our luxury hotel in Mazar

ascending the Tibetan Plateau - mile 7523

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May 31st 2010
Today we have to ride 300 miles - not normally a problem but today the last 100 miles will be on dirt roads climbing from 1300m up to 4996m, that's a lot of up!! But its exciting as tonight we will be sleeping up on the Tibetan Plateau at 3800m. At 07:00 we set off in the dark (that's Beijing Time for you - the locals would call this 05:00!!) but the sun soon rises over the flat agricultural pla ... read more

Asia » China » Xinjiang » Mazar

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For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A... ... read more