Two Wheels Whirled

2007-12-04T17:24:00.000Z

Wow...a year of travel!

We survived it, though. We would have posted more but we just didn't have time. I have some photos for you and some of the story. We did so much it was amazing! We never got on bicycles in Boston, but we did sit on motorcycles in Daytona Beach and we rented bicycles in Key West.

We started in Boston and it was lovely and HOT! Such a nice change from the cold UK. I was missing the Rugby World Cup (no one had it on television!!!) but the Red Sox stepped up to the plate and I was not even a little bit sorry (sorry England Rugby, but I thought you were down for the count when I left :). A and I walked down to the pub on game nights, drank some lovely beer and watched the baseball as the Red Sox made their way through the Division Series and on to win the American League pennant. Then it was World Series time and they did not let us down there, either!!!! My friend Michael had just set up his new TV - a 6 foot monster!!!! - and it was perfect for watching the game. The players were almost life sized there in his living room! We rooted for the heroes Dustin Pedroia and Mike Lowell, and Youkilis (who reminded A of a friend of hers), and of course Ramirez and Ortiz. The pitching was right where it needed to be....ah, it was amazing. And A has a first class education in baseball now...and a shirt with Varitek on the back :)

It was great to spend time with my Uncle and my friend Lucy was such a star - she drove us all over Massachusetts so that I could see where I went to college and lots of places I used to hang out (Northampton, Salem, etc.) and A could see my old haunts. We topped it all off with the most delicious fried clams you can get - from Woodman's in Essex, MA. YUM!!!!

This is the day we walked in the North End and along the harbor. The tea party ships were again not at their dock

Check out this beautiful fixed gear bike!!!! Sweet! That fork is a beauty.

We saw a glass building reflected onto its brick neighbor...

Then it was off to Florida to visit with my parents....and Charlie! You would throw the ball for this guy, wouldn't you? With those pleading eyes???? :)

We did a little road trip (2000 miles :) to see my sister and her brood in Tennessee and my aunt and cousin in North Carolina and then we came back down the Florida coast. My nephew Nicholas stole the show in Lil' Abner, a school production, and A was wowed when she saw her first American football game and marching band performance. Then it was off to North Carolina. The countryside was beautiful! We arrived at my Aunt's house in the wilds of North Carolina - it was quiet! Then it was on to Charleston, South Carolina for our first tourist stop :)

In Charleston A and I went down to Patriots Point to catch the ferry to Fort Sumter, where the US Civil War started, and we also took some time to explore the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and the submarine Clamagore. Then we took my Mom out for her birthday dinner at the Charleston Crab House (I had some excellent tuna!!!!) and the next morning we headed for St Augustine. A and I walked around St Augustine and checked out the old fort and the small village area - it was nothing like I remembered from when I was a kid! Still cool, though :) Then it was on to Daytona Beach where we shelled out for a hotel on the beach....and it was fabulous! The drive down the A1A to Dayton took us right on coast but we still hadn't had enough of surf and sand.

The afternoon we were in Daytona A and I made the pilgrimage to the Harley store...you just have to, don't you???? We had rented a Harley the last time we were in Florida (a Road King) and we had a great time riding to the Everglades and seeing the alligators :). I will say the Harley shop was impressive - 100,000 sq feet and a few hundred bikes on the sales floors (yes, there were 2 floors!!!!). We had a better time in the other bike shop in the area, though - a Triumph and Ducati dealer! A could finally sit on the Street Triple she has been drooling over (it wasn't out yet when we left the UK).

She looks great on the bike, don't you think????

I was liking the Ducati Hypermotard A LOT! Another sweet looking bike. Anyway...as we drove out of town we checked out the Daytona Speedway and then headed for the Kennedy Space Center.

Our timing at the space center was perfect - that morning they had rolled Atlantis out on to its platform and there was a rocket on another platform ready for launch that night. We did the tour (which was amazing - more photos coming!) and saw the IMAX 3D movie about the moon and then headed back to meet my parents for dinner at the steakhouse :) Then we watched the rocket launch it's fiery trail across the sky - WOW. The next morning we headed back to the space center to do the shuttle launch experience and finish up the last few things and then it was time to head home.

Here's A at the space center...

We hung out for a bit at my parent's house and then A and I went off to Key West (my birthday present :). My Mom dropped us off early and we hopped the 3 hour ferry to the island.

We rented some bikes when we arrived, found our hotel and then headed out for margaritas!!!!

It's Margaritaville, so there's no excuse :) These are lovely!

We rode around on the bikes, A downing *5* margaritas!!! I got A up early (and without coffee!! miracle, I know :) for the gorgeous sunrise...sorry, I wasn't awake enough to remember my camera, but I have sunset pictures for you :) After a good breakfast it was time for a ride around the island - and it was amazing! We stopped at a beach and rented a 2 person kayak and headed out into the surf for an hour. Then it was back to town for the last wander around before we hit the key lime pie shop and then headed for the boat...stopping along the way for an order of chips and some Cuban black beans and rice :) It was a fabulous trip!!!!

More photos coming! Thanks for reading.

2007-10-03T13:38:00.000+01:00

Hello folks...

Tomorrow morning we fly to the US. We have put quite a few miles on our bicycles on the last couple of months, personally I have been riding 3 different bikes - life just not get better than this!!! But we have been feeling the cold :)

This past weekend we did a ride with some friends around the country backroads and ended up at a pub for a nice Sunday lunch....you just can't beat that :)

We have some bicycles lined up for Boston and then we will let you know about the rest of the trip...we promise we will not descend to having our 2 wheels be a wheel in the sole of each shoe :)

Catch you later!!!

2007-09-22T08:47:00.000+01:00

Hey all...

China in the news - all scary!

China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate

And this bit of depressing news....

Beijing drivers ignore No Car Day

Obviously they are not thinking about the planet....are the people starting to think like the Chinese government and are living for the moment or maybe it's because they can't see beyond their daily existence? I don't know. If you look at China's report on No Car Day they say it was a success. Oh well...you all think green and don't forget to recycle! Turn that computer off and go our and ride your bikes or something :)

Later!!!!!

2007-09-20T11:52:00.000+01:00

I know, we owe you an update, so take this one :)

We have been cycling around MK for the last month and a half - we rode our bicycles into the Buckinghamshire countryside on a couple of occasions (one was a nice 50+ mile ride) and we also did the ride into London from Milton Keynes. We have also been playing in the woods at Woburn on our mountain bikes (ah, that was dangerous! I couldn't get the grin off A's face for days!!!!!).

It has been such a pleasure to be back on our bicycles. I have been in and out of our storage facility swapping bikes (will it be road, the fixed gear or my mountain bike today....hmmmm? :) and digging into my parts box, replacing tyres, worn drive trains and things like that. I also helped acquire and repair a bike for a young guy that needed a way to get to his new job because the buses were not able to get him to work on time. Another new convert to 2 wheeled travel!

A is doing a stint of work before we head off to the US and I have been writing and starting to look for work for when we return from the US. All in a days work :)

I have also been following England in the Rugby World Cup and I hope that they can pull themselves together and start playing like a team and not so much as individuals. I know it's hard with all the injuries - and being the holders of the cup also put additional pressure on, - but come on guys, you can play much better than this! This year's World Cup has started off with some pretty weird rugby, so maybe things will improve...or maybe Scotland will have to carry the UK flag as the best we have to offer from the island :)

We are off to the US in just over a week and we have plans to ride bicycles on our journey, even if it's just renting a beach cruiser for a day in Florida :) We are looking to ride while we are in Boston - I haven't lived there for ages but I still remember all the riding I used to do - and of course we will ride Slickrock Trail when we get to Moab. I am hoping to hook up with a friend in St Louis as well and maybe do some more riding there. We shall see. We will keep you posted and we will be sure to take some photos. Now...where oh where have I stored that bikini for the last few months....

Later!

2007-08-17T10:31:00.000+01:00

The Road Across Tibet Photos - Shigatse to Sakya

From Gyantse we made our way to Shigatse and we arrived with plenty of time to see the famouse Tashilumpo monastery in the afternoon before departing the next morning for Sakya.

How appropriate - there was a cycling statue in Shigatse. We so wanted to be on our bikes!!! This one looked a little like a model of a Trek 9.8 carbon mountain bike. Check out the aero wheels :)

Across from the park with the bicycle statue we found Tashilumpo...

It's a beautiful, heavily restored for the tourists, monastery (am I being too nasty to the Chinese????). It seemed just a bit too polished and there were hoardes of tourists. The destruction at this monastery was massive - many of the previous Dalai Lama remains were here - and it has all been put back in fresh new buildings with beautiful new stupas to hold the old Dalai Lama remains. The Shigatse fort was also totally destroyed and has now be freshly rebuilt...we gave it a miss. What's the point of an old fort rebuilt? Don't get me wrong - I thought it was wonderful to see the famous monastery, but Gyantse was so much more real...as were so many of the other monasteries that we visited.

A is looking good! even if her ankle is bothering her. We were going to walk the kora but it was a bit of a rough track. We headed down the back way - lovely, as it was quiet and away from the hoardes of tourists - and then had some dinner at a local place.

Just off the kora we spotted these loos...

One of the famous stories from the Jataka Tales is about the four friends. It is a story that teaches that you should respect your elders. There are images of the four friends all over Tibet...here are a few I spotted.
Read the story here: The Four Harmonious Friends

Oooo, more off-road adventures on the road across Tibet!!!! Tashi was really ripping it up when the road turned to dirt, he was usually more sedate on pavement (not unlike the behavior A shows when she's on her bicycle :)

And the top of a pass - easy to spot with all the prayer flags :)

Then we were in Sakya - easily identified by the grey paint with the vertical red and white stripe on all the buildings.

In front of the assembly hall is a statue of a lion (a Chinese lion!) but the thing about this one is the ball that it's paw is resting on - it's all been carved from one block of stone but there is a loose ball inside the outer ball and another ball inside that ball. Cool, eh? They also often have a loose ball in the mouth of the lion - it can't get out from behind the teeth, but you can roll it around in there (I know, I have done it more than once :).

The Lokapalas for this assembly hall are painted on the wall, they do not have statues at Sakya.

The assembly hall is similar to others that we have seen - dark, lots of brightly colored silk hangings, gold decorations and tankas plus the cushioned benches for the monks.

Here are some details that we spotted - this looks like a key...

...and these are maces. The pillars are made from single, huge trees - very rare at the Tibetan altitude, so who knows where they were hauled in from.

Sakya monastery was in 2 sections - we only visited the southern half. The north side is 200 years older (circa 1050 AD) but it has been completely destroyed and has not been restored. All you can see above some of the village houses (in grey paint with the red and white stripes) are ruins and the restored white stupas. We took these photos when we were walking the walls of the southern monastery.

Sakya monastery also has it's own protector chapel - very different from the one at Gyantse, but still a bit creepy :) We couldn't take photos inside of it, though (not allowed).

The massive inscense burner for juniper...

More of the area inside the monastery walls...

The monastery was in the midst of repairs...

2007-08-16T17:29:00.000+01:00

The Road Across Tibet Photos - Lhasa to Gyantse

FINALLY!!! Photos form the trip from Lhasa to Kathmandu. There were over one thousand photos and we have selected about one quarter of them for your viewing pleasure....this is the first batch.

The day before we left we went over to the Jhokang to say our goodbyes to Lhasa - check out all that juniper smoke!

and we spotted this funny sign (we had seen the sign plenty of times but I guess we never really read it :)

The night before we left we said goodbye to our friends at the Danbala...ooo, the puppy!!!! :)

In the morning we packed the truck, met the guide...left the guide behind...and hit the road for Yam Drok Tso.

We were on the Friendship Highway!!!

We took the side road up a very long, but gorgeous pass to the view over Yam Drok Tso - lovely! When we were done looking we headed back down the pass and back to the highway. The ride up was making my legs burn, thinking about how it would have been to ride that monster!

The road between Yam Drok and Gyantse was under construction so we had to take an alternate route - beautiful, with it's views of villages and mountains, and also a bit adventurous when you have to take some off road shortcuts! :)

When we got into town we had time to have alook around before it was time for dinner. The following morning we got up early for the sunrise and then we went to see the Kumbum and the Gyantse monastery.

This is the typical monument that we have seen all across China and Tibet - the Chinese are definitely making their mark on Tibet.

This mural also struck me as more Chinese than Tibetan...though it is depicting snow leopards, something very important in Tibetan Buddhism.

Gyantse has 2 sides, like nearly all towns in Tibet. We walked from the Chinese side (where we were staying) to the older, more Tibetan, side of town that sits between the old fort and the monastery.

We saw lots of people around...

This woman was washing freshly shorn wool - beating it with sticks...

Many locals walk the kora...

What a cute puppy!!!! :)

More details from our walk through the village...Tibetan villages are so different!

After sunrise we headed back to the hotel and had some breakfast - A likes savory stuff for breakfast so she was eating thukpa, I like sweet stuff - my pancakes were long gone!!!!

This is the Gyantse fort. It was held by the British when Younghusband was marching to Lhasa in the early 20th century...not much happening there these days, though :)

Looking from the fort side you can see the spread of the monastery...all the dark red buildings, pretty much, plus the Kumbum.

At the entrance to the monastery are two rows of prayer wheels - you can spin them as you enter and as you leave :)

Just as you make your way in through the gates the Kumbum draws your attention!

You can see the scale of the Kumbum by checking out the people walking in front...

The famous eyes!

The building has many floors, each with a walkway around that level...

Not built exactly square, though :)

Those eyes are on all four sides, they are hard to escape :)

Hey, those are just like mine!!!

Inside the Kumbum there are lots of narrow stairways...

And lots of little rooms with statues and paintings covering their walls.

Some of the statues and paintings in the multitude of little rooms on each level....

There were many people paying homage to many of the different staues...leaving offerings, lighting yak buter lamps, etc.

After the Kumbum we headed into the assembly hall - the main building of any Buddhist monastery...

There were two huge sand mandalas in the assembly hall - gorgeous!!!!

Off the main room of the assembly hall was the protector chapel - a chapel dedicated to the protectors (a big part of Tibetan Buddhism)

There was a monk sitting in there reading scripture, chanting and occasionally beating the drum

The walls are covered with paintings depicting sky burials (the typical Tibetan burial - leaving the body for the vultures and other scavengers) and the protectors and there were lots of masks for ceremonies and festivals.

2007-08-15T16:22:00.000+01:00

I hope you all don't think we are ignoring you or anything. We have been wicked busy trying to adjust back to life here, see people we haven't seen for ages, catch up on all the happenings we've missed and then get ready to head to America for a couple of months! Ever the adventurers, you know :)

We just had our latest adventure in Wales when we took the young nephews to Wales for a taste of WILD camping. And they loved it! I will have another post on that after I finally get those Tibet photos commented on...it's just me, now - A's back at work, making some readies for the next adventure :)

Later!

P.S. Tibet photos are coming, honest! :)

2007-08-13T13:33:00.000+01:00

Enfield sounds!!!! I don't think I ever posted this....

I wanted to post the kick start sequence for the Enfield but I never got around to making a video of it. However, I got this video of A going around a corner up in the mountains - you can hear the Enfield idling :)

Check this:
click here to hear the Enfield (and see A ride :)

The beast sounds like a tractor! The idle is really slow....especially when there was not a lot of air for it to breathe :) And yes, A is riding slowly...she thought I was taking a photo, not video (she wanted me to get a good shot :)

2007-07-30T17:37:00.001+01:00

Yesterday we got A's motorbike started - it's been in storage while we have been away. We drained the float bowls and it started on the second push (we had to bump start it :). This morning we took it into the shop to get the MOT done...and it's got an electrical problem, so it might be a couple of days before it's ready to ride) and it needs insurance and tax in addition to the MOT). But it's transport! :) And it is a great bike to ride - I have missed fast motorcycles :):):) Ah, I love motorbikes!!! and so does A - she was giggling the whole 30 minute ride back from the storage to where we are staying now (we took the curvy back roads, of course :)

It looks, on paper, like we have a lot of free time, but we feel like we are so busy! Always someone to hook up with or something to do. I have been squeezing in the reading books and magazines, trying to get back into the swing of things. I am working on the Tibet photos, too - they are in Photobucket, but I have to add the comments to post them here. I am also looking into some writing about our trip....I hope I can get some of it out there in the world.

It's nice to be back in the UK...but I miss London a lot, that is where I feel at home. Everything is so clean and neat and tidy! And the pubs are SMOKE FREE!!! That is one thing that makes a huge difference, it's the one thing I have always disliked about pubs. We made our pilgrimage to the Nag's Head and had a half of Broadside (we were out on the bicycles and we still had a ways to ride :)

We eat way too much food! Everything is so good or we haven't had it for ages or some other excuse. It's a struggle, but we have been out on our bicycles (with the recent Tour de France videos playing in our heads :) and riding hard, riding into the wind, riding up the biggest hills we can find or just attacking the not so big hills that are around :) Our legs are feeling stronger, our lungs are not letting us down and we are doing a good job at burning off everything that we eat (we are trying, anyway :).

The TdF was a bit frustrating again this year...cycling does need to get it's act together. There is a lot of collateral damage caused by individual riders and I feel bad for the riders that were caught up in the mess and didn't have any control over how their tour ended - it's like being taken down by a crash in the bunch! I am glad that there was a real battle to watch in the final time trial, though - wow, that was awesome!

OK...back to the photos :) Later!

2007-07-23T14:34:00.001+01:00

The Road Across Tibet Photos - The Ride to Nepal, Day 3 and 4

2007-07-23T14:32:00.001+01:00

The Road Across Tibet Photos - The Ride to Nepal, Day 1 and 2

2007-07-23T14:27:00.001+01:00

The Road Across Tibet Photos - Everest Base Camp

What I know you have all been waiting for (and what I couldn't wait to see!): Everest. And it was an amazing sight, but for me it was more important because it was something that I never thought I would see with my own eyes, just something that I was only going to see in books and in photographs.

It is a beautiful mountain (Mother Nature is pretty talented when it comes to mountains :) but it's not the most beautiful mountain, just the highest.....let's keep it all in perspective! :) And no, I have no desire to climb up to the top of it (I'm crazy, but not that crazy!). The difficulty we had just walking and riding our bicycles at 5000 meters was plenty of challenge to satisfy me. Seeing all the big mountains together - the panorama of the Himalayas that separate Tibet and Nepal - was just awesome.

2007-07-16T11:25:00.000+01:00

Ah...real ale :) I have had several pints now and I am feeling good!!!! That is several pints over 5 days, of course...I'm not a lush, you know :) My first pint was a pint of Timothy Taylor Landlord...and it was delicious!!!!

And cheese! I have had Stilton and mature Cheddar and some Wensleydale with cranberries. Jacket potatoes, too! Ah, it is so wonderful. And we have had showers in CLEAN water - it was amazing to have that first shower.

We have just now gotten online to check email and let you know we are alive.

The flight back was easy as pie...just a bit of trouble with luggage - ours was overweight (they limit you to 23kg each and we were at about 32kg each). They wanted an extortionate 1100 rupees per kilo and they wanted to charge us for an extra 10 kilos - that is £135.00 for the 10 kilos!!!! (just under 250 US Dollars for you Americanos :). So we removed 10 kilos from our luggage (heavy bike locks and some bike tools for the most part) which would cost about £35 to replace and that was the end of it...well, not that we could actually get rid of it in the airport without causing a security alert - A had to beg the security guard to get rid of it for us as they wouldn't let us put it in the bin or take it outside (where we might have donated it to a rickshaw driver or someone else).

The drive back from the airport was fabulous - no horns, no wacky drivers, we were ripping it along faster than we ever rode the motos these past 8 months :) It was a beautiful day and we felt very welcomed home. That was for the afternoon...it's still the regular English summer - cool and wet - and we have our warm clothes and rain kit out :)

On Friday we got the bicycles out of storage and have been pedaling around town - A pretends that she doesn't know where she is and takes me on all sorts of routes, definitely not the shortest way to anywhere we might be going, but you can't get that woman off her bike - she is such a happy bunny :) We will get the motorbike out of storage this week and see if we can get that running and on the road.

That's all for now....more news as it happens!!!

2007-07-10T13:01:00.000+01:00

Namaste!

The homecoming is imminent :-)

Over the last couple of days we have been preparing ourselves for our return to the UK. Many of our actions have been accompanied with the lingering thought that it would be the last time that we would do them on this trip. Today we circumnambulated Connaught place, not as a devotional kora to consumerism but because we were looking for a few items to bring back with us. As we walked around we spoke about our familiarity with the area. We were accosted by the usual cries for baksheesh, touts asking us where we were going, rickshaw wallahs wanting to take us for a ride and invalids waving their deformities at us for some money. I wanted to tell them that it was my last 24 hours in Delhi - in India for that matter. I wanted to tell them that I loved their country, that I love the vibrancy, the flow of life, the ingenuity of the people, the way that many people fight for survival everyday. I wanted to say that I was impressed with many characteristics of Indian people and that I have a deep affection for them. And I want to say now... thank you India and thank you to all of the people that we have met who have helped us along our way. Perhaps I should have stood in the middle of the park in Connaught Place and bellowed it out :-)

It is amazing what people have to live with here...for example from the newspapers over the last 24 hours:

* Last year sixteen children died in Delhi due to open sewers or lack of manhole covers over drains.
* This year the death toll on Delhi roads due to the Blueline buses (they call them rogue buses!) is over 65 people - many more deaths are caused by bus companies operating illegally. The country has many rules and regulations but no infrastructure to enforce them.
* Approximately 50 villages have been evacuated involving the movement of 50,000 people in the Jodphur region due to the breach of a dam, supplies have been air dropped to them. The Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river has had water flowing over the top - there has been a huge controversy surrounding this dam project since the very beginning - and 72 villages are being evacuated and many more people are struggling with the flooding in Gujarat.
* Monsoon rains have caused the deaths of over 250 people in recent weeks.
* Indian nationals are also at the centre of the recent terrorist plots in the UK. Media-focus on their nationality, rather than on the accused being extremists, is likely to increase racial tension in the UK and in India, Bangalore is trying to deflect the negative image it is gettting in the press.

For all of the economic boom in India there are people who are still starving and are leading a hand to mouth existence. As new luxury city complexes with futuristic design (there are many of them) are built upwards there are many people who are homeless or who live in squalor. When we rode back to Delhi a few days ago we saw many people sleeping in the central meridian of the highway as trucks, buses etc sped by. We have poor people at home in the UK but poor where we come from is not the same as poor here. Poor here means something entirely different. Poor here means no education, no health care, no housing, no toilets, no drinking water and no food. India has taught me how tough life can be. We are sheltered in the West - unless you have seen these things with your own eyes your imagination is likely to fall short of what real human suffering can be.

I will miss India. There is much beauty to talk about, too but really the sadder things have taught me the most. I have seen the strength that people are capable of besides the beauty in a rich culture and history. I hope that by sharing our experiences of this trip we have also introduced to you what we have learned from our travels.

So, I leave with a mixture of emotions. Some relief that we will be heading back to the comfort and safety of the West but also a little apprehensive of it's sterility. Still, my home is my home and the further I travel the more I appreciate it.

We will still write a few more posts when we return in order to share what it feels like to come back after such a long trip. We also have a few more trips planned very shortly and these will also get some coverage (including cycling the end to end in the UK). We are hoping to continue with twowheelswhirled in the future.

Until next time...

Thanks for reading... :-) :-) :-)

2007-07-09T15:51:00.000+01:00

We are in Delhi...and bikeless :(

We have one day left in India and we are taking it easy, doing our final bits of shopping and then heading to the airport.

We left McLeod Ganj on the 7th and headed back to Delhi, giving ourselves 2 days to do the 500kms.

...
I started this last night and then we lost power - all the sudden we were sitting in the dark :) So we went back to the hotel, had a snack and then went to bed.

Today we have been busy!!! But, back to what I was saying yesterday - we gave ourselves 2 days to get back to Delhi as we wanted to take it easy...and I also was thinking that the Enfield had something else up it's sleeve :) We left the mountains for the heat of the flats, it was well signposted to Chandigarh and Delhi, so there was no problem route finding, but the roads were giving us a proper farewell and were under construction...bring it on, we love it :)

Further along on our ride, when we were coming up to the next town, we were passed by another Enfield. He waved us by a few kms later and when we got into the town he pulled up next to me at the light and leaned over to say something to me...I didn't hear it - I wear earplugs and my hearing is not the best :) So when he said whatever it was twice, I did what most people do (in the experience of our recent travels) and just assumed what he might be asking and answer accordingly - this does make for some interesting conversations! :) - and I told him we were going to Delhi. He replied..."you're not Indian!". That was amusing! We are *totally* geared up, compared to most motorcycle riders in India - we wear jackets and boots (not shirtsleeves and sandals!) and our helmets are usually a total give away as to us being not from this place. He told me to go straight on to get to Delhi and pointed the way forward and then made his own turn and sped off.

Later on we arrived at the outskirts of Chandigarh at the worst time - about 5pm - and we didn't want to deal with the traffic so we had a look at the map and took a detour. It was a great choice and we zoomed by on the back roads.

Soon is was starting to get dark and we were shooting for Ambala to stay the night...the Enfield knew it was running out of time to give me the days trouble so just as we had been burning it up it decided to lose power! I pulled over to the side of the road and a petrol station appeared so we pulled in. I checked the bike over and it had plenty of gas in the tank - I have always thought it had a fuel problem so it was the first thing I checked. There were bubbles again in the fuel line and I suspect that the fuel filter is not filtering fast enough when you are really burning it up :) The engine was very hot (not surprising for an air cooled engine, but I am used to liquid cooled, so I was concerned) and the oil leak was leaking a lot more than it did before (it's in the tappet cover and it was checked so many times in the previous weeks that I could see that the o-ring on the bolt got damaged) so I checked the oil - I didn't have much!

So we went into the attached cafe and got a lime soda while the bike cooled enough to add some oil. Once the bike was sorted we headed on our way - very carefully!!!! :) We rode into Ambala, spotted one hotel that we decided to give a miss to without even going inside and then we spotted another one - a very nice one, but we would rather have nice than scary :) They had a room and we lugged our stuff in - we had done 300kms and we were tired. The room boy was a bit pushy and kept coming back - if we didn't lock the door he just walked in! First it was towels, then he came back with the menu, then he delivered some soap...then he came to ask if we wanted to order any food...then they called us (when I didn't answer the door the next time they knocked :) to ask us if we wanted any food. It was outrageous! I didn't know if it was a money making scheme or if it was because we were foreigners or women...who knows.

