TravelStream™ news feed for member mr_rain on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mr_rain en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:42:22 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1186036920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1186036920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1186036920/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:42:22 -0400 The continued worldly rambles of Peter Klauza

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Nakartse, China

From Lhasa, I started to cycle West, at the intended rate of between 50 and 70 km a day.I had my first meal inthe middle of no where alone, using an MSR stove.My route took me along route 318, then I headed off a mountain road that took me to a place called Nakartse, via  Yamdruk Tso a giant lake. The intended mountain road was to take me to 5045 metres the follwoing day. I camped out overnight as the going proved tough. I quit cycling at 5pm too exausted to climb the hill any further.The following day I continued upwards, only to find after sveral more hours that there would be NO access road over the top of the mountain, that could take me to Gyanste, my intended destination. So, after several hours 'climbing upwards on my bike, with the 14 kg of panniers', I decided to camp on the mountainside, for yet another night.The following day having gotten to the top of the mounatin (5045 metres, and giving up to continue further, as the road resembled a building site) I simply 'shot 'down the mountain like a Tour De rance rider at between 30 and 40 km/per hour!Further along the road -anotther 30 km or so I then stopped for food, at a small village. A local woman suggested I sleep with 'her friend'. When the small comminity, who were all assembled outside her shop all laughed at my reply in attempted Tibetan, the 'suggested friend in question slopped off with a disgusted look on her face'.Twenty minutes later after more fun with the Tibetans I left them , to continue to my to a target destination town called Gyantse. It would take me another day's cycle ride to arrive there!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/2/1202852880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/2/1202852880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/2/1202852880/tpod.html Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:59:57 -0500 To Nepal and Beyond

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Nottingham, United Kingdom

Its been weeks since I went to Evans Cyles, but even though Ive spent 700 notes on a brand new bike and bits of kit they refuse to offer me any discounts :(  I have also bought 70 GBP's worth of maps! I wasnt looking forward to the trip a week ago( due to being in a loving relationship with Claire, which is still young) but now, me my specialised rock hopper 07 and trusty ortileb panier systems are ready for the challenge. I expect it will be the end of Winter so a bit on the cold side, but I am doing this trip with a view to running future trips to Kathmandu and Lhasa with my company. www.tibetadventuretravel.co.uk check it out! I fly out in a few weeks time. I'm conducting this trip lighter weight than my last 2500km bike ride across Tibet. I have learned lessons, and no doubt will get to know the area a lot better for future clients wishing to explore the area with tibetadventuretravel.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/2/1200158340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/2/1200158340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/2/1200158340/tpod.html Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:57:50 -0500 To Nepal and Beyond

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Nottingham, United Kingdom

After an hours stress in the best bike shop in the world, Evans. I succeeding in spending 500 quid on a new, or rather last years model Rockhopper Comp, and another 200 quid on accessories. Not bad considering I am 'on benefits', thank you VISA.There are a surprising number of things to consider, the type of inner tube valves for one!Shopping is no fun and I will be happy to simply get the bike out to Kathmandu, network in this city before I start my journey at the end of the winter there. It promises to be fun. I fly out on the 6th March and am making my preparatory arrangements which include shipping out loads of equipment and another bike for my travel company.Check out my new company tibetadventuretravel.co.uk. This unshameless plug is for the website that is lauched next week, and I need 3 customers for my trip via - Beijing- Mongolian- Xian - Lhasa! 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1185957060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1185957060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1185957060/tpod.html Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:47:23 -0400 The continued worldly rambles of Peter Klauza

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Beijing, China

My trip is over, and only now am I actually going to write my memoirs in reverse style.I ought to warn you that you may not believe the things that happened to me during this trip. All of my entries, stories are true accounts, including.1) Two Tibetans who pulled machettes on me then chased me out of their friends house2) Crossing 4 glacial rivers,water up to waist height with my mountain bike and pannier system.  Then arriving exhausted at a school where a teacher nursed me back to strength.3) Being transported 300km in lorry after a day I suffered 4 punctures. My bike was simply thrown on the back of a pile of rocks in the rear dumper of the lorry!4) I got stopped, arrested and searched by the police5) I bypass 2 military checkpoints by dodging them along a river bank.6) I end up wild camping in a restricted military zone7) I kid with soldiers on exercise, Kalashnikov's on their back, as I pretend that I will steal their guns and shoot them!8) I have a accident involving a motorbike at 5,000 metres9) I stay illegally in monestaries across the whole of Tibet! and get into over half of the  museum type monestaries for free!'And much much more.... I am also trying to write a book about the my last three years of travels in Asia, which have included many experiences verging on the insainty.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1188346500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1188346500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1188346500/tpod.html Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:42:09 -0400 The continued worldly rambles of Peter Klauza

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Derby, United Kingdom

Hi folks,Iin 5 days time it is my birthday. I have actually booked a trip to Lithuania. It should be fun. I guess I ought to start a new travelogue for that trip.Would any readers like to wish me a Happy Birthday? What gift would you suggest for this worldly traveller, other than another trip!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1182537720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1182537720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1182537720/tpod.html Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:35:19 -0400 The continued worldly rambles of Peter Klauza

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Bayi, China

I continued for the next day, only to after a midday stop in larger military town called Miling to discover the next piece of road was being rebuilt. It was so bad that I my rear tyre that was pumped up to maximum pressure and laiden with the weight of my panniers after hitting  a small rock as I accelerated down a hill received a blow out.Looking for my repair kit I then discovered I'd left my pump in the lorry the previous day when I'd gained  lift. 10km down this impossible road in 40 degree heat I found myself  stranded once again!What was to happen next was interesting...Two hours later ...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1182368820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1182368820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1182368820/tpod.html Sun, 16 Sep 2007 14:41:31 -0400 The continued worldly rambles of Peter Klauza

