day. And we had only been able to eat snacks during the day so pretty hungry too.

Anyway for those of you who are wondering how I am coping - well the 'blue' days seem to be over and I am having a fantastic time. Good to hear news from home as and when, but as you can imagine it is difficult to respond as often as I would like, but rest assured it is good to hear from you all.

Oh well - snow boots on then. See you on the other side!

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