We didn't sleep all that well and we were on our way early the next morning. The ride in was eventful! We had to find an ATM to get some cash - that took us about 10kms out of our way and it was nice to have to ask directions of the locals. We stopped for some coffee and paratha and only minutes after we had gotten back on the bikes it started to shell it down! The rain on my face was painful! but not even a half hour later, after we had gotten completely soaked through, the rain stopped and the sun came out :) We were, for the most part, dry by the time we hit the ring road (despite the terrible signage we found our way :) and we made it back to Manju ka Tilla. We dropped our gear and sorted the bikes and headed into Karol Bagh - it was Sunday and the shops in Karol Bagh are closed on Mondays so we needed to get the bikes sold. We rode down to see Rajesh at Tony Bikes and he wasn't around...they called him and we arranged to meet at 4pm. That was nice for us - our feet were on the verge of getting jungle rot having been in our wet boots all day so we went to Connaught Place and sat in the park and dried our socks, boots and feet in the warm sun :)

We headed back over to Tony Bikes and started the process of handing over the bikes. There was a bit of negotiation and then we agreed on a price. We originally paid about GBP900 for the 2 bikes and we got back about GBP600 (including the exchange of my Pulsar for the Enfield) so basically it works out to 150GBP each for the "rental" of a motorbike for 7 months and just under 15,000kms - that is not a bad deal! We were very happy...but we miss the bikes :(

Then it was back on the metro for us and time to sort the rest of our stuff out. On Monday we got some packing done and had our boots polished by the local shoe shine boy (he cheekily asked for 500 rupees for both pairs of boots - that is over GBP6! He got 10% of that and a mango - I like to feed the hungry boys :) and then headed in on the metro to do a bit of shopping and get some photos printed for Arun and his family (our hosts when Rana was replacing the piston and valves on the Enfield). We had a wonderful, final, masala dosa at one of our regular places :) and headed back up to Manju ka Tilla and the internet cafe...which is where I started at the top of this post :)

This morning we got moving early and headed into town for more final shopping (tea, pickle and ParleGs :), to sell some books that we have acquired/finished/don't want to carry home and to get A one last coffee :). It was hot today, but we realized that we are getting used to the heat (finally!). We hopped the metro back and picked up our laundry (we wanted to wash some of the clothes that we are leaving behind - the hotel people said they can make sure it gets donated where it is needed) and did the final packing. We get our cab at 2am tonight/tomorrow morning to catch our early flight.

We will finish up here - our last post from India :( - and get some dinner. A will have her last plate of steamed veg momos from Wongdhen House - these have set the standard for the entire trip...until we went to a small place in Manali where they make wonderful momos that are half-steamed and half pan-fried - YUM YUM YUM. Then it will be a nap and then a shower and then the taxi to the airport to wing our way back to the UK...and a pint of Broadside and a pint of Guinness and a lamb and mint pasty from Morris' in the mall at MK Centre, a jacket potato with beans and cheese, a full English breakfast (no fried slice or sausage, please :), sushi at Asa Kusa, a hummus salad roll (maybe with falafel :) from Woody's in Camden Town, a pint of Abbott Ale, a pint of Old Bob, a pint of Wadworth 6X (in Aldbourne :), fish and chips from Toff's in Muswell Hill, a visit to Neal's Yard Dairy for some Colston Bassett Stilton, a pint of Everard's Tiger...not all at once, of course :) It is nice to be going home, but realize that when I get back I will miss all the thalis, the various kinds of dals, the masala dosas...the New Lucky in Ahmedabad!

The one other thing I really can hardly wait for is to get on my bicycles that have been locked away in storage for so many months (missing me terribly, I am sure :) and get pedaling! I also have some clothes that I would like to wear (if they still fit - we have lost a lot of weight) and it is going to be so strange not to have so few clothes to choose from every morning...it might take me ages to get out of the house :) And going back to the UK means we are going to lose our tans!!!....oh well, it will be good to be home :)

Catch you al later....after I have had a few pints of real ale and made myself at home again, of course :)

2007-07-06T10:50:00.000+01:00

To the Jalori Pass!!!!

After a day of rest, to recover from the ride over the Rhotang and back, we headed back down the Kullu Valley to Aut (pronounced "out") to take the road over the Jalori Pass and into the Kinnaur Valley. We filled up with petrol about 10kms outside of Aut and we had told the pump man, when he asked, that we were going over the Jalori Pass. When we got to Aut we took the turn off the road and we saw that there was a bit of rubble at the entrance to the bridge, but it wasn't a problem for motorbikes (this shows the mentality that we have developed riding in India - bikes can go where they want, it's 4 wheelers that are restricted to roads :) and we rode on by. We stopped on the other side to read the sign about the Great Himalaya National Park (and to check we were on the right road) and then we continued on.

There was a great big rock in the road, but there was a place for bikes to slip by...no alarm bells are going off at this point, but we are on a paved road. Not even 50 meters farther the road is covered with dirt...it's a bit slippy, but nothing we can't handle. Still no alarm bells. A says continue on a bit more to see how it pans out (I am in the lead). Another 20 meters and I feel the bike slogging and then the Enfield stalls (it likes to do that at the most inopportune times, the beast!!!! :). I feel the bike sinking and I immediately call back to A and say "stay where you are!! I am sinking!!!!". A quickly props the Pulsar up on the sidestand and comes to help...I am demanding (yes, A will tell you that much :) rocks or a branch to prop the bike up. The tail pipe is going under and I am tearing my heavy bag off the back to lighten the bike as much as possible...I did mention that we had just filled the tank, so I have nearly 15 liters of petrol on board, too.

We did not panic. Honestly. I knew we were going to get out of this. A got me a rock and I put it under the tailpipe and I cleared the quicksand, for that is what it was, out of the pipe and I started clearing the sandy mud from the back area to keep the pipe clear. I knew that if we got the water away then the sand would solidify so I got A working with me to create drainage channels to pull the water away. I also started digging out the front wheel and building a small path of rocks as a little path to get it moving to the right and the more solid surface. Then we started on the back wheel and started digging out the rear wheel, all the while keeping our drainage channels open (they quickly filled with silt and needed to be constantly cleared). Oh...and it started to rain at one point....it was not looking good, but I knew we would make it out, even if no one came along to help - they were waving from the rod on the other side of the river, one guy even parked his jeep and watched for awhile!

As all this mad digging was going on we were sinking in the silt as well, so we had to remember frequently to pull out boots out before we also got stuck. Both of us ended up falling on out butts at one time or another as we tried to pull a foot out and tipped ourselves over :) I demanded my foot back more than once from that sucking mud!!!! While we were digging the rear out we hit bottom - we found the road! We knew then that the bike would sink no further. So we dug out enough so that we could pull the Enfield up onto its center stand and we could both dig and not have to watch for the bike tipping over. We dug and dug, moving a ton of mud and water and finally, at least an hour later, it was time to see if the bike would start so I could ride it out of the hole. So I hopped on the Enfield and gave it a few kicks and lo and behold it coughed to life...and shot the remaining silt out the pipe along with a bunch of black soot. Woohoo!!!

So I gently rode it out and on to the firmer surface on the right side, closer to the river and then A and I started to turn the bike around....and the bike started sinking again!!!! We had it perpendicular to the river and on a higher sand section so A was getting really worried because we were farther above the road and the bike could sink more...I was confident that it would be ok as the water was lower because the sand was higher. So we madly started digging drainage channels again. A was getting really tired and her hands were not cooperating, so she grabbed a rock to help - we had been digging with just our bare hands up to this point - there was no shovel; or wood or anything around and most of the rocks were too big to dig with. We got three good channels going and the bike was now on a lot more solid ground. We dug around the wheels and the started to drag/lift the bike around to face back the way we came. We dug and lifted and with a supreme effort (as the Enfield is a bit of a hulking beast) we got the bike lifted onto the surface of the sand and it wasn't sinking! That is what good drainage gave us :)

We rolled it forward and I climbed aboard and kicked it to life. A and discussed the best line to get it out and I opened the throttle and let it rip - speed will help it float over the sand. It was a slippery ride but I made it back to the pavement and parked the bike. A and I gave each other a high five and a big hug - we had escaped!!!! Well, we still had to get the Pulsar out of there. So we went back and collected my luggage and out coats and helmets and I went back for the Pulsar (remember, I have longer outrigger legs :). We got it turned around and then I did the same thing - kicked it to life, dropped it in gear and opened the throttle to rip it back across the sand. It was very skittish and it felt like I was surfing with the back end all over the place, but I knew the front wanted to stay upright so I just steered it straight and soon we had both bikes safe on solid ground. All this effort took us HOURS. We don't know exactly how long as no one looked when we started and the watches were too muddy by the end of it...at least 3 hours of hard labor!

Here is the hole we dug ourselves out of the first time and you can see the tire track from the second hole on the right side.

We were tired, we had aching arms and we were starved!!!!

So we gently rode up to the main road and headed towards Mandi and the dhaba that we had stopped at on the way up to Manali (they have good parathas and masala chai :). Then we rode into Mandi, totally knackered, and found a lovely place to stay.

Not a half hour after we had gotten settled we heard a thundering from outside...a huge group of Enfields had pulled in!

We were starving, so we left them to it and ordered a great dinner of dal and rice and we had a beer to celebrate our triumph over the challenges of the mountains... and then we went to bed :). The day had been so exciting, however, that neither of us slept well because we were just buzzing. The next morning we were up early and got on our way to McLeod Ganj - a nice place for a rest :) We popped in to see Rana, he said the bike was ok and we went across the road for a cup of tea and then continued on the lovely mountain roads - we were amped and the bikes were running great! We arrived in McLeod Ganj and found a place to stay and we have been taking it easy. All that is left is the ride back to Delhi and the flight home.

2007-07-06T10:48:00.000+01:00

The water crossing photos :)

This is the first water crossing, the one that we got across...

This is the view from the top, looking back down...I took the line on the left, closest to the snow.

This is one of the jeeps that came down the other way - you can see that it's not that deep this far down the road (on the left side, the right is plenty deep :). You can see how far down the road the water goes - it's well past the stalled jeep that you can see in the next picture.

This is the scary predicament that the one jeep got itself into. They were digging out from under that rear wheel as well - destroying the road and just asking to get tipped over the edge (if you ask me :)

This is the second water crossing - the one that halted our progress...

You can see how deep it is up at the top....

That is because it's being fed by this big waterfall :)

2007-07-06T10:46:00.000+01:00

Namaste!

Pictures from our highly scenic ride up the Rotang La :-)

Where it all happens - the great view from the cockpit of the Enfield where flight commander Special K keeps it all under control.

...and my view from the Pulsar. A little on the spindly side in comparison!

Ah ha, a winter coat rental shop. Shop number 40 I believe. The shops, despite being numbered (up to 300?) do not run in numerical order - I am sure that defeats the object of having them numbered in the first place :-)

Taking a break on the way up in order to observe the beautiful scenery and the roads that we had just ridden or were about to ride :-)

The superheroes wanted to pose for the camera too:-)

Large hunks of rock and boulders made us feel like we were ants.

There were a couple of minor water crossings on the way up.

The cambered corners were fantastic...

...but you had to remain constantly aware of any hazards that you may run into whilst riding them, eg. cars, trucks, potholes, horses, lack of road surface etc.

Looking back down the valley that we had just ridden up and at where we had stopped for some parantha and masala chai.

The view from our pitstop.

We were having a great time, eventually we were above the treeline...

..and into the clouds.

The road surface really began to deteriorate too.

We soon encountered snow.

At the top of the pass we were surprised to see so many people enjoying the biggest strip of snow.

Riding down the backside of the pass we were rewarded with quieter roads and some awesome views :-)

We had to pass by some road construction - a good sign that effort was being made to maintain them - although you would not think it on many places :-)

Enjoying the switchbacks...

More road deterioration too.

It was so beautiful...

2007-07-06T06:33:00.000+01:00

Namaste!

Over the last few weeks I have been preparing myself emotionally and mentally for the return to the west and everything that this incorporates. After the ride down from the Tibetan plateau (seemingly the penultimate segment of our entire trip) we were heading home. This was even more apparent when we realised that our funds were truly low and that we could not sustain the trip for much longer. Nepal was exciting during the period that we rode the bicycles. High from thrills and wheels we were intensely caught up in the now.

With the disappearance of the bicycles we had to experience the life of the public transport traveller - which was interesting for a little while but we really did not get into the swing of it. It is the freedom that we enjoy to go where we like and when we like and to have our bus departure times dictated to us was far too inhibiting! As we travelled back into India we were far to focused on getting our motorcycles back so that we may continue with the trip in a way that we held preference to. Already though in the back of my mind there was the feeling that I was beginning to say my goodbyes.

The first ride out to Amritsar did not have the same excitement as the other rides that we had experienced before. The road was for the most part flat and straight, our passing by many McD drivethroughs was most discouraging. Amritsar itself was glorious however we were templed out by this point and we battled to do the Golden temple any justice. We did find it extremely charming however and spent our time talking to Sikh pilgrims and soaking up the relaxed atmosphere.

It all began to get exciting again when we hit the curvy mountainous roads towards Dharamsala. Now we were able to use our twowheelswhirling skill again, we could enjoy the ride and be in awe of our surroundings.

In Manali we were surrounded by other foreigners who had come into the Himalayas to beat the heat of the delta. Rather disappointingly we were two amongst the herd of westerners who were also travelling around on motorbikes (nearly all of them on Enfields). Before we had been unique and now we were the same as everybody else, until we realised that... we were the only two women who were riding their own bikes, all of the other women were sat on the back of an Enfield. How pleasing for us but still we wanted to get away from the masses of non skid lid born to be wild Guervara/ Dean wannabees (how unfair a comment). We changed our plan to ride the road to Leh, where everybody was heading, weather conditions permitting, and we wanted to be different - as always. So we chose Spiti.

Our attempt to get to Spiti heralded much excitement and danger for us. If we had been stupid we could have found ourselves in trouble. Help is not readily available here and if you find yourself in a sticky situation you will have to find your own way out of it, it is not guaranteed that there will be anybody else around. We loved this responsibility for ourselves.

We rode in awe of mother nature. Tarmacked roads became faded versions of their previous forms, unable to deal with the force of H20. The lack of drainage facilities had caused premature wear on road surfaces and all efforts to maintain structure were in vain - it is a constant battle. Road workers live in makeshift tarpaulin tents for six months of the year, they try to keep the road navigable. When the masses go home they are left high up at 3000 metres above sea level, living in thick cloud resulting in poor visibility and almost no facilities. They are unnoticed by the excited holidaymakers from the plains below.

Lining the road to the Rohtang numbered shops offered the hire of retro ski clothes and boots, fur coats and balaclava hats. Excited Indian tourists from the plains who had never experienced cold temperatures before could come here and touch snow for the first time in their lives. Our experience of passes before now had been of near isolation, the arrival at the top marked by flapping prayer flags. Now we were greeted by hundreds of excited people on a thin strip of land that was covered in snow. They were sledging, riding snowmobiles, having snowball fights and in some cases trying to ski. It was all very surreal and incredibly sensational. The prayer flags were barely noticeable.

Riding the twisting mountain roads covered in slippery mud, potholed, single laned and lacking in protective barriers (for the most part) is incredibly thrilling. Oncoming traffic, nippy tourist jeeps and groaning trucks add to the dangers when these fellow road users lack respect for a mere two wheeler. Concentration is key but there is always the temptation to try and snatch a view of ones surroundings, we eliminated this as much as possible with frequent vista stops where we looked at chasms above and below us, snaking valleys and rocky outcrops. We felt so small and insignificant amongst natural skyscrapers.

The river crossings were exciting and also took some nerve. K was great and did really well for someone who has a sensibility gene. I am a little jealous that she rode both of the bikes across in the worst instances. We had reasoned though that her extra leg length and upper body strength carried less risk than myself making any attempt and I reassured myself thus. We needed to minimise the risk as much as possible because being stranded especially without any camping equipment in a deserted valley was not our idea of fun but attempting the river crossings was :-)

It was horrifying though to see the driver of the Mahindra vehicle end up so close to the edge of the road and to cause the wire support that held the road up to give way. We really did try to help them out but they were making the situation a lot worse. The driver had no clutch control, the vehicle was smoking and without a tow any effort was now wasted due to the worsened condition of the situation. We had to focus on ourselves eventually and to think of our own needs by helping the driver of the goods vehicle we did not want to get ourselves into any danger. We heaved and heaved in order to facilitate the upward motion of the pick up but it was all in vain.

By now I was wet up to my knees from snow melt and I had given up hopping from one rock to the other to keep any more water out of my boots. When the Enfield tipped in the water we were naturally concerned about whether it would start and what this implied - we were far away from any towns or villages or anywhere to stay. Once safe and on dry land we did not hesitate in starting it up, we wanted to know what we were dealing with and also hoping that quicker action would maybe help to clear out any water a little better. We were lucky and overjoyed when the Enfield ticked over. My bike was across with less trauma and we cheered and jumped for joy when we had achieved this success. We had done so well by working as a team.

We were saddened but amazed when we reached the second crossing. We knew that we could not realistically continue. The current crossing the road was far to strong and the drop down the other side was far to deep. Perhaps if we had back up then maybe we would have attempted it but with the two of us it was far to dangerous. We observed the water gushing down from the waterfall above us for a while and were in awe at the immensity of it. A local man arrived on the scene with his three pack mules and was across the water before we even had chance to work out how. Still, we knew that there was no way that the Enfield would make it. Now with nightfall approaching we had to get to somewhere safe. Agreeably we decided that riding the road that we knew was our best bet and we focused on getting ourselves back to Manali.

Riding down twisty mountain roads in the dark in thick cloud is a challenge. It had been raining since we were last on the Rotang and now mud that was previously a little wet in places was now covering most of the road and would cause the bikes to fishtail. Where before the road had been busy it was now a lonely place. We both worked hard at keeping the bikes upright, breaking gently and being a lot less aggressive on the berms. It was cold, K had been dipped in the river earlier and was really feeling the bite. Those three hours were exceptional but we were both focused and did what we needed to do in order to get back to a safe haven. We found that we had a lot of strength inside and despite not reaching our goal we knew that we had achieved much when we arrived back safely in Manali.

The fun with twowheelswhirled never ceases. We are good at adapting and were not deterred in seeking further adventure. Approaching Spiti from a clockwise direction was evidently out of the question but there was always the opportunity to go anticlockwise. The prospect of reaching a land that was once part of Tibet which still housed Gompas (monasteries) and Tibetan artifacts that had not been destroyed in any cultural revolution was far too enticing to ignore. Another route was planned and we again beamed with joy at the prospect of even more inspiring landscape in the least inhabited valleys and mountain passes. We left Manali full of excitement, we were feeling great and rode really well. K found the turn off for the state highway that would lead us to the Jalori pass. We skipped passed the stones that were semi blocking the road as well as a large boulder that would prevent any large vehicles from passing through.

The event in the quicksand...

K was crying out to me to stop where I was, that she was sinking in the mud. The road from where I was looked as though it was covered in only a thin layer of mud and when I heard K shouting out to me I went into a 'stay calm but act quickly' mode. I checked the surface where my bike was and seeing that it was drier decided that it would be OK to park it up there. K shouted to me to find a branch. I ran around in gloopy mud trying to act quickly but there was nothing to be seen. She was already pulling her bag off the back of the Enfield when I got back to her with a rock to put under the exhaust pipe.

The bike was still sinking and we did not know how deep it would go. When it stopped we were relieved a little but were still unsure of whether there was still a risk of it sinking any more. Frustratingly the gloopy silt/sand was sucking at our boots, our ankles were embedded above the eighth eyelet and it took a lot of force to pull ones leg out. With both feet stuck in the mud we both found ourselves falling back unbalanced onto our arses. Everything was happening quickly and after the initial shock we began to think of a long term strategy. Considering the, ahem, sticky situation that we were in we both remained reasonably calm. We knew that there would be no help and that we had to get out of this ourselves.

We did not have a shovel or a rope. The Enfield was full of fuel and was incredibly heavy to move. We dug with our bare hands at the mud so that we could make drainage channels to rid the area of as much water as possible and to harden up the surface so that the bike would have more support. We worked together, rather frantically, it had started to rain a little and did not know what to expect, any more water would get us into, ahem, deeper trouble. We had placed rocks in the mud in order to give us stepping stones to stand on where we would not sink, this helped immensely. We scraped, dug, pushed, clawed and did everything that we could to drain the water away. No sooner had we cleared silt though it would come back.

It was a lot of hard work. Every now and then we would joke to each other and laugh, I cannot remember what we said exactly but I remember thinking how amazing it was that we were just dealing with the problem and being positive. We had gotten ourselves into this mess and we would have to get ourselves out. We were so happy when we found some tarmac under the bike and discovered that the bike could sink no more. We cleared away all of the sand and mud from under the engine and got it onto the centre stand. K got the bike started, we were immensely happy, we had created a slope of rock by the front wheel and with me pushing the bike she road it up onto the drier part of the mud.

The bike was facing the wrong way, however and we needed to get it 180'd, there was no where in view that was definitely solid so we found as drier part as possible and pushed the bike into a 5 point turn. We had almost rotated it 90 degrees when it started to sink again. We were higher than before and there was no telling how deep it would go. I grabbed a rock to squeeze under the front wheel which helped only a little. The bike did eventually stop but we were faced with going through the process again but this time with the rear wheel close to the river bank edge.

I have to admit that I was in despair. Again we were digging and creating channels to clear the water into the river but I was tired. My tendons were really hurting in my right forearm, I could hardly move my fingers and I felt incredibly fatigued. The adrenaline that must have kept me working so hard previously had run out. For a while I wanted to throw dirt at something out of desperation but I kept this feeling inside and did not express it knowing that such display of emotion would not help. I held back tears that were welling up, I felt useless because I was not feeling very strong and had no energy. I had no choice though, I would have to help, K could not do this on her own.

As I massaged my tendons I watched mud crumble into the water due to the change in pressure on the surface of the riverbank. It was a little worrying but I did not foresee it reaching back as far as the bike. We both ate a few biscuits and then got back to work. I thought of primitive man using rocks as tools and I found myself the perfect shaped digging stone. I was feeling much better and a lot less pathetic. K was great when I was going through this weak phase and she kept telling me that we could do it.

It worked, we worked. We had drained the area and cleared mud away from around the wheels and from under the engine. Working together we rotated the bars (hard to do when the wheel is surrounded by gloopy silt) and lifted the back end to rotate the bike a few degrees towards the direction that we needed. We continued this process a few times, digging, lifting the front end and rotating until we eventually had the bike facing the right way. K was so strong, (thanks Mrs C for feeding her so well when she was young) I was using all the strength that I could muster to help her lift the bike but my contribution must have been marginal. Lifting an Enfield with a full tank is not easy especially on a soft surface.

Acting rapidly we pushed the bike onto an area that we knew was firmer but we did not know how much time we had should it decide to get soft on us. I ran forward and surveyed the route and told K to ride the bike fast, all the way back to the tarmac without stopping. She did a great job as there were a few hazards in the way. I ran behind as the rear wheel sprayed mud and silt back. I watched her fishtail, she had to stay to the side that was closest to the water and I was naturally concerned but there was no problem on her part.

We were overjoyed.

The Pulsar was easy to get back, it had not sunk but it was a lot more skittish on the silt, I was worried when it appeared as though K was heading towards the water!

We did not want to hang around the tragic spot. We hugged one another and had a little celebration but we wanted to get away. We had worked for about three hours, I would have cried out of happiness and relief but I was too tired. Some riders on a moped confirmed that the road was impassable but they were the only people that we saw on this side of the river. Some people waved and beeped their car/ motorbike horns at us from the opposite shore, I felt that they were mocking us. One man even sat and watched us for a long time from his jeep but he did not motion whether we needed help. When he saw that we were OK and the show was obviously over he just drove away. I was till shaking, the whole thing had taken a lot out of me.

We have both spent the last few days recovering feeling sore all over and could hardly move when we woke up yesterday morning. It was unbelievable what had happened to us. We decided that we should give up our adventurous ideas and stay safe. We had less time for error now that our flight was within a week or so. So here we are safe and sound in McLeod Ganj.

Thanks for reading :-)

2007-07-05T15:13:00.001+01:00

Enfield photos and story!!!!

I wasn't exactly looking for a change, but this bike really caught my eye...and when I rode it it seemed like a good idea to make a change :)

These are the bikes we are riding now...we are looking good :)

When we left the bike shop with the new baby it had a fresh sprocket on the back. After that long day in the saddle it was acting up a bit as we got into Amritsar, but I thought it was just me being tired and all the clutch work I had to do to get through the traffic as we got into town. The next day, when I had given A a backie to the border and parked up, I could tell there was something going on so I checked it out...yup, there is a problem - I don't have any teeth on my rear sprocket!!!!

We asked around for a shop and they sent us back to town, to this shop...

They said they could slap a new chain and sprockets on the Enfield, no problem (well...it sort of sounded like that, but they were speaking Punjabi and a bit of English - we had to write in the dirt to fix a price :)

They pulled the worn sprocket...

and then they had to pull the clutch case off to get to the front cog!

But they got it all back together and sent the big guy out on a test ride...he said it was good to go :)

So off we went the next day, ripping it up. A (as trip photographer :) got her camera out and I rode where she told me to :)

Well it was just after that last shot that the Enfield stalled and we went to find a mechanic. We found Rana's shop and he asked a few questions and started fiddling.

First he adjusted the tappets...

and then the ignition timing...

and he went on a test ride...

and then he sent me off for a test ride...

When I came back from that (I was happy with the change, but he obviously wasn't) he broke the bad news. Here is Rana explaining to me that he thinks that the piston rings need replacing :(

So again we start to take the Enfield apart...a different bit this time, though :)

and when we get to the important bit it is not looking good!

When he finally had a look at the guts, the piston rings were fine but he found a leak in the exhaust valve, so he removed them so he could replace them. You can see the exhaust valve looking crispy on the right...

Rana then headed the 30kms into Mandi for parts and machining, leaving the rest of the bike behind...waiting.

After a couple of hours Arun appeared and we were entertained for the evening. Rana had returned and worked on the bike until the wee hours, including boiling the piston! and then in the morning we ran the engine for 2 hours to seat the gaskets and get it all bedded in. After some more fiddling with the tappets and the ignition timing we were on our way by midday. The bike had more power and it was a good thing!

I soon realized that the Enfield was having a bit of a self confidence problem and needed to see the mechanic on a daily basis! When we were all set to leave for the Spiti Valley it started misbehaving again. It had just had the piston changed and we had only ridden 150kms on the fresh work and now, after sitting for a few days, the bike refused to start. It blew a cloud of black smoke out the exhaust when it finally got started and was leaving black spittle on the wall behind the tail pipe (this is not a good thing). When I checked the plug it was black on one side...it's running rich on one side of the engine??? I waited until a civilized hour (we were ready to go at 7am, but it was a Sunday morning :) and I called Rana - he said it just needed a new plug...excellent, if that was all it was. So off we went to the Enfield repair shop in old Manali (every town has at least one motorbike repair shop :) and visited yet another mechanic. Yup, it needed a new plug and we were on our way.

