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Published: August 31st 2010
Something strange has happened - we must have hit a time warp and been transported to Switzerland. A few days ago, in western Tibet, we were riding through miles and miles of barren open plains, now, suddenly, everything is green and lush and there's no flat land in sight. It really does have an alpine feel to it, like Switzerland on a grand scale. It all up and down riding from one valley to the next, going from 2500m to 5000m and back but not in one steep climb its in lots of small twisty ups and downs that slowly but steadily climb higher without you realising how high you have gone.
Down in the valleys its almost tropical with dense forests full of bamboos, ferns and flowers. When you stop you can hear birds singing, something we haven't experienced for a long time. Then as you climb higher the rhododendrons appear, whole hillsides covered in pink flowers or yellow flowers. They don't seem to grow together its either a yellow valley or a pink valley. Higher still are the forests of mixed conifers all in different shades of green and grey, some with lichens dripping from their branches. Then
there's the alpine meadows full of wild flowers. Finally the high altitude 'moorland” when we are surrounded by a purple haze - its like riding across the moors in autumn but its not heather its azaleas with small deep pinky purple flowers. Then through it all runs an energetic mountain stream in a vivid turquoise blue/green colour. Its idyllic. You have to keep reminding yourself that you are in Tibet it just isn't how I imagined Tibet in my mind. What makes it extras special is that so many of the flowers are familiar, they are the ones we have growing in our gardens; Clematis montana, irises, day lilies, roses, peonies Its lovely to see them growing in the wild.
The whole landscape is incredibly diverse and colourful, far more so than I expected, its a pleasure to ride though. Its impressive close up as you can see the colours and shapes and textures of the flowers and leaves. And its impressive from afar - it looks like someone has draped a deep green velvet curtain over the mountains; there's all sorts of subtle colours and textures - you want to reach out and stroke it. It was so
impressive that I don't have many pictures - it was just too clear and sunny and wonderful, I was too busy soaking it up and taking pictures with my eyes to make sure I remembered it.
The barren plains may have disappeared but many of our old friends are still present; prayer flags marking the tops of the passes and river crossings, glimpses of snowy mountains and glaciers, potholes (marked by red boulders in the middle of the road). We seem to have left the yaks behind with but we have a new, and more dangerous, road hazard now - pigs!! Along with the barren steppe land we have left the yaks behind but now we have a much more dangerous road hazard - pigs!! They are everywhere and suddenly leap out of the undergrowth and scuttle across the road in front of you, firstly the sow then usually a line of piglets. At least with yaks you see them well before they decide to walk out in front of you.
En-route from Lhasa to Linzhi to Bomi to Lake Ranwu (3 day's riding) we go past all sorts of interesting places;
• the birthplace of Songtsen Gampo
(the founder of the Tibetan Empire around 600AD),
• the meditation cave of Guru Rinpoche (the Tantric master who subdued the native Bon spirits and converted them into protectors of Buddhism),
• Buchu Monastery which pins down the right elbow of the demon living under Tibet (the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa pins down its heart).
• The Great Bend of Yarlung Tsangpo where the Brahmaputra makes a dramatic U turn, crashes through the deepest gorge in the world (allegedly, though I'm sure I visited that in Peru last year) and down some spectacular waterfalls before heading off towards India
All are important enough to be almost obliterated by the piles of prayer flags fluttering round them but we have to get the miles in so its another case of “I'll have to come back”, the list never gets any shorter, only longer!
Ranwu (or Rawtok - depending on which map/guide book you are using) is a really interesting little village on the shores of an alpine lake (3800m). The small main street doesn't look anything special, its lined with shops and restaurants, just like all the other little towns and villages we have passed through. But once you go
behind the concrete buildings on the main street you are suddenly in a tiny, traditional Tibetan village. It feels so genuine and friendly, we are wandering though tiny alleyways between the houses that feel like private paths but the villagers keep waving us onwards through the maze. We pick up a fan club of 3 small children who follow us over the style and across the fields giggling all the way.
The roads are generally very good but on one stretch it just disappears - we round a corner and wham its suddenly all mud and very wet slippery mud as it has rained all night. And of course its on the trickiest stretch of road possible; a descent from 3000+m to 2000m in a narrow gorge, way up above a raging river with a shear drop to the side. And of course there is a big traffic jam with buses, lorries and land cruisers all trying to inch past each other, without slipping back down the slope, on a stretch of road that's only wide enough for one vehicle. We seem to have a slight advantage - they don't get many big motorbikes round here so a lot
of the drivers forget about making progress and are happy just to sit and watch us go past. For a traffic jam its all very good natured. The Land Cruiser drivers all want to wave happily to us as they go past, which is very nice but I'd feel a lot safer if they kept their eyes on the mud and hands on the steering wheel - the Chinese are not the best drivers in the world! The guide book description of this stretch of road says “the 27km round Tangmi are loaded with treacherous bends and shear drops. The hillsides are scarred by numerous landslides and often shrouded in sub-tropical fog” - well at least we didn't get the fog and for once we didn't fall off in the mud!!!
This is our first taste of what the Tibet-Sichuan Highway can throw at you. The guide book describes it as “one of the world's highest, roughest, most dangerous and most beautiful roads”. The last part is certainly true lets hope the “roughest” and “most dangerous” don't come true over the next few days. Anyway, we are now fortified by our glass of yak penis whiskey and ready to
the prayer flags come in all shapes and sizes
like wig-wams - we only saw these in one valley but it was full of themface anything.
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Carol and James
non-member comment
shangri-la
Well it does all look a bit Shangri -la-ish doesn't it? We've also decided there are some look alikes for Norway / Scandinavia, and Basque style houses! - and a bit of an English garden as you say! That muddy road looks decidedly interesting and the fan club kids are very cute!!!!!!! I guess you must feel well experienced on muddy dirt roads by now! Carol & James