Tashi delay :-) :-)

Medro Gunkar, (I shall abbreviate it to MG for ease of use) contd...

Having spotted a small supermarket we popped in and made a purchase of 2 x 330 ml cans of Budweiser with the hope that we would ride a few kms back down the road and be successful in finding a camping spot and could then indulge in our small treat in time for sundown.

At the "campsite" I had another opportunity to flay my arms around in the hope of getting conversation across in my pigeon Chinese come universal sign language technique. We wanted to find out if we were able to stay there. It worked and I am glad that when twisting my body around whilst straddling the bike in order to point at the tent that was bungeed to the rack, that they did not think that I was pointing at my arse and asking for something completely different. The Chinese occupants were fairly nonchalant and indicated that we could go wherever we liked. Wanting some privacy, K and I made our way further into the thicket following some small tracks and we found the most perfect little enclave which gave us easy access to the river but enabled us to remain invisible from the road or from most of the pasture.

Wasting no time we pitched the tent and tried to light a wood fire. The fuel for the fire was too damp and after half an hour of constantly blowing on the slightly burning embers we decided to give up. Still, we did succeed in having a sip of our beer whilst there was a flame amongst the twigs, it was no bigger than one which you would expect from a small match - does that count as having a beer around the campfire? :-) We were visited by a toothless drooling Yak herder at this point who watched us curiously and with a smile on his face, perhaps he thought that we were slightly mad for trying to light the fire with small twigs that had a coating of dampened bark. He soon disappeared into the trees, I think that it was to catch up with the Yaks who were making their way down the road, afterall he had probably scared them away by throwing stones at them and I have no doubt that they were making a dash for it while they could.

Next we set about skimming stones in the nearby river. We had both had a desire to do this for some time and we could finally fulfill this ambition. Still, I cannot help but think that any onlookers would have thought of us to be two yobbos (rednecks) and if I had spotted us wielding stones and a beer can each, then I would have probably given us a wide berth. Anyway, skimming the stones reminded me of my Dad and how patient he was with me when he taught me how to pick a perfect skimming stone and how to launch it at the correct angle towards the water, so thanks Dad. Still, "Action K", as always, being the best, managed to get a whole long row of skims in from one stone, in fact it was very impressive, the best that I could manage was four. Maybe she should go join a Yak herder school and learn to throw stones at livestock using the slingshot, I think that would be better than trading her in for a few camels when we get back to India...

It was still very early when we jumped into the tent. The sunset was not particularly spectacular and we were both tired from the riding. It was a cold night already and the sun had only been down for enough time for the blink of an eye. I put on all of my tops again and tried to sleep.