The next day of riding, when we were heading for the Jalori Pass, of course the Enfield had to come up with yet another fault - the kickstart lever was moving towards the ground as I rode the bike! So back we went to the Old Manali Enfield mechanic (same as the plug replacement) and he said that no, it wasn't supposed to do that and I probably needed some oil in the gear box. The Enfield has 3 separate lubrication systems - the engine oil, the clutch case (with pink transmission fluid) and the gearbox which has some very thick grease in it and now some engine oil.

So off we went to the Jalori Pass, the gearbox running smoother than it had ever done (more on the Jalori pass experience later - stay tuned!!! :) but later, when we were heading back to McLeod Ganj for the Dalai Lama's birthday, it started to do that kickstart lever thing again so we popped in to see Rana and he checked it out and said it's a minor problem, just the return spring for the lever is weak. So we will head back to Delhi in a couple of days and I wonder what problem the Enfield will think up (can there be another problem with all the work that it's had in the last 2 weeks????) so that it can get taken in to see a mechanic...I will let you know :)

Later!!!!

2007-07-05T15:06:00.001+01:00

Into the hills, and it's about time!!!!

We rode from Amritsar to Dharamsala...or more exact - McLeod Ganj. It is a beautiful hill station...

with smiling people :)

and you can even get a beer there! We met up with another Brit, Simon, also on an Enfield and he was fresh from the Manali-Leh road....and 6 months of riding around India on his bike. He even took the Enfield on the ferry to the Andeman Islands! No picture of Simon, but I snapped this when both he and A popped off to their respective loos :)

There are some FABULOUS roads in Himachal Pradesh - some of the best roads I have ridden on a motorbike. These photos don't even begin to do it justice, but we were having such a good time riding we didn't want to stop to take photos :)

See, here is A telling me to get a move on :)

Check out these roads!

You know this place was made for A to ride because they even have a town named after her :)

The Enfield had been giving me problems as soon as we left the flat roads for the hills, and the morning we left McLeod Ganj it was *really* giving me problems. When it stalled on a hill and refused to start I got fed up (even though the roads havd been brilliant!) so we stopped at the next Enfield mechanic that we saw...it just happened to be Rana's shop. (you can read more about Rana in the Enfield post :). When it looked like Rana wasn't coming back with my engine anytime soon Arun, his cousin, appeared like magic and not only offered us dinner, but a bed for the night as well.

This is Arun, and his lovely daughter Chikoo, on his Enfield (same model as mine, just a couple of years older)...

This is Arun's wife and giggling daughter...

This is Arun's wife cooking us some fabulous food!!!! She has a propane ring and a wood fire in her massive kitchen.

Arun's country house - he lives in Chandigarh and he is a basketball coach at a school there, his wife is a lecturer in Sanskrit. It is school holidays and they were heading back on July 2nd.

The path to the house....no, I didn't get a shot of the steep hill we had to ride up, but it looks the same, just on an angle :)

Once Rana has sorted the Enfield we continued on to the town of Mandi (where he had ridden to get the parts and do the machining for the bike). This town is another of HP's tourist towns to escape the summer heat. We rode on by and made it to Manali that night, but we planned to come back later (and we did).

These are some of the roads north of Mandi, towards Manali

and this is the terrible tunnel!!! It's betwen Mandi and Manali and it's about 3kms long, has few lights, dodgy reflective markers on the few corners (where they were sure to have no lights)...and no ventilation, it was like fog in there at times!

Manali photos on the way, but first the Enfield story :)

2007-07-05T15:05:00.001+01:00

Amritsar photos!

We left Delhi...

...and Amritsar was at the end of a long day on the bikes - our first day back on motorbikes!!! :) It's a bustling city...

With lots of history...this is Jallianwala Bagh, where the British troops opened fire on the crowd in the park. You can read more about it here: Jallianwala Bagh Massacre on Wikipedia

It is also near the Pakistan border...

But the main attraction of Amritsar is the Golden Temple...

...and thousands of people visit it every day. It is the holiest temple for Sikhs.

Do you recognize the pilgrim on the right? :)

There is a subtle form of security...

The walls around the complex are coverend in many war memorials...

We thought the clock face was great, though hard for me to tell time on (I prefer digital :)

The morning we left we loaded up on some caffiene ladled out by this gentleman :)

2007-07-05T15:04:00.000+01:00

Namaste!

Now that we have a decent connection speed we can bring to you some photo updates from the last few weeks events - starting with Varanasi, the holiest city in India :-)

...but first - one of the travellers who was also heading to Varanasi that we met on the platform at Gorakpur station.

Oh and these two too - Millie and Rich from Australia who we would hang out with for a few days and try to ease their welcome into the CRaZiNeSs Of InDiA %-)

We stayed in the Cantonment area which was certainly much quieter than the hustle and bustle of the old city - although this choice kept us distant from the true atmosphere of the holy city. Varanasi is one of the longest continually inhabited cities in the world and it is mentioned in the ancient Hindu texts of the Rig Vedas. For Hindus to die here it holds much reverence for them as it is believed that they will be freed from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth - that cycle of reincarnation or samsara. Along the river bank of the great Ganga that runs through the city there are over 100 ghats, many of them have legends associated with their existence. To bathe in the great Ganga will rid one of ones sins - hence the hordes to be found in the water. We took a boat trip where the views of the ghats are best held, this required us to be on the boat at dawn in order to catch the early morning rituals...

A beautiful sunrise gave us a gentle and atmospheric introduction to the Ganges :-)

It was appropiate to light a ritual candle (sold to us from another boat) and offer it to the river.

We had not yet reached the main ghats but already there was much to see. In the dim light we could see this tilting temple that was partly submerged.

It was not long before the riverbank began to spring to life.

Our boatman was highly informative (far better than our guide who had decided to sit at one of the ghats and read the newspaper instead of joining us) and it was so calming and peaceful to have him row us along the river and explain the activities that were taking place.

We approached the main ghats where it was apparent that there was an awful lot happening...

...like men standing around in baggy underpants :-) There were already many people bathing and swimming (Mostly men, women have their own seperate bathing ghat)

Temples abound, buildings are adorned with bright paint, saris flow in a variety of colours, the eye is overwhlemed.

Whilst some pray...

Others wash clothes amongst trash and sewage...

Some meditate...

I wondered how many days/weeks/months/years this old man had left to live before he was freed from the cycle of Samsara. There are many homes for the infirm and elderly along the side of the river.

We approached the burning ghats where funeral pyres were already lit. Luckily the wind was not blowing any smoke our way.

The quantity of wood required is calculated exactly - such is the expense that many cannot afford a funeral here. The ghats are also privatley owned which also adds to the high cost.

This woman was not fortunate enough to have a funeral pyre - she had died from a cobra bite (known as her body was wrapped in white cloth), the appropiate funeral rite dictated that she is not allowed to be cremated. The cobra sits around lord Shiva's neck and reminds us that we may die at any moment from it's deadly bite, hence we are to live each moment as our last. This corpse too was a reminder...

Dead cows are also honoured by being disposed of in the river.

And people wash clothes.

The religious fervour was incredible.

When we had finished the river trip we took a ride in a jeep out to Sarnath where Buddha taught his first sermon. We also visited a Japanese Buddhist temple there where a monk was chanting mantras to the beat of a drum.

As always there was an opportunity to visit a weavers "co-operative" in the muslim area to buy some products - Varanasi also being known for it's highly prized silk. It was amazing to see the weavers at work, they were very nimble, the skill is passed down from father to son (often at a very young age). I was not impressed though by the young age of one of them and the dim light in which they all worked. It was obvious that the profit was not being made by them, their scrawny builds a contrast to the fat salesmen in the beautiful shop. I had my doubts as to the treatment of the workers and it being a co-operative. The term fits well when you want to talk fair trade to tourists. Others were not so sceptical and made purchases. Maybe I read too much into it but I really did not like what I saw (my personal opinion of course!)

Some of the saris can take up to six months to make.

Detail of the work mid creation.

Finally, here I am on the train to Delhi. We had hard sleepers, no aircon and not much room. It was 15 hours of... a reasonably nice experience despite how it sounds.

Tired the next morning but enjoying chai on my bunk. Masala chai is overtaking coffee on my list for the number one breakfast drink :-)

2007-07-05T10:01:00.000+01:00

We are alive!!! It's the internet that died :)

The internet in all of northwestern India has been down for the last 5 days or so due to a server failure in Punjab. There were some places that were running dialup, but sharing a dialup line with a room full of people is something too painful to contemplate (and people were saying it was so slow as not to be worth it).

So I spent some time on the computer without an internet connection and I have sorted a bunch of photos for you - they will be up soon. But first, some news of our riding in the Indian Himalaya :)

Someone, we are not sure who, did not want us riding up there. The Enfield, though a great handling bike, is a bit neurotic and needs to see a mechanic everyday that it gets ridden. When we got to Manali we had already pretty much decided that we didn't have the time to do Ladakh properly and that we were going to head to the Spiti and Kinnaur valleys but we also heard that the buses going up to Leh from Manali had been cancelled three days running. We asked around and the problem on the road to Leh was beyond the Rhotang La (the 3000m pass just above Manali) and the turnoff to Spiti was just on the other side of the pass so we should be fine...."should" being the active word :)

After stopping at the mechanic's shop for a new spark plug for the Enfield we headed north to the pass. It rained every morning we were in Manali, so it was a bit of a wet departure. As we headed north it dried up and we stopped for photos of the stunning scenery as we wound our way - over muddy roads, recently cleared landslide areas and stream crossings - up the 55kms to the top of the pass. There was quite a lot of traffic on the way up and when we had gotten to the top we understood why - there were a couple of thousand people up there playing on the snow! This is a small patch of snow (you will see in the photos) but they are skiing, sliding, being pushed in sledges, taking silly photographs and even riding on snow machines!!!! It's a small village of dhabas, places to rent boots and warm clothing and people offering rides on horses and yaks.

When we dropped off the backside of the pass we pretty much had the place to ourselves, there were a couple of other motorcyclists heading to Leh and some occasional truck traffic, it was great. The road was rough - some pavement, but mostly dirt and mud - but the views were stunning. We made our way down the 15 or so kms to the turnoff for Spiti and really had the road to ourselves. About 10kms down we came around the corner to a whole lot of water on the road and a jeep trying to drive up the water covered road to the stream crossing. We parked the bikes and walked up to have a look. It was a lot of water, but there looked to be a good line to take up to the top section and then it would be a bit of a tricky thing to get across the bigger rocks, but that was better than the deeper section. We would take one bike at a time. On the way back down we got roped into pushing the jeep - it was stuck in the middle of the roadway. We were not making much progress and it was getting late so when a shepherd arrived to help we started on our own crossing attempt.

We took the Enfield first and off I went - up the left side, back to the right on the sheet of pink rock and then up onto the dirt edge to the top, just before the big stream crossing (the first part had just been about 25 meters of runoff down the road). I stopped the bike, A caught up to me and we discussed the line and then had to give me a push to get started. I hit a big rock with the front wheel, stuck my right leg out and found no purchase!!! We tipped over into the water!!!!! I kept the engine revving so as not to fill the exhaust with water and just as it stalled A and I heaved the beast up and pushed it the last few feet onto dry land - woohoo, we got one bike across!!!! :) With trepidation I tried kicking the Enfield to life and we were both overjoyed that it started right up...it coughed a load of black nasty stuff out of the exhaust, but it ran :)

By this time the guys in the jeep had somehow maneuvered themselves so close to the edge they were going to fall off the road! They pleaded with us to help them unload and we did. Then we helped push. Nothing doing. Then another jeep came down the road and some of the men came to help, we headed for the Pulsar - it was 5pm and we still had 40kms to ride before the stop for the night. I took the Pulsar on the same route and there were no mishaps - the bike is so much lighter. So we got loaded up and started on our way again. Not even 2kms up the road, just as we were hoping there would be no other river crossings there was another one.

We again parked the bikes and walked up. This one had a big waterfall dropping the water onto the road...it was not looking good. The small runoff on the road looked a lot easier than the previous one, but the stream crossing at the top was much deeper - you couldn't see the bottom (so no way to know where the rocks were) and it was at least knee deep, if not over the knee - too deep for the Enfield for sure with it's exhaust pipe about 8-10 inches off the ground (the Pulsar is a bit sportier and has a slanting pipe). It wasn't a great distance to cover, but it would be hard to get the momentum needed to cross it with the uphill ride through the runoff. We decided that it was too late, too deep and there was too much potential for more river crossings if we kept on this road. So we headed back to the bikes and turned them around and headed back to the first stream crossing.

Again I took both bikes across (my outrigger legs are a bit longer than A's :) with A in reserve to push or lift (as required :). Again we took the Enfield first. I thought it would be a bit easier as it was down hill, but though we didn't have any mishap it felt a bit edgier! I parked the Enfield and walked back up through the water for the Pulsar. The Pulsar has a much lighter front end so it was even more skittish and by the time I got parked up next to the Enfield I was shaking with the adrenaline and I dug into the tankbag for the ParleGs (our favorite biscuits - the G is for glucose :) Ah, much better. At this point we needed to decide where we were going to go - it was 6pm and we could go back to Manali on the rode we had just ridden (75kms), or we could head up the Manali Leh road to Keylong (55kms), but we didn't know what was in store for us and it was going to be dark before long. We decided on the known road, even though it was longer. We left the guys in the jeep to their fate...there was nothing we could do to help them.

I was soaked to the skin up to my waist, having fallen in the water, A was soaked to the knee, and our boots were waterlogged. We put on warm clothes and headed back to the pass...and it started to rain. The ride up was good, and then we started to get socked in as we climbed higher, soon it was hard to see more than a few meters in front of us. We reached the top of the pass and it was deserted - all the holiday makers had gone home - and then we started the descent down. We were both cold - I couldn't feel my toes and my hands were frozen! - but we knew that we would get warmer the lower we got. We passed one muddy slide area and then the paragliding launch point and soon we were at the dhaba where we stopped for a paratha and a cup of tea on the way up - everything was shut. Only 35kms left to Manali :)

We continued down, seeing only the occasional jeep or truck, thankfully they all had some sort of lights on. As we got lower the mist cleared, but it was getting dark by then. I was starting to feel warmer. We rode over the stream crossing that we were so excited about on the way up (we had gone back for a photo on the way up :) and we knew that coming up was a bit of a rough patch - a very muddy slide area that we had navigated on the way up. It was going smoothly and I was glad that we chose to ride roads that we knew.

We both knew it when we reached the slide area - the recent rain had not done it any favors, but at least there was no additional slide onto the roadway. As we got to the hairpin things got very slippery with mud and you could see headlights of a car coming up to the corner - I knew from our ride up that this section was only wide enough for one!!! The other lane around the corner was mud that was way too deep for the bikes. I stopped in the corner leaving enough room for the car to pass us on the inside and, leave it to the Enfield - it stalled! The whole gear lever on the right/brake pedal on the left and totally crap front drum brake makes starting the Enfield frustrating enough when the weather is lovely, it's bright daylight and the road is flat and dry....this is not what I needed. Then the Pulsar stalled as well :) Miraculously the front brake held the heavy bike on the slippery surface and it started on first kick (the ritual of kick starting an Enfield will be covered later :) and A got the Pulsar kicked to life and off we went - the rest of that section was a piece of cake.

Now it was just dark and though the road was wet, for the most part the pavement was good. We caught up to another bike and then he caught up to a car - we could see the road ahead with their headlights and that helped a lot. Then we had a jeep come up from behind and pull it's usual move (honk the horn a ton, make people move over so that they could pass) so we hopped on it's tail and followed their light for awhile :). We were soon outdistanced by the jeep but we were reaching civilization and we were only about 10kms away.

The headlights of the oncoming cars were starting to be irritating and make it hard to see the road - it's only single lane width in a lot of places and these guys like to use their high beams all the time, if they use their lights at all :). A car was coming at us so I went for the switch to drop from my high beam to my low beam (which is a very poor design - a slider switch hi-low-hi that turns the headlight off between settings) and my headlight went out as the car passed and all the sudden I was in total darkness and I couldn't see anything! I hit the rear brake, which is very touchy (to make up for the crap front brake) and, since the road was wet, locked up and caused a little skid while at the same time I revved the engine a little, because I couldn't tell if the bike had stalled (which would make the light go out). The bike was running and I found the low beam setting on the switch (I must have pushed it too far) and I once again had light. A maintained total calm following me down and did not run me over or skid her bike or do anything wacky at all (she is a star :) but did ask later if I was ok :) It turns out that in switching the headlight from high to low it blew the high beam part of the bulb.

Well, we were on the home stretch now, we had been riding for nearly 3 hours without stopping in some very demanding conditions, so what do we need? More slippery, rocky, dodgy road, right? :) There is a small detour just before you get into town that I think is the route around a bridge that is out. You have a slope that is studded with big rocks and you have to navigate to the right or left around a huge tree, navigating over the wet roots and then take a left turn in the slippery mud on a downhill slope and ride a narrow edge on the right side to avoid the deep puddles on the left and then ride over a wet, metal-decked temporary bridge and back up onto the road which is perpendicular to the detour and which has a big edge that you have to bump over. All this in the dark, too! Not to worry, we were well up to the task after the night descent of the pass - piece of cake :) We made it back to the hotel we had just left that morning - much to the surprise of the proprietor - and then went to find some food and then back to the room to drop into bed and sleep the sleep of the totally knackered.

We took the next day off and rested in Manali before attempting to get into the Kinnaur Valley from the other direction - over the Jalori Pass. Read my next installment for that adventure...plus more news on the Enfield's visits to the mechanic :) Yes, and photos!

Later!

2007-06-29T14:42:00.001+01:00

Namaste :-)

It has been too long since I last released my colourful thoughts into the world of twowheelswhirled so I am going to make up for it by sharing some colourful photos instead. Everything has been moving so quickly since we left Tibet and my appreciative side is having trouble keeping up with the pace - therefore it is great that I get to share some pictures with you from Nepal (as promised a waning moon ago :-) Yep, we still have photos that we have not shared from the Tibet ride or from Mount Everest but we have over 1000 photos to go through and our departure is creeping closer than ever thus putting pressure on our time. We are going to post these later when we return to the UK with some special reportage :-) In fact we have some plans up our sleeve that will give twowheelswhirled an interesting continuation from our current trip...

Anyhow, back to the photos - K has already written some accounts of the trip so I will fill you in on some finer details :-)

After much downhilling, a border crossing and then further descents we spent our first few hours in Nepal riding our bikes. We were really charged up and excited, we had no guide book, only our map which showed the route. We did not know where we were to stay that night but luckily the signs for the Last Resort came into view.

We rode along the canyon road with the river following alongside but way down below.

This is the town which we rode into that is adjacent to the Last Resort - well on the other side of the river that is (the river is visible way down in the gorge on the left hand side of the picture)

We had to carry our loaded bikes up some steps (thank goodness that K was fed milk and cookies when she was a child) and then we pushed them across a rather long pedestrian suspension bridge that was a great test if you should suffer from vertigo. This is the view from the bridge looking down at the raging water below. Makes you want to bungee jump from the bridge, right? No? Me neither :-)

It was a great result - The tents were spacious inside and we had private parking for the bikes outside. We were surrounded by bamboo forest and beautiful flowers.

After recovering for a day we loaded the bikes up and continued on our way. This is the suspension bridge - the local kids liked to line up in rows and grab hold of metal roped sides and would try to wobble the bridge as much as possible in order to strike fear into any foreigners that may be crossing.

Surely we could reach Kathmandu that day... :-)

The ride started pretty well, with our rest we were recharged and full of gusto. As we rode it was great to see some of our friends rafting on the river below much further downstream from the Last Resort. This is moments before the boat had gotten turned over by the swift current from the recent rains.

It was a great undulating ride through more spectacular scenery...

The road surface varied in quality :-)

Small villages were built high up on the steep slopes which were more often terraced in order to make the most use out of the land which was cultivated to grow corn and other crops.

Cows were in abundance - something that we had not seen since we left India. It seemed that every home had one or two.

One of the larger townships looking quite rustic.

I had to stop K from diving in and joining these guys fishing, it has been hard for her to control her angling spirit on this trip with such great rivers accompanying us en route.

The road soon began to climb up a valley - we had been told by some of the friends that we bumped into at the Last Resort that there was only a small hill. This is a fair description after you have come from Tibet....we rode up and up.

The unrelenting heat did not help, the temperatures were also way higher than those in Tibet which we had become accustomed to. K was overheating and had to occasionally stick her head under cold water sourced from nearby streams and rivers and provided by taps at the side of the road in the most strangest of places.

The view was great...

...but we were still riding up, we were waning (but still smiling) and quite far from Kathmandu, we would have to find accomodation, this became obvious when K started lose it a bit and my teasing did not help :-)

Phew, we found a decent hotel in Dhulikhel, the proprietor was exceptionally welcoming.

...there was much artwork from a local artist adorning the walls, there was not a free space remaining.

As we headed out the next morning the proprietor was very encouraging and told us it was all down hill and would only take us about an hour to do the 30kms into Kathmandu. We thought this was a bit ambitious, but we were glad to know it was going to be downhill. The roads were good and almost traffic free in the first 15kms...

...but as we got closer to Kathmandu the traffic became heavier and the urban sprawl became endless but we were overwhelmed to be reaching our goal which was to ride into the city.

Now onto Kathmandu scenes...

Kids playing football in front of a shrine.

Amongst UN officials driving around town in cars there was an abundance of police. Nepal has quite a bit of unrest as it goes through it's transition to a democracy - violence is an everyday threat to peoples lives and police checkposts are everywhere as a result.

The streets were lively, traffic battled with pedestrians on the narrow streets and the architecture, though crumbled, was amazing and held many surprises.

Temples were dotted amongst the secular buildings. At the weekend there was much puja being offered as children played around the shrines which became a centre for community activity.

A streetside snack stop.

Sorting cotton on the streetside.

Ah, another common sight - we would often see dogs waiting patiently outside the butchers shop, waiting for pieces to accidently fall there way.

... and now Trek has branched out from bikes apparently and now distributes gas cannisters, too.

The streets of Thamel... the touristy area.

We took a walk to the Swayambunath temple which is located way up on the hill - important to pilgrims because Sakyamuni taught a sermon there.

We had to climb over 300 steps to get up to it and it was hot - everyone, including us, was really suffering in the heat.

Looking back down from the top with Kathmandu sprawled out below.

The beautiful stupa...

...and smaller monuments.

There were also more prayer wheels to be spun...

Next destination was Pokhara to buy an Enfield - yep our plans did not work out due to cost but smilin' K has an Enfield now :-) We decided to leave town the next morning and to get back to Delhi to get our motorbikes. Before getting on the bus to the border I was plesantly surprised by the arrival of coffee - see how happy it makes me :-)

I was still smiling even after spending hours on this bus on swervy roads up and down mountian sides. There was never a straight moment throughout the journey which was broken up by a few rest stops, a protest and the occasional bit of maintenace when the driver would hit the leafsprings with a hammer...

We went to Lumbini - the birth place of Buddha - as our last stop in Nepal. This is the remains of the monastery, there was also a stone marking the *exact* spot of Buddah's birth...

...and this beautiful peace pagoda. Between the birthplace and the pagoda are many modern monasteries built by countries all over the world (e.g. China, Japan, VietNam, Austria, Germany, Thailand, etc.)

That night the clear sky was decorated witha rare sight, a perfectly aligned planet to the moon that was very reminiscent of the symbol of Islam.

Until next time...

2007-06-29T11:39:00.000+01:00

Hello from Manali!

Apologies for the silence, we haven't been in a internet cafe for ages! Ah, it's been an interesting time :) We left Delhi for Amritsar and, except for a slight problem actually *finding* the right road off the ring road (it's not like they would signpost Highway 1 - a main artery!!! - or anything :), it was a pretty uneventful 475kms. It was our biggest day on motorbikes in India but no where near as challenging as that day to Panajii :) The biggest challenge was keeping cool as it is *very* hot, especially in all our riding kit. We stopped twice at places just because they had air conditioning...one was a McDonalds with a drive thru! :)

To get to Amritsar you have to go through Haryana (Amritsar is in Punjab). They would seem, by their road safety signage, to be one of the most safety conscious states....but we saw more road carnage than any other day on the road, so it doesn't seem to be working! We did learn that "whisky is risky" though :) Punjab is the land of Sikhs and it was a very different part of India than we have experienced (it's a nice different :). We arrived and it was a madhouse! You would have thought that *everyone* thought Amritsar was the place to be. Lucky for us we were again offered an escort to our hotel by a couple of young men on their motorcycle - it is so nice to have that assistance at the end of a long ride when the map is not the best :).

I was not feeling great - I seemed to be picking up the start of a cold that the bad air quality of the ride did not improve on. We found a place to eat and then headed to bed....not wanting to try the cold water shower (brrr! :). A couple of hours after we got to sleep I awoke to a fit of coughing that I couldn't shake and I sent the lovely A (not very awake herself) to ask the guys at the front desk for a cup of tea - hot always helps my throat when it gets like that. It eventually arrived and I could again breathe and swallow and we got back to sleep. We slept late and I was feeling better, but not great, so after breakfast we went off to find the Golden Temple - the most famous Sikh temple. Word in LP was that the marble paths were too hot to walk on by noon (you have to leave shoes outside) so we...hot-footed it over there :).

It is a beautiful temple - surrounded by water it seems to float in the middle. There were long and very orderly queues (unlike Ajmer :) and we watched as the masses of visitors walked around the complex or bathed in the water. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and had a rest before it was time to head to the border to watch the flag ceremony. When it was time we both piled on the Enfield and headed out of town. The LP says that the ceremony is at 5:30 and we arrived at about 4:30 so we could have a look around and get a good spot.

The Enfield had a little problem on the way out - the chain seemed to be hopping a bit when you let off the throttle. They had just put that new cog on the rear so I had a look at the chain tension and I could see that the chain was off the teeth...and there were no teeth on the cog!!!!! Yikes. I told that mechanic when he put that new cog on that it needed a new chain but he said no, it just needed a cog (as I know from bicycles and my own motorbikes - you always change the chain and cogs together). We were in a spot of trouble as the bike won't go if there are no teeth on the cog. When we went to ask if there was an Enfield shop around we were told that the ceremony started at 6:30...hmmm, that might be enough time...and there was a motorbike shop up the road. So off we went.

We found the shop but the mechanic said that we have to go to Amritsar - he didn't have the parts. So we made the hard decision to fore go the flag ceremony so we could get out of town the next day...oh well. We very cautiously rode towards Amritsar being careful not to load the chain - it's 30kms back to town. We made it back safely and miraculously found the Enfield shop right where the guy said it was... and they could fix it right then - woohoo! We agreed a price (650 rupees) and I handed over the cash for the "boy" to go off and buy the parts as two guys started taking the Enfield apart.