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Lhasa, China

After I left the monestary I cycled as far as I could. I arrived at an overnight camping spot, the following day I set off again after a very wet night and on a mountain hairpin ascent a lorry driver actually stopped in front of me.Winding down his window he said in surprisingly good English 'Do you want a lift'. Of course I did! He then threw my bike onto the back of his truck which was carrying gravel, that I was to learn was not for badly need mountain road repairs 6 km higher, but for a new chinese house building project.He was to drop me off construction to where he was to take me. He told me 'that the road ahead was bad, and closed, come with me, I can help you'. I found out he was a former monk, that was how he had learned to speak good english. He loved to drive and was hospitable company, even paying for my lunch at a Tibetan womans house cum roadside cafe. I ate and drank tea with one of the most beautiful Tibetan women I 'd seen for weeks. Shame she was married!Five hours later, and after being delayed for a hour by a truck that had sidelined itself on a muddly track resulting in a queue down the muddly mountain road of 40 vehicles ( on road that was 'closed', 'in state of repair'and badly maintained) Hence the lack of availability of gaining a foreign travel permits to this part of china, for 'safety'. Afetr one lorry pulled the other out of the sidelined ditch, we all went on our merry way.We arrived in small village, three houses, surrounded by construction workers who lived in something I couldnt even call a temporary shack! He had dropped me off at 4600m metres where he then offloaded his gravel, and I cooked lunch on my MSR mountain petrol burning camping stove. We parted amicably, me upwards, him downards.I had a 5000 metre mounatain to cross, with only another 400 metres of climbing left. A gruelling 5 hours followed. Spotting Golden Eagles, and climbing a 35 degree incline. Very near to what I thought was the top ( as you do when you ascend a mountain, yet the VERY top is always out of view) it started to hail and snow. I looked for somewhere to pitch my tent. No where suitable was visible on the steep inclines on my right above a valley far below. I continued hoping that I could find a layby. Budda must have been watching over me, as a car passed and I waved at it. It stopped, seeing as it had started to snow by this time. The driver was a mechanic. I'd ganed another lift! This time to the top of the mounatin, and over the other side, I was only 150 metres from the summit but it was 6 km away as the road had leveled out. We stopped to look out the window at an impressive valley,snow capped peaks with glacier and views hit us from afar. Going down hill, the mechanic stopped, he was called out to repair a communist party army officers wheel that had broken. The army officers in smart green attire were high ranking. They wanted to talk to me, offering cigarettes and a lift down the mountain. I declined as the descent would be fun.Off I went, down to the bottom and 2 hours later the same car passed me, stopping to pick me up to take me to the village of .... where I stopped for the night. Free internet use, free drinks from the gracious and curtious chinese locals. The Tibetans were out numbered in this small chinese styled village.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1188463680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1188463680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1188463680/tpod.html Fri, 31 Aug 2007 16:18:24 -0400 The continued worldly rambles of Peter Klauza

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Bayi, China

This was to prove difficult!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1182329160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1182329160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1182329160/tpod.html Thu, 30 Aug 2007 04:47:08 -0400 The continued worldly rambles of Peter Klauza

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Samye, China

So I stayed...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1188412620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1188412620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mr_rain/tibet_2007/1188412620/tpod.html Thu, 30 Aug 2007 04:45:41 -0400 The continued worldly rambles of Peter Klauza

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Lhasa, China

As I cycled East, the day got hotter, between 8am and 12pm it was tolerable, after that the temperature rose above 35 degress, only cooling down after around 6pm. I managed to cycle around 6-8 hours a day, in temperature up to 35 degrees, at times stripped to the waste and drinking 4 litres of water to rehydrate. On my left hand side a lovely river kept me company, with views relieving the boredom of turning my chainwheel. Small villages were perched on the riverside, green mountains loomed in the distance, and a slowly changing landscape kept me company. The hills became far greener then the dusty brown landascape from where I had come from in the West. namely around Shigaste, a 7 day ride away should I ever need to backtrack! (never in my mind)As I headed for The Samye monestary, with the aim of completing a circular navigation back to Lhasa, in total approximately a 1000km bicycle ride. I would travel via a place notorious for police and military patrolling its streets. Bayi, further to my East by 400km,  By heading even further east of Bayi, I hoped to investigate a very famous 7700m mountain called Namche Barwa. My hope to try and climb it one day, perhaps even next year, if nayone reading ths is interested? It is a very technical climb requiring 5 permits, and is actually well off limits for any solo visitors. A fact I tended to ignore!Getting beyond Samye Monestary would always involve some risk and heading further East, alone without a permit was illegal. Highly so! Nevertheless I would try it anyway, up for the challenge of dodging army and police checkpoints, the naughty boy that I am! After another day on, an over night camp, and hardly seeing anyone, I arrived at the centre edge of the spectacular Yarlung Tangpo(Lake). I needed to cross it to get to the Samye monestary.  The ferry master was drunk, and tried it on, as I was alone, and had been for the last 3 days. He wanted to charge me 300 rmb, 21 pounds. Illebriated, I laughed at his request especially as eventually his son told me it would cost 30 rmb, 2 pounds!  I learned a minimum of 4 people were needed for the boat, cum ferry to take us across the lake.After an hours wait a young couple turned up, a chinese chappie and his Hong Kong girlfreind.  Five minutes after this a monk followed and then there were 4!We were set for the fanastic voyage, which lasted  just over an hour. In splendid sunlight the views were spectacular as the sunlight reflectd off the deep dark blue water, and the calm was punctured only by the diesel engine that powered our vessel along, completing an unforgettable experience. A half hour bus ride to the Samye Monestary followed where I planned to stay there only one night, but eventually stayed for 4 night's as it was such a special and spiritual place.
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