First the rear wheel has to come off for the rear cog to go on, but the Enfield has an interesting design...they started to crack open one of the outer engine cases, drained the fluid and proceeded to pull the entire clutch assembly and it's case just to get to the front cog! A bit extreme for a part that wears as quickly as the drivetrain - on my Fazer there is a small cover for the front cog and it's a 2 minute job to get to it. It was nice to see that everything looked in good shape in the transmission, though :) Forty five minutes later I had a fresh drivetrain and we were on our way - the proprietor having giving the bike a test ride and pronounced it fit to ride (with that little head wobble that they do all over India :). On our way back to the hotel we stopped in a different part of town - much quieter - and had a lovely thali (Punjabi thalis are a speciality of the region :).

The next morning we were up decently early, packed the bikes, paid the bill and had some delicious tea (for me) and coffee (for A) from the street stall (the guys at the hotel would have gotten us coffee from here if we asked for coffee, so we went direct :). Then it was on to the bikes and off towards Dharamsala! We were a bit tired of straight boring roads so it was with great pleasure that we passed Pathankot and headed into the foothills and the curving and climbing roads - woohoo!!!! The Enfield handles like a dream! We found our way up the mountain to Dharamsala and the Enfield was giving me a tiny bit of a problem with the fueling....but it was climbing like a trooper on the rocky road, which was good :). Then we headed even farther up (through the military zone! strange to be so near the peaceful Dalai Lama) to McLeod Ganj where we parked the bike (not the only Enfield by a long stretch!!!!) and found a place to stay. We also ran into another guy on an Enfield that we had met on the road earlier in the day...turns out he's from Luton, just down the road from A's neighborhood :)

Simon has been riding around India on his Enfield for the last 6 months and he is on his way back to the UK just before we head back - we have already arranged to meet up for a beer :) We also found one of the few places in McLeod Ganj that has beer (and coincidentally the place that Pierce Brosnan eats when he comes to town - the British connection, eh? :) and sat down to chat about this and that over a few beers. We had a great time!

The following morning we headed back down the mountain with plans to return, if possible, for the Dalai Lama's 70th birthday celebrations - McLeod Ganj is a great town and we would like to spend more time there. The Enfield gave me a few starting problems in the morning and seemed to be having that fueling problem again...I had talked to Simon about it and I checked the plug and it looked fine - it wasn't running lean or rich. Hmmm. We got moving and I just put up with it, planning to have the Manali mechanic look at it when we arrived. The Pulsars were never this much trouble!!!!! It was a bittersweet ride that morning...the roads were fantastic, but the Enfield was troubling me and then it stalled on me and wouldn't start at all (even when I swore at it :)! Lucky for us we were on a hill and I turned the bike around and bump started it and then vowed to find the next Enfield mechanic and have him sort it out.

That turned out to be about 35kms outside of Mandi :) We pulled in and the mechanic listened to my story (lucky me, I could find one that spoke English! That was very lucky as this was a small town) and then had a look at the bike...kicked it over a few times and told me it was a problem with the compression. Yikes, I don't like the sound of that at all! He pulled the small cover that accesses the tappets and found that one of them was tight, so he sorted that out -they are hard to adjust, it looks like a cup and cone adjustment when you need to get it tight enough so it doesn't rattle, but loose enough that it moves freely. He then adjusted the ignition spark a little bit and took it for a spin. Then he sent me off for a spin and when I came back he told me that he thought that I needed a new piston ring. GREAT....not!

The guy had done a great job diagnosing the problem and making the bike run - when I took out for a test ride I thought we were on our way, it was running so much better. Rana, the mechanic, did say the bike would be fine to ride if we were going to stay on the flats but not if we were in hilly country - we could go to Delhi on it no problem. I felt he was a good mechanic so I asked how much and how long...we were still a fair ways from Manali, but we could stay in Mandi for the night. He said about 1500 rupees and 4 hours - he would have to go into Mandi for the machine shop. So I said yes (we can't go to Leh with a compression problem) and they started pulling the Enfield apart...I hadn't even had the bike for a week and it was having major surgery!!!!

It was great to watch the bike break down into it's component parts...again :) and to watch Rana work. When they pulled the valve block off you could see the blackness of the piston - what a mess. The exhaust had been clear, not smoky - I checked when I bought the bike and A had been following me for 2 days, she would have noticed. Rana then pulled the piston and checked the rings...they looked good...hmmm. Then he had a look at the valves and decided to check for a leak...yup, the exhaust valve was leaking - this was the same tappet that had been too tight. Now it needed new valves. So he packed the parts onto the scooter and headed off into Mandi...we went for a walk and then waited.

About the time we expected Rana back Arun showed up - Rana's cousin - and asked what he could do for us. He was very nice and it was obvious (though no one said) that Rana was delayed. We asked where we could find some dinner and then Arun most graciously offered us the use of *his* Enfield, which just happened to be the same as mine but a couple of years older :) We opted to let him ride his bike and we would take the Pulsar (the trusty Pulsar!!!! I didn't mention that Rana and Arun both dissed Pulsars but we all know which bike has been fabulous for 4 months on the road and which one has been in the shop twice in one week :).

We went up the road to the only hotel in town, parked the bikes outside and sat down near the window - all three of us. Then it was decided that we would have a drink, so 3 mango Slice bottles were brought over. It was all very strange and we could tell there were things not being said but finally Arun said we should come to dinner at his house just down below the hotel - we shouldn't spend the money. Knowing looks were passed between Arun and the hotel owner. Well, we don't say no to an offer of home cooking or not having to buy dinner :), so we said yes. Then we told him that we should arrange to stay at the hotel for the night and he said why spend the money...we can stay at his house...if we didn't mind. Wow, this was all very nice. So it was decided and after more knowing looks were passed between Arun and the hotel owner we headed down the hill, stopping to pick up some of our things, buy some water (for us) and some fresh veg for dinner.

We arrived and had a bit of a thrill at the hill climb up the dirt path to the house (that was fun, but A walked up with our stuff and the veg :) and we parked the bikes and got a very warm welcome from Arun's wife and 2 year old daughter...both very shy. It is the Indian tradition to treat guests as gods so we were feeling very fawned over. We had cup of tea and Arun kept us entertained. He is a basketball coach at a school in Chandigarh (the most modern and clean city in India - a designed city not unlike Milton Keynes) and his wife is a lecturer in Sanskrit. They were on their school holidays at their family property in this village. Arun and his wife both have several degrees, Arun played basketball on the national level for Maharashtra and his English is very good. Chikoo, the little girl, was adorable and she played a game of peekaboo all evening - peering at us through the window, which caused lots of giggling on her part, and being very shy in our presence.

Dinner was served and we ate first (as is the custom) and it was delicious!!! Dal and rice, some marrow (which they called pumpkin and was stir fried) and some curry all followed by fresh mangoes ('tis the season :). We were then installed in front of the TV while they ate their dinner. Then there was more conversation and it was time to go to bed - good thing, we were knackered! We both slept incredibly well - it was so quiet! In the morning it was raining and there was a wonderful breakfast of tea and paratha and then we all rushed off in various directions - us to the bike shop and Arun to take his wife and daughter to the local school.

We arrived to Rana's shop to learn that the Enfield had been rebuilt overnight - Rana worked until midnight! The bike had new valves, a new piston and had had the cylinder bored - and it had to run for 2 hours to seat everything. We were not going to be on our way anytime soon. So A went across the road and brought tea for everyone and Rana occasionally fiddled with the bike but it was all about waiting. After about an hour we went over for more tea and some breakfast for the boys (we were stuffed from our paratha breakfast :). Then it was time! Rana took the bike for a spin and came back, he told me I needed to go take it for a spin. So I went up the road and it was great...just a bit of clatter, though. Then I took it up the hill road and it seemed fine...and then as I was going up one section I started to loose power again...then it stalled! Ugh. I couldn't get it started either. Double ugh.

I tried to bump start it going back down the hill and it locked the rear wheel - maybe the insides were not happy at all.... :( So I put it in neutral and coasted down hill without the engine running. Arun hopped on when I arrived (Rana was working on another bike) and the bike started right up! :) OK, so problem, but probably not a big problem. A few more fiddles and some more adjustment of the ignition and the test ride was good, then Rana went up the hill with Arun on the back to make sure that there was no problem with power and came back satisfied - he gave me a 10,000km guarantee on the piston.

We packed up and got on the road to Manali...WOW. The Enfield was running great, that was good, but the roads were just AMAZING. (ATTN Mr. Brown - the 30 kms to Mandi were 30 of some of the best kms I have ever ridden on a bike!). Swoopy curves, up and down the hillside, just heaven. The Enfield is much more planted that the floppy Pulsar so it was pure joy to ride, even the oncoming cars/trucks/buses coming around the corners on my side of the road did not unsettle me :). We took the turn north towards Manali and followed another river up - more great road - and then it started to get congested as we got near Kulla and then it was pretty busy all the way into Manali which is a bit of tourist hell. Luckily we followed the LP recommendation and headed for Old Manali and we are in a nice guest house.

A's asthma did not like the dusty road up or the exhaust fumes though - especially the long tunnel that didn't seem to have any light or ventilation! - and we have spent a day recovering. It's probably not all the air quality - I think that whatever I had in Amritsar I passed on to A (hey, what are friends for if we don't share??? :) and she spent the night coughing.

We have decided to change our plans in light of new information...if I thought Dharamsala was bad when it came to foreigners on Enfields, it's got nothing on Manali - *everyone* has an Enfield and they are all heading north :) We had also talked to Simon in Dharamsala about the route (he had just done it) and even without knowing that we were having respiratory problems he said make sure we have a mask to cover our faces as it is very dusty on the ride up. I still have a cough and A is trying to recover from hers...about 300kms of the road to Leh are going to be dirt, and it's altitude...why push it? We also don't have time to do justice to Ladakh - it would be an in and out trip just to say we have ridden it and climbed the big passes. There is a beautiful pair of valleys just to our east, no one goes there, the roads and views are supposed to be exceptional and we have the opportunity to see some beautiful and old Tibetan art that has survived the Cultural Revolution because...it's not in China :) What more could we ask for?

On the emotional side, the river looked great on our ride in, and Manali is a great place to go rafting, but we would rather ride the motorbikes. After the last 7 months of travelling the attraction of the "highest" pass and an enormously challenging road (steep, rocky, lots of river crossings) isn't as much of an attraction as some serious natural beauty and remote, unchanged villages - it is still attractive, just not as attractive :). So we (after much discussion) are going to spend our time there and we might even have time to make it back to Dharamsala for the Dalai Lama's birthday...but we aren't rushing it, we want to enjoy ourselves :).

More photos coming!!! Catch you later.

2007-06-23T16:43:00.000+01:00

We are in Delhi...and I am now riding an Enfield :)

The train from Varanasi to Delhi was a whole lot better than the train from Gorakphur to Varanasi! We had a sleeper (non-A/C) and it was much cooler - we actually got a bit chilled overnight. The train was 5 hours late in arriving though and it was back to being sweaty by the time we got in. We hopped a rickshaw back to our favorite Delhi hotel (after much bargaining....we are seasoned travellers now :) in Manju ka Tilla, dropped our bags, ate some of their delicious momos and headed into town for a reunion with the Pulsars.

As usual, there was a lot of waiting around (this *is* India :) but finally the bikes arrived and were sorted out by the "boys" at the shop and we were ripping it back to Manju ka Tilla before dark. I had a look around while we were waiting and I was still thinking about the Enfield that we nearly rode back from Nepal....so I had a chat with the boss at Tony Bikes (where I originally bought my Pulsar) and arranged to come back this morning and talk about a swap.

We got some business sorted this morning (got A some coffee at Cafe Coffee Day, got money, sorted our flights with Gulf Air...got A some coffee at Costa Coffee :) and then we headed over to Karol Bagh. I was immediately sent out on a test ride on a 2004 Enfield Bullet Electra 350. It was a good looking bike and it has electronic ignition (we don't want points if it is going to be wet, and the monsoon is targeted to hit Delhi on July 2nd), the only drawback is that the shifter is on the right and the brake is on the left - this is the reverse of all modern bikes.

I was a bit concerned, but I got used to the weird shift pattern on the Pulsars, it can't be that hard :) Well....it is. It is very strange...but I would rather be on a Bullet than a Thunderbird (the cruiser model with all mod cons :). My first ride I came back telling them there was a problem with the gears and that the front brake didn't work at all - this is key, because when you react and accidentally step on the shifter trying to brake you would at least have the front brake! :) They explained the shifting and made sure I was not treating the beast like a delicate flower - if I want to shift I need to send a clear message with my foot. They adjusted the front brake, too and on the second test ride it was better and it was a go...if we could afford it.

Now that I was happy (I had a list of things that needed to be fixed) the boss took my Pulsar for a ride to see what he would value it at. He came back happy and told me my bike was in excellent shape (I had taken good care of it, I wasn't surprised :) and we started talking money. We did a swap with with the value of my bike coming up 5500 rupees less than I paid for it - in real money that is about 65GBP or US$135 for 4 months of use and all those kms! Excellent!!! I will treat the Enfield just the same, so it should also hold it's value - 3 people came in to look at it while they were fixing all the bits - when I sell it back in a couple of weeks.

We had a bit of work done in preparation for the mountains - we both got new, grippy
tires. They are dual sport type tires, not full knobbies, but chunky all the same. I also got new brake pads front and rear and the rear sprocket needed replacing (I only paid for the tires for both bikes and one set of brake shoes). They went a long way to sorting the front brake...we will see how the new shoes wear in. The bike sounds great, the ride is a bit firm, but it should be fine. I loved the Pulsar, but it's nice to have a bit of change and a challenge, too :)

The plan is to head out early tomorrow morning and head for Amritsar - we wanted to go there before we left for China but we ran out of time. Then it will be mountain roads for us as we head to Dharamsala and on to Manali and then the road to Leh. We will hit the Kardungla (the highest pass) and look around Ladakh and then ride south and head down through the Spiti Valley. Then it's over to have a look at the Garwhal Himalaya and then back to Delhi to catch our flight out on the 11th. We will keep you posted, as we can.

Photos will be forthcoming! I know you want to see the new bike :)

Later! Must go pack :)

2007-06-21T09:53:00.000+01:00

Namaste :-)

Rambling thoughts from a stray mind...

We are waiting for a train to take us back to Delhi. Apparently there has been much rain there over the last week which has brought about a premature increase in mosquito breeding and the threat of dengue as a result. I am preparing myself mentally for the discomfort of my skin being covered in repellent and the relentless temperatures. Still, I am very excited to be going back to the city that brought me so much culture shock back in November.

Part of me is still in Tibet somewhere or is that part of Tibet is still in me? Should it be the latter I hope that it remains so. I am still deeply touched by the Tibetan people and their sense of internal happiness. It is true that each day could be our last, therefore we should start each day anew and live in the present. There is happiness to be found in such philosophy :-) The landscape has filled my soul with natural beauty, although now when I think of Everest there is a mark in the shape of a black tarmacked topped road rudely cutting through the beauty of the region like an ugly black strike through :-(

Nepal I feel so unfamiliar with, I really have no right to speak of it with any true knowledge. No guidebook and not much time there resulted in it being a transit country for us, it is however a country of beauty and a mix of cultures that would be worth exploring further in the future. My memories of Nepal are the ride down from the Himalayas and the dry arid environment of the Tibetan plateau into tropical heat and humidity. We did some great cycling to Kathmandu particularly our toughest day on the bikes which was a true test of character :-) I am surprised that I managed to survive the bus journeys on the twisty roads - about 3% of the roads were straight. This is a recipe for disaster when you suffer from travel sickness as much as I do. Choking diesel fumes through the window, coupled with a lack of aircon (in the case of the ride from Pokhara to the border) and the heat would normally ensure that nothing but torture would follow as the bus blasted horn and swerved back and forth. Luckily I adopted a concentration, a method of mind over matter and focused on the view out of the window, my gaze fixed at the same angle and distance from the bus for the duration. Anytime I strayed from this fake horizon my stomach would churn. My eyes were quite tired after several hours of this and I did not get the best view! But I made it :-)

Now in India, the chaos has become a familiarity and it is less disconcerting. I love how everything is so organic, breathing and flowing. The people that we meet who are "students" and want to practice their English (and eventually take us to an Emporium of some sort) are too obvious now and are laughable. The tricks to extort cash from us are all here in Varanasi but now they are far much more amusing and occasionally frustrating. We have been with a couple of young travellers over the last few days who are grateful for our company - their having been in India for only the two days that they have spent with us. I feel empathy when I see the wide eyed expressions on their faces as they view the intimidating environment that surrounds them and try to make sense of it or to try and find something familiar. I remember how that felt, even if you have been on the road for a while, India has a uniqueness that cannot be prepared for and you find out truly what it is like at best when you are in the deep end - a bit like having a child :-)

Time is pressing and so are my eyelids. The temperature in our room at night is at least 35C and I am not getting enough sleep in the heat. Maybe we shall splash out on an aircon room at some point...

...we are off to get some food for our fifteen hour journey in the soft sleeper carriage... no AC. Gluttons for punishment I tell you :-)

Until next time...

2007-06-21T09:08:00.000+01:00

OK....the border to Kathmandu!

We almost rode by the Nepal immigration office - we were amazed at being all so suddenly back in the third world, that we were definitely not in China anymore! - but they waved us over and we flashed our visas and were on our way. The climate was tropical and the buildings were simple structures, small children and dogs were everywhere. We also realized that it wasn't as late as we thought - Nepal is over 2 hours different in time zones.

We had targeted Tatopani hot springs as a stopping point, but it came too soon and we were not ready to stop. We had been riding all day, but most of it had been down hill and we were exited, so we decided to push on. A few kms down the road we saw a sign for The Last Resort, one that also included the word ESPRESSO...you know what A's vote was going to be on that count :) I remembered the Last Resort when I had been reading about whitewater rafting in Nepal, it sounded like a good place to try.

As we neared the Last Resort the road all the sudden started to go up (I know, how can that be? It's all down hill to Kathmandu, isn't it??? :) and the legs were talking to us and reminding us that it had been a bit of a long day since we left the cave. We spotted the bridge over the gorge (did I mention they also do bungee jumping???? :) and we pulled over and I drew the short straw and walked over the bridge - 250m about the raging river below :) - and asked about a room for the night for 2 very tired cyclists just arrived from Tibet. The price they quoted us was not at all cheap, but food was included and before I could get a word out the Legs of Steel (those would be my legs, A's are made of Ti :) had already said YES!!! (the gall! they didn't even have the courtesy to check with A waiting on the other side of the bridge :)

I walked back over the bridge told A the good news and somehow we found the strength to wheel the loaded bikes up the stairs, across the bridge and down the stairs to our tent. They immediately directed us to the showers and said we could do paperwork later (we must have looked a sight! :). So we unpacked and hit the showers and I headed to the bar for a beer...where I ran into Zach and Imo, the couple that we went to Nam Tso with! They had spent the day rafting the river and were tired. We chatted for awhile and I brought our first bottle of Everest beer back to the tent - it was cold and delicious and we toasted our best day on the bikes! After dinner (an all you can eat buffet! perfect for hungry cyclists :) we gladly fell into our beds and slept the sleep of the very tired.

The next day it was wet and we were not ready to move on - we were not ready for a city after all the rural scenery of Tibet...and we were missing Tibet something wicked (not that Nepal isn't nice or anything :). We watched the bungee jumpers (not for me - the excitement of our recent days riding was so much more exciting than a few seconds of free fall could ever be), ate good food, read....relaxed. It was nice. That night it really shelled it down with rain and I was thinking that we were going to have a wet ride into Kathmandu, but when we woke up it was lovely and sunny!

As we left the road was going down and we were thinking that we might make it all the way to Kathmandu...but then the road went up and then down and up again...and it was getting hot. We had just had a fabulous descent (after a hard climb) into a small town where we crossed the river. From there is was false flat up the next canyon - it looked flat, but if you turned around a looked you were going up hill. Then the heat started to get to me, I am not good in the heat, and I had to stop and put my head under one of the water spring pipes on the side of the road. We were drinking lots of water, too (bottled, not from the spring :). We finally spotted a cafe and we stopped for some cold drinks - perfect! Just what I needed.

We knew from the map that we had a bit of uphill to come but we still thought we might make it it all the way, if not, we would stop at Dhulikhel. Well...it was a whole lot more up than I expected and our altitude experience wasn't helping as much as I thought it would (the legs never got stressed in Tibet because the lungs always gave out first :) I bonked on the last climb and we barely made it up to the top of the mountain - yes, mountain! Dhulikhel is a hill station with beautiful Himalayan views (not visible due to clouds) and it is a beast of a climb that just goes on and on while your legs just won't stop complaining.

A was the star of the day - after the heat got me in the morning and the bonk in the afternoon, I was toast! Pushing the pedals took all my reserves and A led the way into town, found us a great place to stay and even carried her heavy bags up the stairs to the room - she was just as tired as I was, she just had a better attitude :) We sat on the bed for almost a half hour, too tired to shower, but A moved first and soon we were both clean and ready to clean out their kitchen :) We chose the Nepali thalis from the menu and we were soon feasting...it only got better when the guy loaded my plate for a second time with rice and all the trimmings :) Now we felt better!

The next day we decided on a easy start to our day - it's only 30kms to Kathmandu and we were told it was an easy ride, nearly all downhill (it's no lie, either :). We headed out more recovered that I thought I would be and the weather was lovely. As we neared the city things got a lot busier! Soon we were pedaling past the airport and into town where we had an interesting time through the narrow and muddy streets finding Thamel and then the hotel - we had arrived!!!!!

We stored the bikes in the luggage room and headed into town. Hmmmm. Kathmandu is....very western. For all of the exotica we have seen over the last few months this was not what we were looking for. It's not to say we didn't like it, but we would only spend as much time as necessary there. When we turned up the next morning (Tuesday) at the Indian Embassy it was clear we would be in town until Friday - visas take 72 hours to process. That was cool, we needed to rest, sort our stuff...decide what we were going to do next :)

That is about the extent of the story on the bikes...A has a lot more to say, I am sure :). We are heading back to Delhi in a few hours and we are pretty excited to be seeing the old Pulsars tomorrow for our happy reunion :) And it's hot here, but the heat is not killing me, which is also a good thing - it's 35C/95F in the room at night even with the fan going full blast! A just told me it's 39 in Delhi now and it's supposed to rain rain rain tomorrow....no problem, the bikes probably need a bit of a wash :) It rained on us in Delhi when we left, no surprise we are going to get wet now that we are back :)

Later!

2007-06-20T17:16:00.000+01:00

Road to Everest....

When we were on our way up the pass and on to Everest Basecamp we got caught behind a group of 5 Land Cruisers...behaving badly :) We laughed at them when they ripped it up down the road and then stopped (in the middle of the road) and all the guys piled out and had cigarettes or relieved themselves - it's a dirt road and wide enough for one vehicle, when they stopped they stopped traffic.

It turned out that they were road engineers and were stopping to check out the road. We thought they might have been the builders, checking on how it was holding up, or maybe they were looking at paving it for the Olympics....turns out it's the latter:

High Way: China Plans Everest Road from the WSJ

It's a very sensitive topic...in India they are tearing China apart in the paper...

India in a fix as China plans road to Everest from the Times of India

2007-06-20T16:43:00.000+01:00

Greetings from Varanasi (aka Benares)!

We had an....adventurous journey from Lumbini (birthplace of Lord Buddha) in Nepal to Varanasi (right next to Sarnath, where Lord Buddha gave his first sermon). It took a rush to the bus at 6:20 am, which raced to the border where we got out and got a rickshaw to carry us and our luggage to Nepal immigration, then over the border (woohoo, welcome back to India :) then into Indian immigration and then on to a bus. Getting the bus was a bit of a nightmare...it was supposed to leave at 7:30, but the bus we were on sat for awhile and when we asked when it was departing they said 8:30....hmmm, why did we rush our lovely cups of chai then???? :) Then the bus driver drove like he was from Kerala (maniacally :) and we were making fabulous time to Gorakphur and it was looking like we would make our connection to the Varanasi bus (a bridge was out so there were no direct buses to Varanasi) when it all went pearshaped...the bus broke down and they were unable to fix it with electrical tape (we are not sure what was wrong :) and they sent all the passengers up to the road to find alternate transport the last 10kms.

One of the guys on the bus was very nice and flagged down an autorickshaw for us and they told the guy we wanted the bus station and they told us it was going to be 10 rupees for both of us....we got dropped at the train station *and* they wanted 10 rupees a person. But, it ll worked out...we hooked up with the other foreigners ) on our bus and it turned out that they were also going to Varanasi, so we got our tickets and we endured the longest, hottest train journey I have ever done! It was supposed to be something like 6-7 hours and it ended up being over 9 hours and the temperature (from my watch thermometer) was 39C (100F!) for most of the journey but dropped down to 35 (95F) for the last couple of hours. We each drank about 3 liters of water and didn't need to use the loo the entire journey - we sweated all that water out! We travelled cattle class and sat in the upper bunk (under the fan) for the first couple of hours before we could claim seats on the main bench.

Today we swam in the hotel pool and had an afternoon tour to Sarnath and tomorrow morning we depart at 4:45am for our dawn visit to the ghats (that is what you come to Varanasi for - to see the Ganges :). We have a boat ride and a visit to a couple of Hindu temples on the plan as well. We also went to the train station and (painlessly) purchased our tickets to Delhi on the overnight train tomorrow night, so we will be back on the motorbikes by the weekend :):):)

A is still alive and her stomach is in good shape (she just devoured her first masala dosa in months and she is grinning like the Cheshire Cat :)....she will produce some of her lovely commentary tomorrow afternoon when we get online (the train leaves at 7pm) and let you know what's on her mind. I will update you on the last bit of our ride from the border to Kathmandu, but we are on the iWay system at the hotel, so I can't get any photos up, but I will get them up when we get to Delhi, I promise :)

Catch you all tomorrow!!!! Must get to bed so we can get up heinously early :)

2007-06-17T14:33:00.000+01:00

Hey all :) We are in Pokara...

and heading for the Indian border tomorrow morning, first thing. We have been waffles! We have had such an amazing time riding motorbikes around India and cycling in China and Tibet we have just run out of steam - can anything we do from now on measure up? So we have been doing not much of anything except enjoying where we are (and in A's case, recovering from Asian dodgy tummy syndrome :).

After much waffling yesterday we finally bought bus tickets to Pokara to chase down a lead on an Enfield that we could buy and ride back to Delhi. It was a nice ride on the bus, with a nice lunch included :), and we got to see more of the Nepalese green scenery as we meandered in the canyons (and stopped for a half hour...because the boys were running? We have no idea, it wasn't a race, they just closed the road for school boys to run on the road...in their school uniforms on a Sunday. Very strange :) on the 200km journey. Pokhara is a nice little town, much more mellow than Kathmandu (and especially Thamel). We like it, but with the monsoon upon us, the Annapurna range of the Himalayas, usually visible across the lake, are shrouded in cloud...it's a shame, but nothing we can do about it. One (I think it was Annapurna II) poked it's head out of the clouds for about 10 minutes right after the rain stopped, but it was soon back in hiding.

We arrived early this afternoon and were met at the bus, in the pouring rain, by lots of taxis. We were incredibly lucky and found one that was reasonable and the guy directed to a nice hotel just up the road from where we wanted to go - the motorbike shop, Hearts and Tears. The shop is run by a British guy and it is a GREAT shop - and he is very nice and way into bikes (we got to see photos of his past rides :). The shop has a great reputation and we were impressed....but we were also daunted at the thought of owning a third motorbike between us (even if it is easy to sell in Delhi) when the 2 months in China have so severely depleted our cash reserves. China was a lot more expensive than we expected - not surprisingly, I guess, as they ramp up for the Olympics next summer - but it was well worth it, and we wouldn't trade that experience for anything! We are going to get our butts back to Delhi ASAP, still stopping at Lumbini (birthplace of Buddha - it's near our border crossing) and Varanasi (holiest city in India), getting the Pulsars and heading to Leh as soon as possible.

Yesterday A was feeling much better and we decided to do some sightseeing in Kathmandu so we headed down to Durbar Square to start our morning....we were not impressed. It's a World Heritage site, but it's also a public square with tons of locals...and the regular trash, dogs sleeping, traffic, etc. However, foreigners are expected to pay 200 rupees to go in - it's not even cordoned off, so everyone (local and visitor alike) just walk around unless you get spotted by the ticket seller and called over to pay your fee. Needless to say we were not impressed and we didn't pay to go in, we just went to a small restaurant with a window overlooking the square and got some breakfast :) After that we headed to Swayambuth - a big Buddhist stupa on top of a hill.

Swayambuth was excellent! It was quite a walk to get there, through normal (non-touristy) parts of Kathmandu. It was great to get out of the totally westernized Thamel area!!! At the bottom of the hill there is a long section of prayer wheels, some massive ones in their own buildings, too, and then there are 316 steps to climb to the top. It's a nice walk in the shade and yesterday it was hot and sunny, so the shade was welcome (the heat was getting to me). This stupa, and the Buddha eyes on it, are one of the famous sights of Kathmandu, so it was nice to see it up close. There is a small village up there, temples and tourist shops, but it's still really nice - the views across Kathmandu are fabulous! The stupa is reputed to have been around for 2000 years and is one of the places that Buddha gave his lessons. After that we walked back into town by a different route and then got lunch...by that time we were all touristed out. We gave the Shiva temple a miss (we have seen several amazing Shiva temples - Ujjain, Madurai and Tanjore, to name a few) and a similar stupa on the complete other side of town.

Last night we decided to have a proper Nepali meal and we went to the "Typical Nepali Kitchen" and ordered our thali....WOW! It was fabulous!!!!! Some of the best food we have eaten in the last 7 months! There was a paneer curry that was delicious, a spinach dish, mixed veg and of course dhal. We left over stuffed but happy :)

We have lots of photos to put up (we took over 1000 between Lhasa and the Nepal border!) but the connections here are slow...and in Pokhara they are not at all cheap! They are 3 times the cost in Kathmandu! So you will have to wait, we will get some photos up, but it may not be until we get back to Delhi. Patience.... :)

2007-06-15T14:41:00.000+01:00

Namaste! :-) :-) :-)

Back down to Earth after living so high above the clouds for over a month and also back down to nasty stomach bugs - eeewww! I have had a few days of sickness and have been laid up in bed however a dose of antibiotics and some care from K has put me back onto my feet again :-)

I am still in disbelief when I think back to our cycling trip from Old Tingri to Kathmandu, it was truly the most awesome part of our whole trip so far. When we descended through the clouds and passed through the Himalayas I felt as though I was in a dream. Kathmandu is a place of complete contrast in comparison to those days of wilderness which we spent on our bicycles. There are many people here in Thamel and it is a hybrid of Camden town and Elis Brigham, there are even hairdressers that will make you some natty dreadlocks, you can get a complete makeover if you wish to look as though you have been on the road for years :-)

I am missing the high altitude and mountain peaks :-(

I am missing my bike too. We have passed them onto a mountain biking hire company today :-(

We did get our Indian visas today though so we are preparing for the next part of the journey :-)

We have plenty of photos but I am not sure when we will be able to get them up - the internet is painfully slow here but the Dalai Lama does say that we should thank things that test our patience! :-)

I love bicycles :-)

Kilometres and kilometres of gloopy, muddy and wet dirt road,
     descending
          and descending
               through
                    the sky.
Lone riders in thick fog.
     Deathly drops hidden by the moisture, leading down,
          down,
               down,
                    to the aggressive river below.
Waterfalls and rock all around and I feel small.
     Endless road down into
     the unseen and unknown.
We could be descending down to
hell.
Such was the heaven of Tibet...

...one of the last places on earth where nomads dwell

I love riding bicycles and I cannot wait to share the tales with you but for now... thanks for reading :-)

2007-06-13T06:01:00.000+01:00

From Lhasa to Nepal...

The night before we left we went to our favorite bar and had the last dark beer we would have until we return to the UK :) The people that run the place are really nice people....and they have a puppy!

The following morning Tashi, our driver, and I packed the bikes on the roof of the jeep. I had gone out early and chased up some foam pads and some rope and Tashi did a great job of firmly fastening them to the roof. I tried not to worry about the bikes (and if they would be ridable) when we hit the dirt road to Everest.

A and I had toyed with the idea of riding to Yamdrok Tso but we never got around to it...as we drove up the pass we we awed by how much of a leg burner it would have been! It was a great ride up and it would have been a great, if killer, ride up on the bicycles, too...I was glad we didn't try to do it all in one day on the bikes though :) The view from the top was good...but not as good as the pass itself :) Because of road construction we had to turn around and go back down the pass and take the northern part of the Friendship Highway and take a shortcut to Gyantse for the night.

Little did we know that the short cut was a dirt road! On my map is was a real road, but we were learning that Tashi was a bit of a dirt demon. He has been driving for 17 years and knows all the roads (and tracks that pass for roads :) and he took us on a great one - through small villages and across wide open valleys - at high speed and skidding all the corners :) We shortly arrived at Gyantse and we went for a walk to the monastery and to get our first look at the Kumbum and the originals of the eyes that are tattooed on my belly :)

The following morning we toured the monastery and the Kumbum - Kumbum means 100,000 images and there are at least that many images in there! There are tiny chapels and larger chapels on each level of the building and we went in all of them. Inside each chapel there is a statue and the walls are covered in Buddhist images....it was AMAZING, to say the least.

In the afternoon we made our way to Shigatse. This was just a stop to pick up our permits but it turns out they have a wonderful monastery there (if a bit touristy).

The next day we headed to Sakya Monastery which is also quite special. There are 2 monasteries there - the northern and the southern - the former was founded in the 11th century and is currently in ruins and the latter was founded in the 13th century and is undergoing some heavy renovation. The buildings in town (except the assembly hall of the monastery which is always in red) are painted a very unique grey with red and white vertical stripes - as we drove/rode across Tibet we could see the villages that are under the influence of the Sakya order.

After Sayka we headed to Shegar to stay for the night. We got up very early to head for the pass and our first real views of Everest! We got a bit of a late start, but Everest wasn't cooperating anyway and was covered in cloud when we arrived. Slowly the clouds cleared and we had a great view! It was beautiful and an amazing sight to see - Everest and Lhotse on the left and Cho Oyu on the right.

We continued another 60 or so kms to Rongbuk monastery where we really had a great view of the big beast (the big rock in the background, not the horse :)

And then we went 4 more kms up the road in the jeep to the tent village (where we would stay the night) and then A and I headed out on foot to walk 5 or 6 kms up to basecamp and beyond. That is the big boy on the far left, with the cloud caught on the top, and you can see the glaciers coming down into the valley on the right. At the lower end of the moraine field it gets very flat and that is where they have put basecamp (it's out of the photo, but we will post more photos later :)

The next morning it was another early departure. We wanted to ride from Everest, but the agency said we could get out at Tingri and not before :( Since the protest that caused all the permit problems was at Everest, the Chinese are very sensitive about the area and caution was required (we did not want to get sent back to Lhasa....or worse!).

It was wonderful to find out that we were taking another dirt road shortcut to head to Old Tingri and it just so happened to be the route that A and I had planned to ride, so we at least got to see it (it was beautiful and would have made an amazing 2-3 day ride!!!!). There was a checkpoint just before we got into Old Tingri so it was just as well that we didn't try to ride it. At Old Tingri we unloaded the bikes and....they were in beautiful shape!!!! I had been so worried (we really wanted to ride and not have to take the jeep the rest of the way). The rough roads could do no damage with Tashi's fabulous strapping job.

We all had a great breakfast and then said our goodbyes - Tashi taking our fellow travellers to the border in the jeep as we packed the bikes and rode off down the road.

As we left town we were fabulously elated! WE WERE RIDING THE FRIENDSHIP HIGHWAY!!!! We had planned this for so long it just felt great to be riding it....finally!!! 3 kms out of town the pavement turned to dirt and we didn't see pavement until we hit Nyalam, 30kms from the Nepal border (and then it was only paved in town :). Fabulous!!!! A was a very happy bunny as she much prefers a dirt road to a paved road....especially when we are on mountain bikes :)

We almost always had a snowy mountain view - the road parallels the Himalayas and then hangs a left to head through them.

Our first night we camped in a canyon near a road that headed up to a monastery (no traffic :). The weather was good - dry and not cold at all with a fabulous night sky filled with as many stars as could be packed into one sky! We got a good start the next morning after pumping some water from the river and then we stopped at a small Tibetan restaurant for lunch to fuel our bodies for our first big pass. And it was a good thing, too as that pass was hard work at that altitude!!!! But it was really good fun and a beautiful ride, too :).

The second night we camped at the bottom of the pass - between the 2 big passes - next to a river. The first pass was 4950m and we were going to start our next day climbing the 5050m pass :) The valley was gorgeous and the nomads dogs stayed well away (which made A VERY happy :). We had a lovely afternoon of sun and watched the herders bring in their flocks, we made some soup and then it was time for bed.

Overnight the clouds rolled in and we woke to some serious frost! Not surprising as we were camping at 4800 meters. The tent and bags kept us toasty warm and in the morning I fired up the stove and warmed us up with some tea and porridge. It took us a bit of time to get out of there as the fog didn't lift until almost 9am and we had to dry our stuff out before packing up....

It was a great ride up the pass and even better when we started the descent - it's supposed to be a massive 4500m down to the Nepal border and we were ready for it!!!! :) As it was, it leveled out and then the afternoon headwind kicked in with a vengance. We spent an hour fighting the wind on the flat (and slight downhill) and going nowhere fast...like only about 10kph! and the wind was pretty hefty, maybe 40-50mph, so we started to look for a place to camp.

I spotted something that looked to offer some protection and headed over to check it out. We dropped off the edge of a bluff and discovered that there were some caves in the bluff...this looked promising as the wind was blowing so hard we would have a rough night if we set the tent up in the wind (this was wind that was hard to walk into!). We found the perfect cave, not tall enough for the tent but perfect to slide the thermarests and the sleeping bags into and it was calm in there! We cooked up some noodles and crawled in. We had a surprisingly good night's sleep and headed out into the cloudy morning (no need to wait for the tent to dry :)

It was a long day through some amazing changing scenery! We started in the clouds on the Tibetan plateau...

...dropping down 2000m to Nyalam on some great twisty mountain roads (where we stopped and had a good lunch) and then we dropped down some more, through misty rainforest and on some very muddy roads clinging to the canyon walls, the last 30kms...

...to the Nepal border! We had no problems crossing the border - the Chinese let us out and the Nepalese let us in :)

The journey through Nepal is coming...catch you later!

2007-06-11T11:52:00.000+01:00

Namaste! :-) :-) :-)

We have made it to Kathmandu - successfully :-) We are happy and healthy and had no problems with the police, so don't worry! :-)

We have lots to tell and lots of photos... but you have to wait as we are KO'd. We have plenty of time - we need to get our Indian visas and decide what, if anything, we want to see in Nepal before we cross the border.

Patience!

2007-05-31T10:53:00.000+01:00

Our last day in Lhasa...

we picked a good one :) The weather is lovely and the place is crowded with Tibetan pilgrims for the Saga Dawa celebrations....we both have noted how different town feels between the Chinese holidays (first week of May) and the Tibetan holiday today. Night and day. Anyway, we have done most of our last minute errands and we are heading back to pack the luggage and bikes up for our morning departure.

We woke up early and walked the Jhokang kora with throngs of pilgrims and we also made it over to the Jhokang this afternoon to observe the festivities. They had put a cloth cover over the courtyard and the monks were all seated on cushions laid in lines on the courtyard pavement. There was a very special monk/lama/abbot that had his place on a raised platform across the back of the courtyard and he seemed to be leading the chanting that the monks were doing. People, and other monks, walked through the lines of seated monks handing out money an there were veritable piles of offerings lining one edge of the courtyard - biscuits, fruit, boxes of food all mounded up. There were many thangkas hanging around the perimeter of the courtyard and the biggest ones were across the back. It was thronged with people as well. What an experience!

For lunch A had her last taste of Dunya's steamed vegetable momos with special chili sauce and I had my last tuna sandwich and salad until I arrive back in the UK (these things are very very rare in India :) We are looking forward to riding at least some of the Friendship Highway as we make our way from Everest Base Camp to Kathmandu...we can hardly wait!!!!!

We don't know what the internet situation will be like over the next week (which is about how long it will take us to get to Kathmandu) so bear with us and don't worry - we will be fine :) If we do get some access we will update you as we go along.

Later!

2007-05-29T11:26:00.000+01:00

Videos!

Hey, I sorted the rotation thing :) I have to convert to Avi and then use a shareware tool to rotate it...but don't worry, it's worth it :)

I have fixed the Walk Sign...
click here to see the walk sign

and the Ganden prayer flags...
click here to see the prayer flags

A new one (I know, you didn't know I forgot not to turn the camera :) - a bird diving in the water at Namtso...
click here to see the bird diving

and some old ones that I have cut/converted to be much smaller now that I have a tool :)

Crocs in the water...
click here to see the crocs in the water

Crocs fighting over food...
click here to see the crocs fight

and the Kathakali dancers...
click here to see some dancing

Let me know if there are problems :)

2007-05-29T11:21:00.000+01:00

Tashi delay :-)

As promised...photos from our "6 months on the road" dinner :) This is the starter....

...and this is K attacking the starter before I can even get the camera out :-)

Needless to say...we never got photos of the mains because we finished them so quickly!

On to Namtso photos!

We had a great trip to Namtso lake despite having to get a bus there - we would have loved to have ridden (it would have been very hard work) but the Tibetan Mastiffs were perceived to be too much of a leg chewing threat. Hearing the dogs howling and barking all night when we actually arrived at Namtso it was a very good thing that we did not ride - more on that later :-)

We had hooked up with a couple from the UK - Zach had been away from home for four years and Imo for one. Although much younger they were well travelled and knowlegeable and great to be around. The bus that we had taken was a Chinese tour bus and we were the only non-Chinese speaking people (although Zach and Imo had a decent amount of Chinese under their belts having spent six months teaching English in China). Most of the people on the bus were on a day trip and we were on a two day trip - we were to stay overnight and catch the bus back to Lhasa the next day. The bus journey took four hours to reach Namtso and those that were going back the same day would only get one hour there before they had to return - we were glad that we had decided on the two day trip as the weather was lovely and the scenery beautiful.

The route took us along the Qinghai - Lhasa Highway and also followed the railway line that we had travelled in on. The road travelled up and up into valleys, gaining height the whole time. We were surrounded by mountains that had been blasted to make way for the road, the lose rock left behind had potential for landslides, occasionally metal mesh kept it captured as a preventative measure. We looked up at large vertical rocks that were precariously balanced above us, threatening and casting shadows down the slopes. Mountain peaks accompanied us, occasionally capped with snow. Rivers snaking their way down valleys varied from torrents and rapids to dried up washes, the water (or chu as it is known in Tibetan) transparent and clear or a mirky brown in colour from the mud that was being swept downriver. I would watch it flow over the grey and mauve rocks and pebbles as we passed by in the bus. Eventually I pulled out my MP3 player and K and I listened to music, I with my eyes shut as I tried to catch up on some much needed shut eye, sleep did not come but euphoria entailed from the music.

Our first stop was at some prayer flags in the shape of a pyramid that were placed in honour or offering to the heighest mountain in the area - Mount Nyenchen Tanglha (7111 metres). The view was spectacular and it was no surprise that this area had been chosen to celebrate the mountain. The range also seperated the road we were taking from the valley where Namtso was located. Everybody jumped out of the bus and took the necessary collection of photos in commemoration. Local Tibetans who had gotten wise to the timing of the arrival of the tourist buses tried to get yuan by posing for photographs. They hassled tourists who would have once oblinginly fed this habit whom now found it more troublesome and shooed the pushy people away or tried to take photos without getting the Tibetans in their shot.

Eventually we turned off the highway and headed up towards Namtso, the bus moved slowly, we could also see other buses ahead that were also challenged in their ability to make it up the twisting steep road. We came to a pass at 5190 metres, at the top the bus parked up to allow us to take in the view. More Tibetans greeted the tourists, this time they held baby goats and dogs in their arms in hope of gaining a better opportunity in having their photo taken and thus earning yuan. Nobody wished to take up the opportunity, the posers became pushier as a result but still had no luck. Snotty nosed children in dirty clothes put their hands out and asked for money, I refused as everybody else did. The people here were obviously poor, perhaps they were nomads, judging by their dress some were tribal too, still their desperation for money was not catered for as people kept their money close. One girl patted my trouser pockets and begged me for a photo or some cash. I had no camera on me and my money was secretly stashed away. I could see that she had a need for my yuan but I do not want to support this trade. After my saying "mei you" (not have) many times she eventually stopped her persistance. Now her attention turned to curiosity as she checked out my earrings and the ring on my finger. I pulled a few faces and a boy nearby mimicked them. Seeing that her nose needed a clean I gave her a pocket tissue that was scented with rose, I demonstrated to her to smell the scent, she did so and happily placed the tissue safely into a pocket, smiling at her reward but not blowing her nose. She took my hand. A boy arrived holding a kid goat, seeing that I was not going to take a photo he also became curious of me. I petted the goats head and said "ahh", he copied my speech over and over again. Very soon it was time to get back to the bus...

Going over the pass Namtso came into view. A beautiful blue lake, it is the highest salt water lake in the world, the sea water having been pushed up high into the sky when the Himalayas were created millions of years ago. It is also surrounded by mountain peaks over 7000 metres high which create a beautiful backdrop. The road took us past wide expanses of land that were dotted with nomadic tents and grazing livestock, the dreaded dogs lay resting in the sun...

We arrived at Tashi Dor Monastery, and the small "village" set up for tourists right next to it, right on the edge of the lake. We easily found a tent to stay in for the night and went about walking the two nearby hills - some rocky outcrops near the lake.

We breathlessly made our way up the slope - at just under 4800 metres the lake is positioned 1100 metres above the height of Lhasa and any climb up was incredibly strenuous. These chaps had the right idea, lying around was far easier! We quite liked their out turned straight horns :-)

Looking down at the campsite from atop the hill, yikes, it takes my breath away looking at it again :-)

We spent some time talking to Zach and Imo at the top of the hill whilst we had some much needed rest. We shared travel stories in particular and enjoyed the beautiful view.

Zach looking lively before the climb up the hill :-)

Prayerflags overlooking the lake.

The lake views were amazing from this high up.

We eventually skidded and slid our way down a steeper hillside in order to get to the lake edge. At the side of the lake there was a mound of snow, K took great pleasure in hurling snowballs at our companions who had not yet seen the snow pile and were taken by surprise as a result :-)

Crazily the others took off their shoes and socks and stood in the freezing water - not for long though :-)

We could not resist skimming some stones across the waters surface, the pebbles underfoot were the ideal shape and just beckoned to be bounced.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Tashi Dor and taking in more views of the lake, occasionally seating ourselves and talking further about our exploits.

The Couple Stones as they are named which are seated across from the chapel.

The chapel: We did not go in, it was busy with faithful pilgrims who had travelled from afar. In fact many of the pilgrims were interesting to see, their dress vaired greatly. Many were decorated with coloured braids in their hair, some had gone a step further and had placed circular silver discs (like large, old Chinese coins with the square in the centre) into their plaits. Many wore dark coats with sleeves which were twice as long as their arms, the fabric would hang down almost to the ground and would swing as they walked. This extra length of cloth is essential in keeping ones hands warm and is quite customary. Many of the pilgrims were walking the kora, others were tirelessly prostrating and lying flat on the floor, in this manner they would circumnambulate the nearby hillside that shadowed the chapel. Some of the older pilgrims had bent backs from many years of labour, still they chanted mantras and span their prayer wheels, their disability did not deter them from gaining more merit. I did not get any photos of the pilgrims, my lense would require that I took photos close to them and out of respect I did not want to stick a camera in their faces. Instead I preferred to say my hellos and move on.

We sat near the area for ritual bathing and watched a gull dive for food (there are no boats on the lake, we assume that it is because of its holy status).

Further views of the beautiful lake.

Mount Nyenchen Tanglha from the opposite side of the lake.

The inside of our tent. You can see the stack of duvets that each person had in addition to a sleeping bag - it was THAT cold at night...but the cover worked and we spent a very toasty night in the tent :-)

A view of the campsite. In the background you can see tents similar to that which we stayed in. The tent on the foreground is in the typical style of the nomadic tents.

Sunset at the camp. Here you can see a Tibetan with the long sleeves.

Overnight we heard the howling and barking dogs - in the morning K and I both admitted to one another that in the night we had both needed to go the toilet however neither of us would brave the three minute walk to the facilities due to the ferocity of the dogs that sounded like they had been let off their leashes to guard the nomadic tents.

The next morning K took a short walk and watched the sunrise.

Soon I joined her and we took a walk around the kora of the nearby chapel and hillside... Maybe we need the extra merit too :-)

The Namaste rocks, so named because their shape resemble the hand positioning for greeting in India.

Other views from the kora.

After the walk we were starving so we went and took breakfast at the Tibetan tent restaurant where we had our dinner the previous night. The people there were really friendly and were happy to see us again. We watched a man make Tibetan yak butter tea in a long and narrow wooden butter churn. The stove was fuelled by yak dung, luckily the skinny metal chimney stack sucked the smoke out of the tent. All the time water was boiled in a large kettle which was constantly refilled, the hot water was placed into nearby thermoses for later use, this was continued until the stove burnt out and was certianly an efficent method in making the most out of the heat.

My ankle had swollen from again from walking on slopes the previous day, we had the idea of putting my foot in the cold water in order to reduce the swelling. The early morning water which had not yet been warmed by the sun was almost too cold, I could only manage to put my foot into it for ten seconds before it became unbearable.

We saw a Chinese tourist (who we later invited us to drink tea with her when we waited for the bus) from our tour bus who motioned to us that we should look at the following rock paintings, although we are not sure of their originality...

We had an amazing time at the lake, it was very peaceful and it was great to get away from the city :-)

When it was time we went out to find the bus from our travel agency. We were under the impresion that we would stop at the hot springs on the way back and we knew that part of the package was a free lunch. The bus quickly filled with the Chinese tourists that were on their day trip out and soon we were on our way. The bus ride out was beautiful - it was nice to see the scenery going in the reverse direction and we spotted a group of cyclists that were riding to Namtso (supported by a jeep, they were not riding loaded bikes). We soon stopped for lunch at a CHinese restaurant and we all piled out, filled 5 big tables and consumed the many plates of food that were delivered (only one dish was without meat!). Not long after we noticed that the Chinese tourists had departed and were getting on the bus! We didn't have more than 15 minutes at the restaurant. We kept wondering where the hot springs might be as our crazy bus driver seemingly raced back towards Lhasa, driving in th emiddle of the road, honking his horn at all traffic and only occasionally slowing for the bumpier sections of the road (our backpacks fell out of the overhead bins TWICE due to the erratic driving!). Soon we were quite close to being back in Lhasa and the bus pulled in at Hope-Long Industries...a place for animal husbandry. Hmmm...not exactly what we were thinking the hot springs would be called :-) It turned out to be a Chinese medicine/pharmaceuticals type place with all manner of dessicated things that were being ground up and made into pills - frogs, caterpillar fungus, long centipede type bugs and even ewe embryonic material was being made into capsules! Scary! There were several Chinese tourists that were very interested in this sort of thing and several of them came back on board with small bags containing their purchases. We stopped at two more of these establishments (we were not invited to participate, even if we wanted to, as it was all presented in Chinese) before we became a bit fed up and abandonded our tour bus for a public bus for the last few kms ride into town. It is very strange that the Chinese tourists would spend an entire day on the tour bus for an hour at a very beautiful lake, a quick lunch and a couple of hours at the pharmaceutical companies....why did they bother going all the way to the lake?

Anyway...we had a fabulous trip that not even a twisted end to our bus journey could dim. It was well worth it!

Goodnight and thanks for reading :-)

2007-05-28T12:55:00.000+01:00

We are back from Namtso and it was beautiful!

We ended up on a Chinese tour bus, which was fine for the ride up but the ride back today was a bit of a challenge...more later :)

We have some great photos, we had some great conversations and we have also spent our first night at abut 4800m - it was very very cold - my watch thermometer said it was 4C (39F) this morning and that was INSIDE the tent! The place provided some super warm blankets and we spent a toasty night inside our sleeping bags. We saw some beautiful stars last night, but woke to clouds.

We have just had some dinner and we are knackered! Altitude really takes it out of you and we did a lot of walking while we were up there. We are off this very minute! to the youth hostel for a hot shower and we will probably read our books until we fall asleep :)

Tomorrow we go to the Nepal Consulate and we will get our visas...

Later!!!!

2007-05-26T14:43:00.000+01:00

Woohoo!!! We are going to Nepal :)

It's not that we don't like Lhasa...we really like it here, but it's time to move on. We have been frustrated with permits and guides and finding people to travel with and we have finally got it all sorted! We met a very nice French fellow while we were perusing the boards and the four of us (me, A, the Frenchman and his German girlfriend) hooked up later this afternoon, talked about what we wanted to see on the way to the border and then approached several agencies. We selected the best offer and booked it - we depart on the first of June on a 4 day trip to the border, taking in Everest Base Camp.

While we were finishing up our booking another couple, from the UK, came into the agency looking to go to Namtso on a two day trip...this is also something we have been wanting to do. We hooked up with them and chased down a trip and we are off to the lake tomorrow morning, heinously early. We will be offline for a couple of days but we will be back with more photos :)

Now we must go get a shower!!!! (the hot water is only on from 7pm to 6am) and get our stuff packed to meet our fellow travellers tomorrow morning at 6:15!!!!!

P.S. to celebrate 6 months yesterday we had ice cream and cake in the afternoon and then we treated ourselves to a really fabulous (but not expensive) dinner at a French restaurant. We shared the 8 Treasures salad (which was like a mezza) and then A had a vegetable au gratin and I had a ground pork stuffed tomato and we washed it all down with Great Wall red wine. It was delicious and reminded me of home....

Goodnight!

2007-05-25T05:59:00.001+01:00

I was determined to walk the kora around Ganden before our departure from the area having read that the views were spectacular. With much gusto and enthusiasm I stomped back up the hill to the monastery in order to walk before the arrival of pilgrims and tourists. From our campsite we had already seen a row of monks walk the kora at sunrise and had heard singing carried in the breeze from the direction of the monastery.

Just before I started the kora I looked back to view the campsite below - I could not see K or the bikes at all, we had dismantled the tent already and as a result there was no sign of our presence at all from such a distance.

I walked along winding paths, sometimes rocky, sometimes hardpack, either way they were well trodden and worn. Sometimes the paths would fork, one would trail off to a small shrine or juniper burner and then would join back up again, at other times the path that split would dissapear down or up the mountainside, no doubt to another important shrine or rock.

The views from the kora of the surrounding valleys were amazing. Jutting peaks in the distance stretched out as far as the eye could see, few were snow topped now that the weather was warmer. I had the place to myself and all that I could hear was the sound of the early morning chirping birds and the occasional breeze through nearby shrubs.

Sometimes I lost the path, this was worse when I reached a dead end at a cliff edge. There were so many prayer flags in the area that I could not see a path onward and decide to head down the mountainside a little. As I headed down I realised that I was leaving the high kora and starting to head down towards the valley, doing a U turn a climbed back up to the clif and eventually managed to find a steep stone staircase hidden by a web of prayer flags which I had to brush my way through.

I surprised a large hare as I walking, it was the largest hare that I had ever seen and I watched it run down the mountainside and dissapear from view.

Looking at the road which we had climbed the previous day from part of the kora.

Finally I made my way back to the front of Ganden. Stall sellers recognised me from the day before (my bike horn had created curiosity as well as our achievement of riding up) and cried "hello" and waved, congratulating me on having done the kora.

I then headed back to the campsite quickly having walked the kora and thus created luck for our future journeying (or for mankind, or for the Tibetans.... ;-)

Everything was packed up at the campsite, K was lost in a bookworld so I sat down to rest for a while and slather on the sun cream in preparation for a day in the saddle under high altitude rays. We gradually moved the bikes and gear down to the rocky pilgrim path which we were going to ride down in order to head back to Lhasa. As I picked up the last few items (my helmet and camera bag) I descended from the campsite thinking how great it was that we had found such a cool spot and that neither of us had injured ourselves (the latter being a bizarre and unusual thought indeed). As thoughts go moving on to something else as quickly as you have thought them, mine proceeded to think of ants in my helmet and that I should warn K about hers. All of a sudden within seconds of all this happening, I found myself hurtling my helmet and gloves through the air as my ankle twisted sideways on a rock edge and I banged my knee and back into the sharp rocks surrounding me. The pain was excrutiating (I had many years ago twisted my ankle very badly) and I lay on the floor uncomfortably amongst the rocks rolling around in agony unable to make a sound. K who was very close by and had her back to me did not see any of this happen, I could see her but could not communicate. Finally, I managed to weakly say something like "help" or "fell" (neither of us are sure which) and K ran over to my aid. She administered the necessary first aid to my bleeding knee, bruised ankle and damaged ego (the star that she is) and I eventually felt strong enough to move on. We decided that we should continue on with our planned route down the rocky path rather than back up to Ganden and down the tarmacked road that we had ridden up. We were both desiring some offroad action and my ankle did not feel as though it would hinder us, besides I am better on two wheels than I am on my own two feet...

Looking down at the rocky path that we were going to follow down to the valley floor. After the corner the path dissapeared from view and we did not know what would be on the other side.

Looking back up towards the campsite and part of the descending path which we had just ridden :-)

The path started fairly smoothly but very quickly deteriorated into steep rocky sections that were unrideable due to the amount of luggage that we were carrying in our panniers.

Here I am enjoying one of the easiest sections with a smoother surface :-)

For the most part the road was very narrow and there was no margin for error on our part.

There were sections were it would have been too dangerous for us to even attempt to ride due to large chunks of rock which covered our "path" and we would have to carefully maneuvre the heavy bikes and luggage on foot. Using a techinque by rotating the bike on the back wheel by pulling a little wheely using the back brake we could position the bike over the easiest of the rocks, dabbing the front and back brakes accordingly would prevent the bikes and our kit from rolling away downhill and dragging us behind.

Here I am having a rest after a successful navigation of an incredibly steep and rocky section which by any account of responsibility and containment of self control I would not have ridden. Alas, the terrain presented itself to me and having spent some time over the last hour getting used to the handling of the bike offroad whilst laden, I found that I was back to my normal devilish self and unable to ignore the challenge of riding some scariness. It was great, I feathered the front brake whilst picking my route, I rolled the front wheel over large rocks and kept my weight shifted back whilst I ensured that I pressed down on the bars enough to compensate for the light front end because of the luggage on the back. There was a drop to the right hand side which had not been a very good deterent either and I found myself descending on the edge of my panniered skill and it was all very good, life giving, adrenaline fuelled fundido :-) :-) :-)

K was a ROCKSTAR too. Occasionally she would go first but for the most part I rode up front judging the rideability of the terrain - it being my forte. I do feel as though this was an oxymoron on her part though because we all know that I lack any sense when it comes to offroad rockiness, having a want to always ride steeper and rockier and push my skills to the edge :-)

It was certainly steep in places and we would have to keep our eyes on the road - occasionally we would be able to catch a glance of the awesome view surrounding us.

It's ok K, just grit your teeth and bare it, your mother will be proud :-)

Sensibly I did not encourage her to ride this part...

"Eagle Eye" K spotted this lizard on a rock. Soon there were many scurrying between rocks around us, I was on a particulr steep section of downhill when one ran in front of my bike and I just managed to avoid squishing it...

Looking down into the valley which we would eventually descend into. Even though we had already spent an hour or so descending we still had a long way to go...

The trail continued down...

I was much happier (and so was my ankle) riding the bike than walking it (no surprises there) and soon after a few hours of descending the strain was beginning to take it's toll on my ankle and I was feeling that it was getting weaker. I informed K that I was at a point where I could no longer walk and that we would have to reach the end of the rocky section sooner rather than later. We had just descended down an incredibly steep section of rocky switchbacks and I was at the end of being able to maintain my sure footing. Five minutes later as we descended into a rocky wash, once again pushing the bikes my ankle finally gave way and I fell into a heap on the floor with the bike on top of me. Again unable to speak, K came to my aid lifting the bike from me. She got my shoe and sock off and had my foot elevated within moments of me finally being able to let go of my foot. We were concerned that I may have broken my ankle but upon closer inspection we agreed that I had badly sprained it. She pulled out a roll of tape from the first aid kit and made a support over the top of my sock. I was OK to ride but could not push the pedals too hard. K got my bike up to a rideable section and we soon joined a smooth dirt road. Soon spotting a mountain stream I stuck my foot into it in order to reduce the swelling, this helped immensley. We watched a worker irrigate a field and redirect a stream as we sat in the sun and I soaked my foot. Eventually we got on our way again and joined the main road. K took up the front and we pacelined it back to Lhasa with me getting a free ride on her slipstream.

We were both exceptionally tired after our few days of riding and have spent much of the last few days recovering with me trying to rest my ankle as much as possible...I'm sore, but I will be back on two wheels in no time :-)

We had an amazing trip with some exceptionally good riding despite having to push the bikes on occasion :-)

Thanks for reading!

2007-05-25T05:30:00.000+01:00

Finding the campsite...

When we were stymied in our desire to ride the Ganden-Samye trekking path we headed around the back of Ganden to have a look around to see what our options were....we parked the bikes and then I went for a look around...and then A went for a look around. Hmmm.

I got these prayer flags blowing in the wind...yup, I forgot again, you will have to watch sideways :)
click here to see the movie in a new window

Looking out from the kora, we decided that the fort ruins looked like they had great potential! :)

The fort ruins....

A monk tried to stop us from going down the path to the ruins and at first we thought he was telling us that bikes weren't allowed, but then he mimed that we would crash and get injured (which was very funny to watch). A pulled out the Mandarin dictionary and explained that we were "professionals" :) We all laughed and then we headed on our way as they watched to make sure that we really were not going to kill ourselves.

The ride down to the campsite...

K rides down the start of the kora...

A heads off the kora path (prayer flags in the background)

Check out that valley view...

A's more interested in riding (and she is starving, so we must get moving :)

Down...

down...

down!

The look back towards Ganden from the campsite - you can see the thread of a path back up. It was a GREAT ride...

We had a bit of a look around the ruins and the views over the valley...

and then I got busy cooking dinner :)

We waited until the sun was setting to put up the tent, so that it wouldn't attract too much attention.

Then we watched the sun set over Ganden...

...and the moon rise over the tent :)

After a good, if windy, night's sleep we awoke to a brilliant sunrise!

This is A's view out of the tent when I woke her up after sunrise :)

We made some breakfast, A was waking up - our ledge was in the bright sun and that helped :)

Then when A went off to walk the kora, I stayed to guard the bikes and read my book...

2007-05-25T04:57:00.000+01:00

Tashi delay :-)

Today TwoWheelsWhirled celebrates six months of travelling - although we are not quite sure how we are going to celebrate the occasion yet :-)

Photos from our two day Ganden trip...

Finally after a vast amount of strain and breath taking, lung aching and quad screaming pedal turns we reached our destination - which seemed to be placed in heaven itself - Ganden monastery :-)

Nestled away on the backside of a mountain it is seemingly in a well protected placement however this did not prevent it being partly destroyed by bombing and artillery fire during the Cultural Revolution and amongst the rebuilt structures one could easily see the remains of a damaged past. The red and white buildings, some topped with gold plated roofs, stand out against the backdrop of the brown of the mountain and the blue of the sky. The red flowing robes of the monks - the same colour as the red mausoleum that houses the tomb of Tsongkhapa (AKA the Serkhang) - occasionally trick the mind into thinking that the building itself is alive and breathing due to the movement of said colour. The red robes of the monks flow and float around the monastery buildings and kora as though they are clouds in a timeless sky.

Ganden is important because it is the main and first seat of the Gelugpa order since it was founded in 1409. Tsongkhapa was the reformer and images of him and his disciples are found throughout the site. The Dalai Lama is not the head of this order and unusually the abbotship has been earned not through reincarnation but through scholarly merit.

Prayer flags adorn the mountainsides around Ganden...

Having drunk some restorative cold Jasmine tea, I left K to babysit the bicycles whilst I went and explored the monastery grounds a little.

I walked along a narrow path greeting monks who passed by and I soon found myself at the main assembly hall (the white building on the right hand side of the photograph) .

Pairs of shoes scattered in front of the side entrance to the assembly hall indicated that it was busy inside. An old monk motioned that I may enter this way too and that there was no need for me to remove my footwear, unlike when we were in India and were removing our shoes all the time.

The assembly hall was dim inside, sunlight which did enter the building entered high up into the roof and the rays were not able to reach down to floor level. The usual smell of yak butter lamps filled nostrils and the flickering flames once again added to the mysticism. There were no other visitors in the building and rather than the sound of chattering touring groups and the crucially noisy guide, I heard the sound of monks chanting and repeating scriptures.

The hall was a hive of activity - I had caught a time when monks were starting to gather. In dribs and drabs monks would enter the hall and join those who were already seated in rows on the low, wide benches. Some of the monks were wrapped in more robes and some cross legged would be rocking back and forth as they read out loud.

I walked up some stairs to view the throne of Tsongkhapa where a monk tapped me on the back of the head with the yellow hat of the Dalai Lama and thus gave me some good luck. I then circumnambulated the hall a few more times in order to take in the atmosphere and then decided to leave due to the arrival of many more monks and the fact that K and I still had to find a campsite before sunset...

2007-05-25T03:30:00.000+01:00

The ride to Ganden...

We headed out of town on the road on the south side of the Lhasa River...sadly missing our favorite little pass, but we needed to get moving. We wanted to find the bridge across the river so that we could use it for our return journey when we would definitely take in our favorite little pass. We found the bridge after some lovely road - not that it was easy to miss, it's draped in prayer flags that whip in the wind :) It's a steel decked bridge, wide enough for one vehicle and it makes a racket when anyone drives on it.

We also stopped for a snack at the bridge....deep sea fish oil biscuit anyone??? :)

As we continued on the road we spotted this big girl...she provided much amusement for the next few kms :)

After much moaning from me (I know, again!!!! :) because we were under the impression that Ganden was 40kms from Lhasa (according to LP) and we had passed 46 before we finally got to the turnoff...and it was marked only by a Chinese sign!!!! I had to get the LP out, get irritated because they only listed Ganden in English and Tibetan and I only had a sign in Chinese. Then I found a small section buried in the back of the language section of the LP that was called Gazetteer and it had Ganden in Chinese (whew! :).

A knew just what to do and announced that we were having a food break....ah, that is much better now :) I was also better because I knew we were going to be climbing and I love to climb :):):)

A was having issues of her own....she was threatening to ride backwards up the pass and threw this rapper pose and several gangsta quotes out which had us laughing and nearly falling off our bikes *again* :) You can see the road winding it's way up the hill behind "gangsta girl" :) It was also at this point that we both admitted that we were truly insane. This is the second time the lack of oxygen has had this effect on our brains :)

This is hard work!!!!

Looking back down...

More rest!

We have come a long way...

Getting closer....

Finally the top!

2007-05-24T11:31:00.000+01:00

Photos from our afternoon at Sera Monastery...

We had read in the book that the monks held a debating session most afternoons at Sera Monastery and we had intentions to go several times before we finally made it.

We rode up to Sera, just 5kms north of town, locked our bikes and paid the entry (you have to pay to get into the monasteries...more later) and then we walked through the gates and up this leafy road to get to the main assembly hall.

We have been unable to take photos inside most of the monasteries (Potala, Jhokang, etc.) but now we were able to photograph for a fee - and now you can see what the inside of a monastery looks like! They are all fairly similar....well, the ones we have been in.

Monastery buildings are fairly similar, too - whitewashed, with lots of windows and with a small fabric awning over the windows, contrasting trim in that dark red paint.

This is the door into the main assembly hall, it's a typical Tibetan door and the fabric you see hanging from the ring is made of braided scarves. These scarves (which you can buy in the market) are usually draped over the Buddha statues (given as decorative gifts). Each color means something - orange is for wisdom, white for purity, etc (A covered the colors in the post from Xi'an :)

This is the main room - the monks sit here during prayer/chanting/scripture readings, etc. Each monk has a place and leaves his cloak and hat (and the occasional snack :) on the padded, raised platform. The room is highly decorated with thangkas (the hanging pictures with the fabric borders), much rich red and gold paint and silk hangings.

This is one of the monks robes and hat...

This is one of the thangkas...

These are some of the statues across the back of the hall, with a yak butter lamp in front...

At the back of the hall there are some stairs to enter into three chapels. In the middle of the three chapels we found....

A cabinet of scriptures...

A large Buddha statue...

and at the feet of the Buddha you see piles of 1 Jiao notes that people have left as offerings.

After the main assembly hall we were walking farther up the hill and we could hear the debate going on - lots of loud voices, loud claps....we followed our ears :)

There were lots of people watching, including this cute girl with the dog :)

The courtyard was filled with monks sitting on the ground...

or standing and making their point with a loud handclap....

there were small groups debating....

more handclapping...

and even some physical debating :):):)

After the watching the debating for a while we walked around the monastery a bit more, but they were closing the buildings, so we decided to go walk the kora (the holy walk around the monastery).

Down the narrow pathway...

up the hill around the top...

Then there was a mani wall built of mani stones (with prayers carved on the stones) and all sorts of other offerings...including some not so old yak heads/skulls :)

This is about halfway around...we found a small spring, saw some rock carvings of various Buddhas and we could see the monastery buildings inside the walls.

then we continued our walk...

more rock paintings...

and this tower for hanging large thangkas from during festivals.

about this time we spotted this dust storm descending on Lhasa - it was pretty nasty when it hit, you could smell the dust in the air and it made for a bit of headwind on our ride back into town.

We could also see some evidence of the destruction of the monastery....

And lastly...this massive woodpile! Firewood for the monastery?

2007-05-24T11:24:00.000+01:00

Some random photos :)

Is this the right image to sell a bike rental business???? That is Ullrich riding for T-mobile! And they are doing a TTT. I love it, but I would bet that most people walking the street don't have any idea ;)

and another wacky mistaken image...the package says round biscuits, but when you open them up they are square! A also bought some cookies for me and the cookies inside did not resemble the picture on the outside - the outside advertised an Oreo copy, but inside they were golden yellow!

I tried this ice cream...it's radish flavored :) It was nice.

One more thing we have seen throughout the last 6 months of travelling...plastic trash everywhere - this is hard evidence why we should all bring our own fabric/reusable bags to the grocery store with us!

Remember that nasty tire hole A got - here it is. It doesn't look all that bad from the outside, but the inside tear was twice the size.

2007-05-24T04:51:00.000+01:00

This is pretty scary...

Rioting in China

No, it's not in Tibet :) But check the last three paragraphs! If you make 30,000 a year (GBP or Dollars, doesn't matter) your fine is 300,000? Yikes!

We are busily working on photos...off to get some lunch :)

2007-05-23T10:59:00.000+01:00

A FABULOUS two days on the bikes :)

Yesterday we left at about 10am for the 40km ride to Ganden....well, LP does not have their facts right and it was 46kms to the turnoff to the 9km of climbing! We had a very tiring 55kms and nearly missed seeing the monastery....but A got in there and got some photos for you :) I do not know if LP got the altitude right...it said just under 4300m altitude on my watch and it's only about 50m off now that we are back - LP says it's 4500m. I can confirm that it FELT like we climbed up to 4500m :):):) and it's definitely the highest we have slept.

We were stymied in the route we planned - the trekking trail to Samye is about as developed as a sheep trail snaking up the hillside....not for bikes! So we spotted another trail down the backside of Ganden - rocky but ridable :) and we dropped onto that and we camped in....the ruins of an old fort :) It was awesome!!!! We explored the ruins and then I made dinner (seaweed/mushroom/garlic/ginger/noodle soup :) and then we set up the tent and watched Ganden slow down as the sun went down. A great evening after a long day in the saddle. Then, this morning, I left A to sleep as I went to watch the sunrise from the valley end of the ruins and then after breakfast A walked back up to Ganden and walked the kora.

We then packed up the bikes and A had a small mishap on the way to the bikes from the campsite (up a very rocky trail) and crashed and got a slight twist in her ankle and skinned up her knee pretty good - ah, we have carried the first aid kit for 6 months and finally needed to use it (thank goodness it was for something minor! :). The ego was more bruised than the body (she has often said she is better on a bike than on foot :) and we decided to continue down the trail that we could see off the backside and down into the valley we presume we would have come into if we had been able to do the Samye trail. A was her typical queen of rock and she rode some pretty hairy stuff, even with the panniers! We both said more than once that this would be an awesome trail if we had no luggage (we could have probably ridden 30% more).

It was rocky and we rode about as much of it as we had to walk, but we had HUGE grins on our faces - this is more than likely virgin singletrack...no bikes have been this way before :) We finally made it to the bottom, A twisting her ankle and making it a little bit worse just before we reached the bottom, but nothing to stop her riding back to Lhasa. We formed a train and hammered it back to the youth hostel where we could get a hot shower and chase some much needed food - it was hard work riding these past 2 days, but we are thinking that it's right up there with the best days we have had on the bikes and we are very glad we finally made it to Ganden.

Photos coming soon....but we are tired and we will catch you tomorrow :)

2007-05-21T06:22:00.000+01:00

Now - photos from around Lhasa...

Here is one way to keep your toddler/baby out of trouble - bind them to your back. This is how many young children are transported in Tibet and it is not unusual for us to see the carrier reach around the back and check those split pants for any action :-)

Pedicabs are a great way to get around Lhasa but you have to work hard at bargaining for a decent price. Many of the pedicab cyclists wear copies of DC shoes which is quite amusing. As the pedicabs ride the streets the riders whistle or ring bells in order to keep people out of their way - they move pretty fast and sometimes have to break sharply, when this happens we hear the groan of metal upon metal.

We spotted this bicycle with two seat tubes. It looks like the owner may have wanted a longer wheelbase without adjusting the reach from the bars to the saddle :-)

The narrow streets of the Barkhor area...

Hauling goods through the narrow streets.

Shopfronts adjacent to the Jokhang monastery and on the kora circuit.

K writing postcards - needlessly inspired by a great view of the Jokhang opposite :-)

Looking down at the kora circuit of the Jokhang with monks, pilgrims and stalls in view.

In an act of unusual behaviour, I awoke early one morning to go and visit the Jokhang temple early in order to escape the large tourists groups. K did wake up and make me coffee...just before she went back to bed :-) Instead the Jokhang was overwhelmingly full of pilgrims who were devoutedly saying mantras. The atmosphere was amazing - there were hundreds of people queuing to see the Jowo Sakyamuni statue. Before entering the temple, many of the pilgrims would have circumnambulated the outside of the Jokhang complex three times, thus fulfilling one kora. I walked the kora also, watching the activities en route...

Pilgrims throwing juniper into the burners near the Jokhang.

The entire area around the Jokhang was filled with smoke, sometimes it stung my eyes and made them stream with water.

Yak butter lamps burning in the small hall in front of the Jokhang temple complex.

Pilgrims are able to buy/rent(?) a thermos filled with yak butter. The melted butter is poured onto lamps inside the temple as offerings (they have a large yak butter holder with many wicks stuck into it that people continually top up with yak butter from their flasks...and which a monk keeps neat and orderly by scraping the excess back into the mass of yak butter). Sorry...no photos of that as there are no photos allowed in the temple.

The various faces of pilgrims and people walking the kora: For many people, visiting the Jokhang is a lifetime ambition. Some people may have walked from afar in Tibet to get to Lhasa. It is possible to determine which region somebody comes from by looking at their dress - unfortunately I am not adept in this and cannot fill you in on the details, neverless, it is interesting to see the different types of people who come to Lhasa. Some of these people will have to beg for Yuan in order to be able to get the funds to return home again.

Many Tibetan women look so elegant and formal in their style of dress. In the background too you can see pilgrims prostrating.

Many men are also decorated with jewelry of carnellion and coral beads. You can see the thick smoke in the background of this photo too.

Many people walk the kora whilst muttering their mantras using prayer beads to count the number of mantras that they repeat. For most this is an automatic action and it is not unusual to see many people walking ther streets of Lhasa whilst fingering their prayer beads (much like a rosary).

There are also various size prayer wheels that people spin. The wheels are on the end of a handle and inside the main body is enclosed a paper coil of mantras, each spin of the prayer wheel is the equivalent of saying the mantras inside. Many people speak the mantras and spin the wheel at the same time for extra credit :-)

Nuns walking the kora.

People of all ages, with various degrees of fitness will circumnambulate the Jokhang, each has their own reason. Perhaps it is for prosperity, for strength for the next generation, for a good husband or wife, for longevity... It was interesting to watch and see the different faces.

K in the Danbala Bar with the Pekingnese pup which she cannot leave alone :-)

Thanks for reading :-)

2007-05-21T05:46:00.000+01:00

Tashi delay :-)

Today we were going to go on an overnight cycling/ camping trip to some place high up, involving a large ascent over one pass or another :-) However the misfortune of my having a couple of nosebleeds during the night has prevented this from happening and instead we are going to go to the Sera monastery in a moment to watch the monks debate. Firstly though - we have been collecting various photos of people and "interesting" things around Lhasa - finally I have time to post them :-)

As always, eating is a great time of day for us, here are some more photos of us indulging ourselves - again!

I had eyed this "corn" ice lolly a number of times and K finally made the purchase for me. It was corn on the cob shaped - actually it just tasted like a vanilla ice cream with a wafer style corn shaped covering! Very bizzarre, the covering was the only thing that seemed to be corny about it.

Ah - here I am again about to indulge in a radish soup. It was fantastic, a clear soup with slices of radish/turnip - oh and the neccessary dried chilli peppers :-)

This is K's Yak burger - she quite enjoyed it and said that it tasted just like... a burger!

Ah now, Tibetan momos (small raviolis). My favourite version are vegetable with lots of chilli sauce. These momos were filled with apple, cinammon and raisin - YUM, needless to say, they all dissappeared.

This is K's response after taking a sip of Goodwood roast coffee with hot milk - she said that it tasted like yak (probably more yakky than the burger by the look of it :-)

Continuing with yak - every night each of the butchers has a yak meat delivery, this is what happens... An open topped flatbed truck pulls up (normally at dusk) and two people will grab an end each of an uncovered carcass and will then place it on top of some cardboard/ tarpaulin that is laid down in the middle of the street. The butcher will then make a cut to check the meat quality and the sale will then be agreed if the result is good. Then, the butcher will set about chopping up the carcass with an axe (fur and hooves still attached sometimes) - right in the middle of the walkway... :-)

...and this is how it ends up the next morning for sale... There are quite often many big fat flies buzzing around the butchers shop front so the owners will burn some juniper - this seems to do the trick and keep the flies to the minimum. Any of the flies that are left buzzing around are whipped away with something that looks like a piece of yak tail. Still, it is a lot better than what we saw in India :-)

Yak butter for sale in the streets near the Johkang.

We purchased some roasted sweet potato on the street. It had a fantastic taste having been cooked over coals.

Here is our favourite beer in Lhasa, it is called Stout Lodge...cheers! K says: it is really a black lager and not a real stout - it's a German recipe, as described on the label. This is a "premium" beer and it costs 18 Yuan at our favorite bar (the Danbala :) - that is just over 1GBP or just over US$2. We found a place that has Duvel!!! I know, AMAZING :) and they also have Boddingtons (and we did have one can each :) at the exhorbitant price of 38 Yuan a can (that is about 2.5GBPs or US$5). For comparison...Lhasa beer (the local brew) is 10-12 Yuan (under a Pound) in a bar/restaurant, or 4-5 Yuan if you buy it in the shop (about 35p or 75 cents :). Lhasa beer is a decent lager...it's drinkable :)

2007-05-21T05:08:00.000+01:00

Ah! I wrote about the nice weather and cursed it! DOH! :)

Yesterday morning we woke up to rain, so our early departure for Yamdrok Tso was delayed (it's over 100kms to get there, with 1100 meters of climbing, so we need ideal weather). So we made good use of our day and decided to decide about our departure from this fair city.

It is such hard work! Nothing about our departure will be easy and the only way it will be cheap is if it is fast. There are so many options and we don't know when we will be back this way again (I have lots of other places I want to explore :) it makes it so hard to choose. One thing we definitely want to do is incorporate riding the bicycles - we see so much more than the average tourist does from the window of the vehicle they are riding in. Please be patient for commentary around that topic to be expounded upon by us - we are not going to say too much until we cross the Nepal border :)

At all the foreigner accomodation places (be it our youth hostel or one of the big hotels that is recommended in LP and RG) there are big bulletin boards where people post the trips they are trying to arrange and find more travellers to fill the seats (interestingly, there are way more Chinese messages than English messages...which matches a theory I have, I will explain more about when we hit Nepal :). We spotted a great looking trip to Kailash that hit all the places we wanted to go, including Everest Base Camp and the Nepal border....but it is very expensive and we haven't heard back from the guy yet when we asked about taking our bicycles. We are also looking into doing our own thing with one of the local bicycle trip companies so that the jeep has a proper bike rack. It's no more expensive than any of the regular jeeps trips - it's a racket here, they know how much everyone else charges and the quotes are all about 1000 Yuan per day plus the costs of permits and a guide. We have been told that the guide is 260 Yuan a day with apparently 160 going to the guide agency (the official Chinese guide agency) and the guide seeing the other 100.

The guide and permit situation is driving us batty! It seems that it depends on who you ask (travel agents)...which is a bit scary. At one point yesterday we have the travel agent tell us that they don't care about bicyclists, the police don't speak English and we would have no problems riding the Friendship Highway without a guide(then what the heck have we been doing cooling our heels in Lhasa for all this time??? We could have been in Kathmandu by now!!!!!) but I told her about the problems and then she phoned a friend and got the right information...hmmm, it seems you need a guide. Ah, it has been frustrating!

We are looking to make a day trip to Samye Monastery - it's a monastery built in the form of a mandala...which is the shape of Buddha's house (roughly :). We also want to ride to Ganden on a 1 or 2 night trip - it will be a lot of climbing anyway you look at it (Ganden is at 4500 meters, Lhasa is 3680), but if we go offroad off the backside trekking route we have an offroad pass of 5200 meters to cross :). Then it will be time to get on the road to Nepal...but how fast and what do we stop to see?

Here are the things we discovered yesterday:

-> The southern leg of the Friendship Highway, the bit that goes to Gyantse, is under construction and closed to jeeps...they drive along the top and then hook back to Gyantse from Shigatse. Bicycles are allowed while it's under construction, but you have to have a guide with you and the guide rides in the jeep....hmmm.

-> The permit costs for us and a guide to get to Everest Base Camp in a jeep will top 1000 Yuan (400 for the jeep and 180 per person) just for the permits! That is 65GBPs or about US$130 to get up close and personal with Everest.

-> We paid for a permit to get into Tibet - that was 500 Yuan each in Xi'an (and we hunted around and it was the cheapest we found). That is a bit of money spinner - to get a new one while we are here is only 60 Yuan and all the permits come from Lhasa (ours came from one of the local hotel travel agencies). OUCH! We found this out when we discovered that we need to get a new one - our original one expired May 1st! When we applied in Xi'an they did not ask us how long we wanted it to last and we didn't ask - the guidebooks indicated that the Tibet permit wasn't the key for how long you can stay, it was the Chinese Visa that is the important document. To add insult to injury, on our permit it says I am a housewife and A is a beautician - the only Chinese name on our permit had accountant next to it and the other American woman was also a housewife! Ah, can you believe it!?!?!?! My reputation is in tatters! :)

We *are* formulating a plan and it will involve riding the bikes...we will see Everest for sure (you can see it from the highway) and we will probably shell out for the permits, as it is once in a lifetime. We have to get out of China by the 19th of June (when our visas expire) and, if I get my plan the way I want it, it will take us 10-12 days to get to the border - we need to be moving out of Lhasa by the first of June. More news as it happens....

2007-05-19T11:33:00.000+01:00

The weather here in Lhasa is lovely....24C and sunny (abt 75F)

We know we have to go back through Kathmandu to Delhi to get the motorbikes so we were wondering just how hot it was there. This is today's weather:

That is 108F for you metric challenged people...feels like 126F!!!! Yikes! The lows are 27C/80F. We are going to ROAST!

(just for comparison....it's 30C/86F High, 17C/63F Low in Kathmandu, temps for Calcutta are pretty much the same as Delhi and if we head for the mountains it's currently a nice 17C/63F for a High in Leh in the Indian Himalaya...ahhhh :)

2007-05-19T11:15:00.000+01:00

A question from the peanut gallery :)

Q: When you're laying in your tent at night, what sounds can you hear around you?

A: When we are laying in the tent and darkness surrounds us and we are about to fall into a deep sleep :)...we hear all sorts of things.

Life stops not long after dark and it gets dark (like really dark) at about 9:30, so by 10:30 (if we can stay awake that long :) it is very quiet. The herdsmen all go home at dusk, so the livestock are put away - we may hear the occasional moaning cow/yak, but not often. We rarely hear people. We have heard dogs barking - one place we heard what sounded like a massive dogfight, we wondered how the locals put up with it - it sounded awful and we were at least half a km away.

If it's windy or raining then we hear those sounds against the tent. If there is a bigger road nearby then we hear the occasional traffic...and horns (they love their horns here :). Only when we were camped by the river did we hear river sounds...and occasionally though the night we could hear the rock wash tumblers grinding away and the occasional truck taking the washed rock away (Medro Gunkar was a decent sized town compared to where else we camped so it was noisier).

In the morning we hear lots of different birds...and the start of traffic. Life is very much linked to daylight, so you hear things slowly get going as the sun comes up (it's dark at 6am but light by 7ish...7:30 if the sun is blocked by the mountains).

We have not heard anyone or anything walking near our tent....except yaks :)

2007-05-19T10:54:00.000+01:00

Tashi delay :-)

Last night we decided to go and burn off our late dinner of salad and chilli potatoes by taking a walk around the kora of the Johkang. It was a great idea because in the dim light the experience was quite different to that which is experienced during the busy daytime...

The stalls which normally sell Tibetan handicrafts, religious tokens, clothes etc were for the most part packed up so there was not the usual hustle and bustle of trade. At the front of the Johkang there is a small, low level hall, within which there are housed many hundreds of burning yak butter lamps which are placed in rows. We took a look through the unpaned window and felt the heat as the glow fell against our faces.

Joining the pilgrims who were still doing the kora even at this time of night we began our slow meander through the narrow streets flanked by the whitewashed walls and store fronts. There was missing the smoke from the burning juniper offerings that is abundent throughout the day and stings your eyes.

There were many people begging for money. Many of these were monks as well as pilgrims although we are not quite sure how to tell the difference between a genuine pilgrim or anyone who may be taking advantage of the tourist dollar. Pilgrims often need the donations in order to be able to return home again. We had both been saving our Jiaos for moments like this. As we walked in the dim light there were pilgrims who were doing the kora by falling onto their knees and lying face down on the floor, then moving to where their hands were and starting the process again. These people will go around the Johkang 3 times for a full kora. I can imagine how much their abs must hurt when repeating this process so often, it would take many hours.

There were many women who sat with very young children. Both were equally as grubby. The women would outstretch their hand waiting for some money to fall upon it, their eyes would look pleadingly at us. The children (sometimes well trained) would run up and follow us, their hands pressed together, they would mutter in Tibetan and look at us with such sad eyes. Some of the children took a more gleeful approach and would smile, sometimes bringing laughter amongst their desperate situation. A grubby, chubby mother and child both smiled sweetly at me. I had already placed a Jiao in the woman's hand but the child had not witnessed this and she proceeded in grabbing my thigh by hugging it and would not let go. Luckily K made the right motions with her hands and the sound of the words from her mouth to make the child return to mother.

The monks who sat on the kora asking for money also varied in their approach. I was feeling apprehensive last night about giving money to any monks because while I was in a phone booth last night a monk grabbed hold of my arm and repeated "money, money" at me with his hand outstretched. Some of the monks, who mostly sat in rows of no more than five, would be chanting mantras together. In front of them sat a pile of money, more so than the pitiful amount that we had seen in many of the pilgrims hands. We saw many monks who seated together on the floor were counting up their mound of cash. We found this a little disturbing, we had seen people who looked hungry nearby and the happy monks looked greedy in their success in comparison. There were also nuns who were asking for alms and were singing too, they also had a decent size amount of cash but it is really quite obvious that the monks receive more than anyone else. I am not sure whether the monks also need the money to get back to their monastery that may be located far away I guess the competition can be quite fierce. Within 5 minutes of walking the kora I was down to my last Jiao, both K and I had been particularly selective about who we gave money too, we had decided that only those who were disabled or women with children who would get our Jiaos.

There were people who walked the kora very fast, speeding around it as though it was an everyday occurrence for them. We know of one Tibetan who does a full kora of the Johkang every morning. There was the sound of mumbling mantras and the sight of spinning prayer wheels that people held in their hands. There were people out with young toddlers who cried in their arms, it being past a decent time for someone so young. Chinese tourists were taking photos (I do not remember seeing any other "western" tourists last night).

As we came to the end of the kora we reached the front of the Johkang. Children were playing on the scaffolding of the empty stalls. There were a few people out selling their wares, their overtired children nearby. I think of how hard it must be to have to stay out so late trying to sell the most smallest thing in order to make some money. A couple of women who sat with their backs against the butter lamp hall spotted K and I walking. I had spotted them first and watched as they spoke to their children who were obviously sent straight over to us, having singled us out, in order to gain some donation. I kept hold of my last Jiao, I did not like the situation especially as the mothers were drinking beer. Perhaps I am harsh, it is always difficult to know who to give money to, guide books advise that you give it to an organisation but when it is as little as 1 GBP I wonder how beneficial this would be, it is more likely to be appreciated in the hand of an individual.

We left the kora and walked through the narrow alleyways back to the Beijing Donglu on which our hostel is located. There were people still working, selling bread, stitching clothes for example. Other businesses were restaurants (with various degrees of styling), bars or just a pool table that was momentarily hired out to willing punters.

I have some photos to post which show the various types of people that we see walking the kora, these will make it onto the blog soon.

2007-05-19T10:46:00.000+01:00

A day of thorns....

We decided that today was the day to go and ride the old road up the pass (the same pass that we always ride out of Lhasa) - we spotted it just below the new road the first time we rode the pass and we have been biding our time. It's just a small section of dirt road, maybe a km in length, and a bit of a climb, but it would be worth it for the rocky descent (so says the queen of rock :).

So we put A's new tire on the back of her bike (it's a decent tire - a Kenda Koyote that claims it's a 2.1 but it's more like a 1.95 - and it didn't break the bank and it's not heinously heavy) and headed out into the sunshine. We were basically going to ride 12kms each way for a 2km dirt ride...yes, we are insane :) So we hammered it out of town, also using it as a judge of our fitness (we have ridden this road a lot :) and we were feeling good on the unloaded bikes! We got out to the pass, chose our route over the open ground to hook up with the bottom of the old road and headed down. It was a nice little ride over the rocky ground (maybe 300 meters) and it was an easy hookup to the old road. Excellent!

We were ready to head up when we decided to check the tires....yikes, there was a thorn in my tire...and there was one in A's tire, too. Oops. We started a tire check and there were...*34* thorns in my front tire alone! Hmmmm, maybe riding this old road wasn't such a good idea. We didn't notice any thorn bushes on the way down. A was calling out the number of thorns that when she pulled them out they went "puff" - I heard 5....6....7...yikes! We decided to head back to town immediately and forget the old road. We were travelling light and I only brought one spare tube with me and our patch kit has been depleted over the last month and I hadn't refilled it - I had 2 patches. We were in trouble. By the time we pulled all the thorns we could see and walked the bikes back up to the road 3 of our 4 tires were flat - only A's new Kenda was holding a decent amount of air (but it was still slowly leaking).

We pulled the tubes on the three wheels and checked to see what we had...well, A's front had 8 punctures in it :) My front had 5.... Since A's rear tire was the only one holding any air we gave her front tire the new spare tube and off she went in to the village that was about 2kms away to see if she could get some spare tubes or have the two holey ones patched. Forty-five minutes later (it's all down hill there and a climb all the way back - we were on the pass :) she arrived with the the tubes unpatched and 10 patches - the guy had no spare tubes and we could patch them just as easily has he could. I got to work and patched just the big holes (3 on each tube for my front and rear) and we pumped them up and rode to town as fast as we could - pumping twice on the way :)

We could have done with some of those self sealing tubes....or the Slime we have sitting in our luggage in Delhi! Oh well :) We bought some new tubes from the shop next door - the same brand as we have been using - so we are back in business! Ah, what an exciting day!!!!

2007-05-19T10:00:00.000+01:00

Hey all...article in the Times about the Tibet permit situation....

click here to view

Later!

2007-05-18T11:22:00.001+01:00

Tuesday 15th May:

The night sky had been decorated with bright stars against a backdrop of clear sky, however when we awoke it was again cloudy. We did not really do much. I went into MG and purchased some petrol and some more food. On the way to MG I raced a two stroke tractor cart that was carrying passengers. Really, it was no match for me as I sped by snarling/ smiling much to the amusement of onlookers. In fact it was great to have done this. Previously, whenever either of us tried to ride the bikes hard we would be gasping for breath like drowning fish (?!). Now I had no ache in my chest and did not have to stand leaning against the bike in order to recover but could continue riding and still manage to get my breath back - woohoo, the acclimatisation process had moved on to another stage :-)

I arrived back, we lit the stove (K had changed the jet for the stove to accommodate the new fuel - petrol) and ate some more noodles. Just as everything was packed up the heavens opened and the rain lashed down on us. We were in the tent in time and spent the whole afternoon playing cards and reading more Poe.

In fact K played Patience and won straight up and then I set up a game of Clock for her and she won this too. The odds of winning Clock are very slim (if you know them then please e-mail us, we could not work it out exactly), it is a game of luck over which the player cannot dictate any move. We were equally surprised at these successes.

Not much else happened - it carried on raining and we went to sleep early.

2007-05-18T10:07:00.001+01:00

Monday 14th May:

We awoke with frost on the inside of the vestibule of the tent. Actually, I tell a lie - K awoke to frost on the inside of the vestibule of the tent. I was in the middle of a dream (which must have involved a warm cosy fireplace or something of a similar nature) when I was rudely awakened by a orange buff topped mass making it's way towards the door inside the tent and shouting that there was frost and that it was a beautiful morning and that I should really open my eyes and come have a look. Sure I thought turning over and going back to a land of bright warm sun and radiators. I am still baffled by how someone can be fast asleep one moment and then within a matter of seconds turn into a highly energised buzzy humanoid :-)

Some time later I awoke to condensation on the inside of the tent and damp grass outside in the pasture, with very little sign of any frost. K made me some coffee using the firewood as fuel that she had gathered the night before. With this she enticed me out of my dream like state and managed to engage me in a conversation regarding our plans for the day. We decided that we would have a day washing ourselves and our clothes in the cold river and that we could ride into MG and get some supplies - most importantly some more kerosene for the stove.

The day was now bright and sunny. We washed our hair in the river and ceased any blood supply to our cerebral complex as a result. Once our scalps had thawed out we decided to wash our clothes. Behaving like proper little housewives we managed to get everything rinsed, wrung and hanging on the line quite quickly and then had the excuse of sitting around the campsite whilst we waited for the clothes to dry.

We both felt a little hungry so we lit a wood fire again and cooked up some noodles with extra garlic and ginger - delicious. We were both feeling incredibly relaxed too because we no longer had to behave like fugitives keeping out of sight of people who would find us more interesting than TV. In fact, the worse thing about being a tourist is gawking at people and it is certainly not nice when you find the tables turned.

We have been reading the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allen Poe to one another so we spent an hour or so reading a few chapters before "Action K" shot off into town to hunt for a spare fuel bottle and some kerosene. We had worked out that we would need more fuel for our assult on the pass and that our one bottle would not be enough.

K returned unlucky. She could not find any bottle that would be deemed safe enough to carry explosive liquids and she had no success in finding any kerosene either but she was offered something that was scribbled in the back of our Mandarin book that we still did not know what it was. She had also been offered corn oil elsewhere - you go figure out the connection between corn oil and kerosene, we can't :-)

We decided that I would take the fuel bottle that we already had and that I would purchase the unknown flammable liquid that was written in the back of the book but that I would try and find out a little more regarding what it was. Given great directions I found my way to the same store and had a confused conversation in Chinese about the unknown character in the back of the book. The store man motioned that he would have to go down the road to buy the liquid for me. I decided that I may as well go myself because I had the bike if he would only give me directions. He explained and I was none the wiser. Then in a sudden flash of inspiration I remembered a petrol station further down the road and asked him if I could buy the unknown liquid there. He laughed and laughed and then replied yes, then seated himself down next to a friend and I could tell that they were laughing at the dumb foreigner (things will become clear in a moment).

I jumped on the bike and after riding for a minute or two I managed to get K's pannier (which I had borrowed) caught in the spokes of the rear wheel and slam dunked myself into the ground. Many people were concerned for me but I dusted myself off and got on the way. I went to the petrol station and this is where the fun begins. Please bear with me, it is hard to explain....

"Mei you" means "Kerosene".
"Mei you" also means "not have".
"You" means "have".
"You mei you" means "have or not have?"

Are you following this?

So, I asked the petrol pump attendant "You mei you mei you" (do you or do you not have kerosene?)
To which he replied "mei you"
I said "mei you" as a means of justifying the fact that I wanted kerosene and he said "mei you, you chee yoh"
"mei you" I said, indicating again that I wanted kerosene.
"wo mei you mei you, you chee you" he said.
Now I was confused and frustrated so I said in English "Do you or do you not have any kerosene?"
I received no reply.
So, I brought out the Mandarin book and showed him the mysterious character in the back of the book which he confirmed that he had saying "chee you". I soon fathomed out that chee you meant petrol - now we were getting somewhere and it also explained why the guy was laughing at me earlier (I could picture him thinking of course you buy petrol from the petrol station - duh!). Now all I needed to do was work out whether he had kerosene in addition to petrol.

After some more confusing exchange I pointed at the petrol pump and said "chee you", he confirmed "shi" (this means is). Then I pointed at a nearby smaller pump and said "mei you" to which he said "shi".
Success, I had worked out that he had petrol and kerosene. Promising to return, I went back to the camp to consul with K and explain what had happened. It was only when I went back the next day that I found out that what I had pointed to and said "mei you" (kerosene) was in fact a strange looking fire extinguisher - this amused us even further :-) :-)

Back at camp we decided to change our plans and that we would not head toward the pass the next day due to my cut tyre and that we were unlikely to have enough fuel to see us through. We decided to head back to Lhasa very slowly and that we would stay in the pasture for another night. We spent the night playing cards, reading more Poe and sipping whisky from my hip flask :-)

2007-05-18T09:34:00.000+01:00

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.

2007-05-18T08:53:00.000+01:00

Equipment we use...WARNING - Geek post!!!! :)

If you are not interested in this subject you can skip right over it...but for those of you that are geeks, read on :)

I spent a lot of time planning for our journey - both for the motorbikes in India and the bicycles in China. We sent a box to Beijing and picked the stuff up when we got the bikes, so all the planning had to be done before we even left for India. We did not think that we would be able to get reliable equipment while on the road....and though we have found plenty of outdoor stores in China and Tibet, I think we made the right decision. This was definitely the case with motorbike riding gear in India (the quality of helmets available is a bit too scary for my valuable head to think about :)

The bikes you know about - Trek 4500 WSD mountain bikes - but you probably are not aware of how much we have come to love them...and not just because they are head and shoulders above all the other bikes we see here! Both of us will readily admit to being bike snobs - A worked in the bike industry and has had access to the best kit available and I am just a gear head and insist on the best :) These bikes are great! They have handled everything we have thrown at them - they handle amazingly well, even fully loaded - and we have no hesitations taking them anywhere we want to go. We have put over 1000kms on them thus far - on the flat, climbing and descending big hills, on pavement, on dirt, on rocky paths and on singletrack - and they have not even burped! You never know, A might take hers home to add to her collection of bikes...

We only have rear racks on the bikes and they are rated for 50lbs. We each have a set of panniers with clothes and tools, etc. and then on top we lash the tent, sleeping bags and Thermarests, plus a bag of spare bits that doesn't fit anywhere else (our cups, shower shoes, waterbottles, etc.).

How much detail do you want??? Well I will give you something in the middle :)

BIKE KIT: We probably have more bike tools than we need but I didn't know what we would find so I have BB and freewheel tools in addition to the standard small trail tool that has everything from allen keys to spoke wrenches and a chain tool. Of course we have a patch kit, but we have been though both of the ones we brought and are working on one we purchased in Lhasa - we've had 12 puncture so far! We have a WrenchForce pump with a gauge and it has been getting an enormous amount of use...poor thing, but it is holding up to the onslaught well :) I also have a Paratool, which is like a Leatherman, so it has pliers and a saw, in addition to screwdriver blades and knife blades of all sorts. We have duct tape and some zip ties, too. As for bike parts we have spare spokes and lots of little nuts and bolts, spare cables plus 3 full sets of brake blocks (we were going to be doing a lot of descending, if you remember :)

CAMPING KIT: Ah, I had such fun investigation what we would need, making sure it was light enough to cycle with and sturdy enough to deal with the extreme conditions we will find in this very rural and high altitude place.

The tent is a Mountain Hardwear Airjet 2. It is a single wall tent, meaning that it doesn't need a rain fly as it's waterproof already (that makes it lighter and faster to set up). There are mixed reviews on this tent and I wouldn't take it to a damp place as there is just not enough ventilation, but it's dry at altitude, so I figured it would be ok...and it has been. We have had condensation on the inside, but nothing bad, certainly not enough to make us wet and cold...when it's wet and cold outside :). The worst condensation was when we had heavy rain that first night we camped; we had no condensation when we camped on the old road. There are vents in the top of the tent and around the bottom edge and you just need to open the vents to allow the air to flow. I think part of the condensation that first night was caused by the closing of the top vents - it was really raining and blowing and the water was coming in the vents so we closed them. I also like the inpenetrableness of the waterproof fabric as it's also warmer when the wind is blowing...and we know this from experience - our tent is toasty :)

The sleeping bags are from Blacks, the UK sports retailer, and they are the 2 season Quad bags, (polyfill, not down) in the women's model (makes them lighter because they are shorter :). The bags are rated to 0C-ish (whether they are warm enough or not always depends if you are a hot sleeper or a cold sleeper) and I was concerned that they might not be warm enough but we have not had any problems and we have had frost form on the inside of the tent - that is a good sign :). We also had great fun in purchasing some silk bedsheets at a market in Beijing and had them sewn into a big pillowcase shape (that is exactly how I explained it to the woman at the tailor shop using the Mandarin dictionary :) so we have silk inside the bags (posh and girly - one sheet is off white and one is pink :) and that definitely keeps us warmer!

We also have two Thermarests - the women's TrailLite model. They are the big indulgence as they are not super light but they are fantastic insulators against the cold, hard ground and they definitely soften the rocky ground that we have been sleeping on. Honestly, there is no substitute for a good night's sleep when we are wearing ourselves out like we are. The bags and the Thermarests we had the opportunity to test out at a few bike races the summer before we left and after that experience I knew A was never going to part with her Thermarest....we just had to bring it or she wouldn't get any sleep in a tent :). She has had some of her best sleep in all of Tibet sleeping on her Thermarest. I can sleep anywhere, so I'm happy :)

The other two necessary items that I fussed over were the stove and the water filter. It is cold here and having something warm to eat and drink will help keep us alive, so we needed a good stove. (Needless to say...having something warm to drink is the ONLY thing that will get A out of the tent in the morning, so it better be a good stove :) A gets a dodgy stomach fairly easily and there are rumors that Giardia is fairly common in the Tibet water supply...we needed a good water filter/purifier as the best solution or we would be boiling a *whole lot of water*. Well, I have been an outdoor person most of my life, I have read Outside Magazine (years ago, before it was all full of ads)...I'm a gear head and I love REI :) I know who the big players are and I read lots of reviews on the web, emailed my brother :), and decided to go with MSR for both the stove and the water filter.

We have an MSR Whisperlite International stove - it burns all sorts of fuel, whatever is available, including unleaded petrol (which is what we are burning now). I tested the stove at A's Dad's house with unleaded before we left and nearly lit myself on fire (we did it outside in the bricked walkway - no potential of lighting the place on fire, I promise :)...I am much better at it now :):):) We started from Lhasa with kerosene (or what we think might be kerosene - it's not in the dictionary...we had some weird experiences with the liquid that we bought...we are now using much cheaper and much more identifiable! unleaded petrol). The stove sounds like a jet and it heats the water incredibly fast...but it uses a lot of fuel. I have a 350ml bottle and it lasts about 3 days. We ran out of kerosene and couldn't get anymore in Medro Gunkar (but it was fun trying :) so we bought the unleaded. When we got back to Lhasa I bought a new 1 liter fuel bottle so we should be fine for a week cooking everyday.

The water filter is MSR's MiniWaterWorks and it is excellent! I used it in India (their water is pretty dodgy there, too :) on tap water and we have been sucking several liters of water a day, through the filter :), out of the Tibetan streams and into our bottles. A murky stream will slow the filter down, but it's so easy to take apart, wipe the sludge off, screw it back together and it is back up to speed.

We bought a cheap stainless steel pot in the market in Lhasa and it works fine. We have 2 sets of chopsticks we got at the grocery store, but I also have some camping silverware...but we never use it, chopsticks are handier :). We each have a pocket knife for slicing the garlic and ginger...and sharpening sticks to be toasting forks :) We have 2 plastic mugs that we bought in Hong Kong so that we had something to make tea/coffee in for the long train journey to Beijing - we still have them and still use them. Brilliant! and they were cheap, too :) We have a foldable bucket that we use for washing, it's army green :) I also have a magic bag of camping supplies with emergency foil blankets, some hothands chemical heaters, paracord, a whistle, a lighter, spare shoelaces, etc. :)

That is about it....we are well prepared as you can well see!

2007-05-17T13:05:00.000+01:00

A loved the tent and her snug sleeping bag :)

Now lest you think A is a bed princess (she does have a history of it :) understand that she feels the cold a bit more than I do. I am always moving and always eating, so I am always warm. When we crawled into the sleeping bags at night I was wearing my wooly socks, a pair of hiking shorts, my long john (thermal) shirt and a Buff on my head. A wore her wooly socks, a pair of fleece long john bottoms, 2 or 3 thermal tops of various weights and a Buff on her head and often the hoodie from her thermal top pulled up over her head. She needed coffee or tea in the morning just to be able to survive the morning temps outside the toasty sleeping bags....well that's her excuse anyway :)

2007-05-17T13:03:00.000+01:00

The ride back to Lhasa - Day 7

We said goodbye to the campsite on the river...

...and we were off!

We rode past the monastery that we had passed on the way in, a few days previous...

...and a ruin of what looked like another monastery.

The road north was not looking good...thankfully we would be heading south in a few kms :)

Then we headed back over the bridge and we were on our way south. The weather was good, it hadn't rained so the road was dry and dusty, and we noticed that we were heading ever so slightly downhill...maybe with a bit of a tailwind here and there - we were cruising!

15kms down the road we stopped for a bit of a snack (we were hungry already :) and some photos at this photogenic stupa :)

we could see Medro Gunkar across the valley...

...and then we hit the road again...

...past the herds...

...and on down the valley to the pass...

which we topped (with a bit of breathing difficulty, some tired legs and a bit of euphoria :)

and then A was bombing it down the pass, but not for long - that weakened tire required plenty of caution! So I left her behind, bombing down at 55kph :) The bike is so stable at speed, even loaded!

Then we were back in Lhasa...at our favorite place - the Danbala Restaurant and Bar - complete with lovely black beer and an adorable puppy...not to mention some great food! I inhaled a cheeseburger, a salad and some chilli mash, in addition to what was left of A's egg fried ride and a plate of greens :)

If you can't tell that we are happy bunnies just look at that photo again :)

2007-05-17T13:00:00.000+01:00

Days 4-6...we leave the Old Road campsite for Medro Gunkar and the yak pasture :)

Another helper photo for you :)

We awoke to a beautiful, sunny morning in our trough of a campsite...yup, that's A in the tent again :)

Just as we had found the campsite the evening before A had hit a sharp rock and got a puncture on her rear tire - it was a big hole. I had patched it and she could get up to the campsite, but it was a big hole in the casing of the tire and we would have to be careful with it to get it back to Lhasa in one piece. In the morning I pulled the tire and put a tube patch on the casing to give it some support and I put a nice piece of duct tape in there, too, just for luck :) Then we swapped the front and rear tires - the rear was taking most of the load so we thought we should have the strongest tire at the back.

Before we headed out I wanted to ride the old road back the other way...just to see what it was like - it was rocky :) A was having a momentary bout of dodgy stomach so she wasn't up for the ride, but it went as soon as it came, and we were on our way in a couple of hours.

While we were waiting for A's stomach to settle we were sitting in the shade (the sun is fierce!) and we noticed this strange effect around the sun - we could see it with our eyes and one photo is with A's camera and one is from mine - it is not a trick!!!! Cool, eh? :)

Then it was time we packed up and got the heck out of dodge :)

We continued north on the dirt road...thinking it was only 2kms to Medro Gunkar...doh! It was about 20 :) We saw this great rock formation that looked to be part of the old road....it also looked like a gaping maw, something out of Lord of the Rings :)

We continued north....

...until we finally found the bridge! Well...we found 2 bridges and we opted for the more interesting of the two (the other being a cement monstrosity :)

The view north was lovely...except what was that hanging there on the wire????

...it was dead things! They look liked newborn baby lambs and calves. Maybe some sort of sacrifice? It's still a done thing around these parts....

the view back across the bridge...

Then we were heading south on a paved road, about 5kms north of Medro Gunkar - riding slightly uphill into the wind...and we were starving! But we made it and we stuffed ourselves at a local restaurant and hit the shops for some juice and BEER :) and then went to find our camp.

Woohoo! Our luck is SO good!!!! We found a little niche and set up camp :)

Then we cracked the beers...

...and watched the sunset :)

The next morning we made coffee and toasted some bread...on a proper fire!!!! I had collected some wood the afternoon before because we had found the wood so damp when we tried to light it that evening.

...and then cleaned ourselves (clean hair!!!!! :) and some of our clothes :) I must say that this is the first time I have ever had an "ice cream headache" without eating ice cream...that water was COLD!!!!!

It was a beautiful day and we made some noodles for lunch....

In the afternoon we played cards (A has hauled this deck, a prize from a Christmas cracker from years ago, through India and China...it was about time we put them to good use :)

would you trust this face??? :)

The next day we gave the stove a rest (we were running out of fuel at this point) and built another proper campfire :)

I told you this was a yak pasture :)

We spent 3 nights in this campsite and we would have stayed longer, but it was time to head back to Lhasa...

2007-05-17T12:59:00.000+01:00

Sunday 13th May:

We woke with no dripping condensation in our tent. The sky was beautiful and blue and we had successfully had a great nights sleep. We took in our surroundings and looked at the fields below as well as the surrounding mountain peaks - the views were as spectacular as ever, enhanced by the blueness of the sky. "Action K" repaired my damage tyre by patching it up and I would eventually swap the rear and the front around in order to give the weaker tyre the least amount of load as possible.

Soon I became overcome with a terrible nausea and could not overcome it. I was fearful that I was becoming very ill and that our riding would be coming to an end as a result. I informed K how terrible I felt but did not quite divulge how awful I felt hoping that it would pass. She suggested that I lie down for a while and not move. This I did but as soon as I felt that the nausea had gone and tried to get up I would again be overcome with the feeling of sickness. I ended up taking a Pepto Bismol and surprisingly this worked quickly. I no longer felt sick but I did feel weakened, particularly in my arms. K packed up the tent then went exploring the old road whilst I sat and rested some more. I watched her disappear around the hillside and occasionally she would come into a distant view as the walls of the old road would lower every now and then.

Upon her return she sat down where I had been sitting. As I reached across to take something from her I knelt on the most ferocious stinging nettle that I have ever encountered. The burning sensation that immediately followed was intense, I hobbled around in disbelief it's effectiveness. My shin had a patch of nasty welts swelling on it. I hobbled around more. K found another type of leaf that we thought that I should rub on it (the theory being that dock leaves grow near to nettles) but all that this did was leave a big green smudge across my leg.

Eventually the burning sensation passed and we sat together and looking at the sky K noticed that there was a mother of pearl effect from the light shining through the clouds - it was amazing to see and we looked at it transfixed for a while.

Finally we left at noon, the quarry men had returned to work already but were again on a break when we left. We rode by a shepherd who was taking a nap from watching the herd as we descended back down to the dirt road. We headed toward Medro Gunkar - we had not filtered any water thinking that we would be able to buy some in the town very soon but later would find ourselves needing to meet this requirement. The road varied from good even surfaced dirt road to rocky construction. We rode by the workers who were tarmacking the road a few kilometres away and they excitedly waved hello. The stretch that had the new surface was very small but it ran through the village that was flanking it and we wondered how the life of the apparently sleepy rustic looking village would soon change as a result, we were happy that we were passing through in the present.

The road again changed to a long stretch of rocky construction which sapped our energy although we did not realise it at the time. I was also on the constant lookout for my tyre for fear of the cut in it worsening despite K's fantastic repair. We had still not reached Medro Gunkar and were wondering how we were to get to it. It was on the other side of the river valley and looking up and down the course of the river we could not see any bridge - the bridge would also be very obvious because it would have to be large in order to span the river. We stopped for a snack and watched a herder slingshot stones at an escapee goat who had decided that it was going to liberate itself from the flock which could be seen munching on the nearby hillsides. It was amazing to hear the sound of the small rocks fly by, they sounded like missiles and it is no wonder that the shepherds use this effective method to round up their livestock by scaring the wits out of them. After the stone was launched the long slingshot would wrap itself around the shepherds legs. We sat and watched for a while. Soon the shepherd came over to look at us, I offered him a Shanxi date to eat and demonstrated that he should watch out for the stone inside having noted that he was missing many teeth. Taking the date he continued on his way with rounding up the stray animal.

We continued riding and decided that we should pump some water. We could not get to the fast flowing river due to a nearby man made drainage channel that we could not cross which barred us from reaching the cleaner looking water. We had to contend with filtering water from a murkier looking source but the filter being so effective provided us with enough water in order to get to the next town (at this point we had given up with the idea of Medro Gunkar because we had still not seen any bridge). At this point we were joined by a young Tibetan boy on his bicycle, he was perhaps no more than 12 years old, he parked up and sat down next to us and watched us closely, occasionally whispering to himself. To our dismay he took a cigarette packet out of his pocket and soon sparked it up, smoking as though he was big man, as all children do mimicking the behaviour of influential adults. As we were about to leave K noticed that she had a puncture. We stayed put, unloaded the bike and got on with the repair as our young guest watched and smoked.

When the puncture was repaired I went and flagged down a passing digger truck that was being used for the road construction some distance away. It was quite amusing. I asked the driver in Chinese how far away Medro Gunkar was, especially how far it was to a bridge. Luckily for us he said that it we were only 4 kilometres away from the bridge. This really raised our spirits and we rode on happily knowing that we would reach the town despite having to ride back down the valley on the other side of the river in order to get to it.

We arrived at a small town where the road that we were travelling on intersected with the road leading to the river bridge. We checked that we were heading the correct way and proceeded to towards the opposite bank finally. As we were about to cross the new cement road bridge, "Eagle Eye K" spotted an older suspension foot bridge nearby. We decided to cross by using this instead.

Next to the older bridge there were some ruins of old adobe buildings. The bridge itself was floored with horizontal planks of wood suspended with twisted metal rope. Above us on the bridge there was a large red star. Hanging to the side of the bridge there were bundles of what we assumed were sacrificed newborn calves/ goats. Perhaps they had been sacrificed for the river or surrounding mountains.

Having crossed the bridge we then passed through a small village, the route through which was muddy and we felt like we imagined that the flooded way resembled the roads of medieval Europe. We joined the main tarmacked road and with a headwind road towards Medro Gunkar. We passed a ruined a monastery as well as a newer monastery. The river was closer to us and it was very beautiful to see it flowing by at a rapid pace.

Just before we reached Medro Gunkar we spotted a campsite with a few Tibetan tents that was located in a pasture next to another river. We made note that we should come and explore this as a camping option after we had purchased our supplies and eaten. Arriving tiredly in town we found a restaurant. We each devoured another plate of egg fried rice each and shared a dish of chilli aubergine. It is hard work to order food sometimes when there is no English menu or English speakers.

With our tummies filled we decided to head back to the campsite...

... the rest of the story is to follow soon...

Thanks for reading :-)

2007-05-17T12:27:00.001+01:00

Day 3 photos....

We had another night of rain, but it wasn't nearly has bad as the previous night and it was no where near as windy! As the vultures cruised overhead...

you weren't going to find A sequestered in the tent this morning, she was out shooting the sunrise as it was truly spectacular!!!!

While A was up and about I made camelman tea (black tea with dried milk powder - the one we bought was especially for women, the other alternatives being for children or old people :) and some black sesame porridge :)

Then we dried everything out, packed up and hit the road. There was a long discussion as to where we would ride, but common sense prevailed (even though we were very disappointed) and we headed back down the valley instead of up and over the pass, sure to be snow covered after the past two nights of bad weather.

The road to the pass....

...and our route out of there :)

The only problem with the campsite was that there was no water...but we had to ride through Lhundrub on the way out so we stopped for water and some freshly baked bread before continuing on our way :)

We passed villages and more geologic wonders...

and then we turned left to follow the Lhasa River to the north east...excellent quality dirt road - they are in the process of paving it.

We saw fort ruins...a section of which has been added on to accomodate birds :)

Beautiful riverscape...

A monastery...

Villages....

And this selection of wild things :) We haven't seen any large wild animals, mostly birds and flowers.

Here is a momma duck and her ducklings...

We have seen this wild flower in several places...

Wild irises lined the road up to Lhundrub...

This flowering shrub was it our second campsite...

When the afternoon was growing long we spotted the potential campsite on the old road up the valley wall...

...yup, that will do :) The third excellent campsite!!!!

2007-05-17T12:26:00.000+01:00

Saturday 12th May:

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise after another night of rain - although it was not as heavy as the previous night it still kept us awake for much of the night. In an act of the most unusual behaviour for me, I jumped out of the tent and went about taking photographs of the nearby peaks which were now covered in snow. The change in shades in the Lhundrub valley was amazing as the first rays of sun found their way around the mountain peaks and orientated their way up the valley floor. Vultures circled above our campground and unnerved me for a moment with my wild imagination, although this very soon changed to my fascination with them. Many birds flew by our campground and would also stop and chirp close by for a while not seeming to care about our presence.

"Action K" and I heard a sound on the backside of the stone floor of the saddle being trodden. We both made our opposite way around the stone mound to see what was the cause. We saw a pack of six stray dogs making their way up the hillside toward us. I quickly joined K fearing that that may eat me (I know, I am pathetic but yesterdays growling image was still in my mind). We both picked up a stone each and peeped over the mound to see them. It seemed that they were far more scared of us than "I" was of them for they had already made a U turn and headed back down towards the dirt road.

Again we had to wait for our tent to dry, there was much condensation on the inside again also as well as the dampness of the rain on the outside. K had fired up the stove for much needed warming tea and we spent this time discussing what to do with our day. Surrounding peaks that had not previously been covered with snow now had far more than a mere dusting of white and it was obvious that the snowline was far lower than the height of the pass which we had intended to climb. After much discussion and debate, we decided to ride up the valley a little to see if we could see the pass in the hope that it was not as snow bound as we thought (wishful thinking).

Eventually we loaded up the bikes and departed. Having made our way to the dirt road we could already see that lower peaks were heavily covered. We disappointingly had to admit that we were not equipped for such endeavours and that trying to ride a heavily snowed pass would be too risky particularly at an altitude of 5000 metres or so. The weather front was also very bad to the north (the direction we would have gone) and the prospects were not at all good.

Sadly we headed back towards Lhundrub town deciding that we would follow our route anticlockwise in the hope that the weather would clear up by the time we reached the backside of the said pass and be able to tackle it at a later date.

In Lhundrub we purchased some Tibetan bread and water (for we had not had access to water at out campsite), many people gathered around K as she watched the bikes whilst I made the necessary purchases. Under the watchful eye of onlookers we refilled our water bottles and having said our "goodbyes" continued on our way. We retraced our path back down the valley of the previous day, stopping for fifteen minutes or so to eat some bread.

We experienced more of the same - people waving to us etc. As we rode along we cheered up and decided that we had made the right choice in making a U turn, the weather was brightening up and raising our spirits. We were also still a little tired and in such condition it was certainly not a good idea to have taken on the breathtaking pass.

We made our way back to a small Tibetan town where we thought that our turning may be to take us up another river valley - roads are also very few so options are small in number. We had guessed correctly (for the roadsigns were in Chinese and we do not have a Chinese map) and gladly made our way along a new road that had a smooth surface of dirt. We passed a small hydroelectric station and followed the redirected river for a while. It was obvious that the land surrounding us had been reclaimed by the control of the passage of the water, thus much new agricultural land had been created. It was great to ride along the dirt road, this always pleases me much more than tarmac and we were both incredibly pleased with our decision.

Everything began to have a far more rural feel, there was very little traffic and the villages became far more rustic looking. Sometimes we would see a dwelling that looked like a ruin only to see that there was somebody inside a doorway or that there was washing hanging on a line. Many of the dwellings were designed around a compound where the family's livestock would be kept during the the night - during the day the herd would be grazing on mountainsides under the watchful eye of shepherd or cow/yak herder. People were pleasantly surprised to see us ride by and again we spent much time waving and saying hello. We rode passed an abandoned fort and some monasteries and continued along the road going deeper into a less modernised area - it was fantastic. We had beautiful river views and saw fields being ploughed by Yaks and workers crouching and perhaps planting new crops.

Having ridden almost ridden 20 kms along the dirt road alone we decided that we should start to look for campsite numero tres. We had already eyed a disused road high up the valley walls which must have been in use before the road that we had been riding on and before the flooding river valley had been bought under control. "Eagle Eye Action K" spotted a great place above a quarry where the old road looked as though it had side walls. It did mean that we would have to make our way passed the many tractors carrying loads of sand from the quarrying to nearby roadworks and thus would arouse attention that we did not particularly want. We decided to make a go of it anyway when there was a gap in the presence of the workers before they returned to the site with their unladen carts. As we rode towards the quarry along it's approach road in order to get to the old road my rear tyre hit a sharp rock pointing out of the ground. As my wheel slipped off of the rock my rear wheel immediately deflated with a gust of air that was far more efficient than any exhaling that my lungs are capable of.

Gutted. Not only did I have a puncture but upon closer inspection I had a half inch cut on the inside of my tyre which showed as a quarter inch hole on the outside. Whilst replacing my inner tube the quarry men returned too but it seemed that it was only for a quick discussion as they soon all drove off in their tractors. We watched them group together some way down the dirt road and appear to go down to the river which was now following it's natural course. Having inflated my rear wheel, we took this opportunity to ride up to the old road and found it more than adequate as a camping ground. Ensuring that we could pitch our tent away from any falling shale and that the steep walled sides of the road would not cause the surface to turn into a drainage channel should it pour with rain again, we decided that we had yet again found a perfect spot. We could look down on the dirt road, we were out of sight of anyone below and we had more than enough protection from any wind channeling down the valley. Nearby we also had a supply of clean fast flowing water that we could easily filter and perhaps do some washing in later when the quarry men had finished their work.

No sooner had we pitched the tent the quarrymen had finished their work for the day (20.00 hours). There was one however that was left behind who had been joined by a woman and some others. The woman took a walk up towards the old road, perhaps she had spotted us because less that fifteen minutes later one of the quarrymen came up to our tent and sat down next to us. We exchanged some words in pigeon Chinese and fathomed from him that Medro Gunkar (our next destination for we needed some supplies) was only 2 kms away. I offered him some water and the three of us sat in an awkward silence for some moment until he was called away by the people that remained in the quarry. K stood up and watched him descend down the hillside, soon he and the others were waving goodbye to her as they drove off on the back of a tractor together. We were now alone and "Action K" fired up the stove again (there were a few problems) and we soon had our staple food of noodle soup and trimmings - it was as delicious as ever.

The sun disappeared and the brightness of the sun was replaced by the shine from stars and planets. It was not that these were more numerous in number than normal, it was that they shone so much more brighter and vividly than they do at home or at lower altitudes and seemingly less... congested? They just seemed bolder.

It was a night of no rain and very little wind and I for once did not have to wear most of my clothes to bed :-) It was our third night of behaving like fugitives. Our new campsite made us think of hobbits and we half expected to see orksies coming around the corner of the old road a few metres from our campsite.

2007-05-17T11:52:00.001+01:00

Photos from Day 2 :)

It was a cold, damp morning out there when we awoke...as you can tell, A has yet to get out of the tent as I fire up the stove :)

A finally got out of the tent (and the toasty warm sleeping bag :) and headed up a nearby hill, presumably to get her blood pumping :) You can see how our campsite is situated - between the wall and a stream. We are packing down...

...trying to dry everything out.

This is the view of the village from the top of the hill that A climbed...

For some reason the ditch across the road from our campsite is an old shoe depository :) Actually...we see tons of discarded shoes everywhere - more so than any other type of trash - it's very strange.

I pump some water for our day of riding...

The bikes are parked up behind the wall, against prying eyes, but it actually turned out to be very good protection from the storm, too.

Then it was time to get all the kit back across the stream so we could load it on the bikes and get on our way...I get all the fun jobs :)

Ah, finally....back on the road :)

It's a grey day, but the colors of the rock on the valley walls is amazing! Almost as colorful as the Tibetan tents :)

You can see how low the snowline is...the valley floor is about 3700m.

This is the day that we took the wrong road...it was a flat valley, not very photogenic and not very challenging riding, so we didn't stop very often for snacks :) When we came back across the valley (on the wrong road :) we spotted this shrine and it looked to me like it might be a good spot so we rode up there.

It was ideal! We were on the back side of the hill (the other side of the shrine overlooking the back of a village on the other side), hidden from view on both sides and protected from the wind. There was a perfect little area that was nearly clear of loose rock and we cleared it in a matter of a few minutes (yes, there is a bit of a slope, but it wasn't bad :).

We even built a rock chorten in thanks for finding a second great campsite :)

On to day 3!!!!

2007-05-17T11:51:00.000+01:00

Friday 11th May:

We had not slept well after a night of bad weather. Luckily the tent held up well and I managed to stay warm by wearing almost all of my clothes and happily had not needed to wear my day glow rain jacket although the condensation in the tent in the morning made me think that I ought too :-) The sounds of the night consisted of heavy rain pattering against our tent, dogs howling (the domesticated kind) and winds howling (the non domesticated kind). As the night turned to day we heard the sounds of cuckoos, pigeons, more barking, sheep bleating and the cracking of whips of shepherds who taking their flock out stopped nearby for a moment.

K fired up the stove again, knowing that the only way to entice me out of the tent was to make me some coffee. I having a sudden rush of caffeine and soybean breakfast drink induced energy ran up a hillside to get an idea of the lie of the land as well as to take some photos as she busied herself by shaking out the tent and hanging up the sleeping bags to air. We had to wait for everything to dry out before we could move on. I ran a few errands here and there as K went about pumping water and generally being busy.

When it was time to leave we had to get everything back across the stream. I focused on getting myself across first (with the aid of K) and waiting by the bikes "Action K" proceeded to display her strength by jumping back and forth across the stream wielding various items. I suspect that she had sneakily drunk one more coffee than me judging by her high energy :-)

We hit the road and continued up the valley towards Lhundrub. The road, although straight and boring, was secondary to the views of mountainsides of various colours and shades, as well as the people whom passed us by or we passed them. We reached Lhundrub and were exceptionally hungry. The sky was grey and the town looked drab. We were both tired and stiff and did not at all have the energy that we had the day previous. We discussed what to do and decided that we should maybe stay in a hotel the night (yes I admit it).

Seeking some help in finding the destination of a hotel a kind Chinese man, a teacher at the local school, who spoke English escorted us to a binguan (hotel). I went inside and checked it out. I walked through a small shop and up the winding decrepit stairs to the second floor. The room was a pitiful sight, the beds had not been made from the previous occupants, the light in the bathroom was dim and there was no running water in the bathroom. The sink had been torn off of the wall and when I questioned how we were to get water the translator looked terribly ashamed and told me that it was not a hotel that housed foreigners by way of a reply. I thanked the proprietor but declined the offer of a room even at the price of 60 yuan (4 GBP) for two people.

Informing K, we decided to get some food and press on with our journey. We had at this point been joined by another man who also spoke English very well, when we informed him of our journey he told us that the pass that we were planning to tackle was at 5000 metres and that there was one road out of town to it and that the road was not in good condition. Hmmmm, not good news.

We were pointed towards a good quality restaurant, nobody there spoke English but it being a Chinese restaurant we used the Mandarin phrasebook to get by. We ate a whole plate of egg fried rice each as well as some wonderful chilli aubergine, some not so great funky strange woody mushroom dish and some cabbage and chilli peppers (we had hoped that the aubergine, mushrooms and cabbage would all come together in one dish but were mistaken). We were the centre of attention again as school children flocked to the windows to watch us eat - the waitress shooed them away but they only moved to our bikes which were parked outside which also became objects of curiosity. Again the waitress disposed of them and proceeded to cover our bikes with a plastic table cloth each in order to keep them hidden from view as well as from the rain.

Having had our fill we pressed on.

The road out of town was under construction and it turned to a dirt road and stone mix. We came to an intersection, the road to the left was tarmacked and the road on which we were travelling continued on in and even worse condition - a lumpy gravel road. We took the left turn having been told that there was only "one road" out of town to the pass (and confirming that fact on K's map), thinking that the way ahead could not possibly pass as being the one road out of town. Riding along, we continued to look for potential campsites, the valley was very wide though and all the land surrounding us consisted of arable farmland that was being processed.

We spotted a wide bridge under which was a very wide dry river bed, we remembered this thinking that should we unable to find anywhere else that we would at least be able to stay under there the night. Next we passed through a small village flanking the roadside. A dog stretched it's front legs looking as though he cared nothing for our passing him by. As we passed him he sprang forward showing all of his teeth and in my mind he looked as though he was ferocious and crazy... and then I noticed that he only had three legs! We span the peddles fast in order to get away from him having heard about the rabid and ferocious dogs of Tibet (I carry a whistle to blow at them). He gave up the chase immediately but the event was enough to strike fear into me whenever we passed by a dog thereafter.

We rode on and on until we came to a T junction, we thought that we should take a right because we should have been heading north by this point. I thought it wise to question some people in the village (Chinese phrasebook in hand again), they informed me that we had to go back the way that we had come which meant that we should have carried on up the dirt road to get to the pass. Everybody in the village stopped what they were doing and watched us, a large group of women stopped their manual labour and stared, the men stopped playing at the pool table and the children stopped hitting rubber tyres with sticks. We waved at them all and departed retreading our tracks feeling very tired and disappointed.

We stopped at the bridge again but after further surveying we both felt that we there were two many flaws with it's positioning. We continued back to where we had taken the wrong turn and "Eagle Eye Action K" spotted, behind a quarry, a little saddle in the hillside that had potential for some privacy and camping. We cycled up past the quarry as some of the workers there who were having a break tracked our movements until we disappeared around the corner of a hillside. One of the workers walked around the corner and us having stopped, looked back at him. Luckily he waved at us and motioned that we should continue on with our route, we did...passing a yak carcass en route. We reached the hump of the saddle and upon it's top there was a man made stone mound topped with a prayer flag pole made from a branch. There were also various bits of skeletons lying around, including an intact horn, as well as many small stone chortens. We went over the hump and found a flattish spot on the other side.

We were distant enough from the village below to not be seen in our green tent and were hidden from view behind us by the shape of the saddle. It was a perfect camp spot. We built our own little stone chorten in the hope of a good nights undisturbed rest. Tired, we set up the tent, we did not bother eating and were in our sleeping bags by 8 o'clock.

Again it rained all night.

2007-05-17T11:30:00.000+01:00

Photos from Day 1 of our ride....

We made it to the top of the pass!!!!! Check out my new trousers...they are not even an hour old :) They are the best in Chinese "Mountain Hardwear" copies and I got them for a tenner :)

Once we bombed down the pass we were cruising along the riverside when we saw this destroyed village...it was time for a snack anyway and A went exploring and to take some photos....

The day was beautiful and sunny, the riding was good....ah, we are so blessed :)

until we got a puncture...or three :)

and the clouds were hanging in some of the valleys....

We see LOTS of pool tables outside...in front of houses or shops, we even saw one that was straddling a drainage ditch next to the road! Some of them have plastic sheeting to protect them and some of them have small tin roofs to protect them from the weather :)

We decided to get off the paved road and get onto a dirt road closer to the valley wall....and we spotted an ideal campsite protected by a wall and a stream...and a mound of dirt :)

Then I set about starting the stove (for the first time!!! :) to make some noodle soup for our first dinner in the wilderness :)

Our luck is amazingly good - just about the time we had finished eating and washing up and we decided it was getting chilly and it was time to crawl into the tent...it started raining...and then blowing. Well...we had specifically brought the Edgar Allen Poe along for just this situation!!!!! So I started to read :)

Then it really started to blow and rain was really coming down - check out this movie of the storm from inside the tent:
click here to see it

I had to go out for some reason, I forget why, but I came back in with hail in my hair....it stormed the whole night so it was a wild first night in our tent!!!!!