The bumpy road to Ganzi was entertaining :)

From Yushu I got on the 8 am bus to Manigango, a one-street town that makes for a convenient stop after a bumpy 8 hour bus ride. On the bus I surprisingly found Will, a nice American guy who was combining business and pleasure. I had not seen a western face since I left Lhasa, and judging by the curious stares I was getting, I assumed people here rarely see one either. It was nice to chat to someone and have a company for dinner. Will knew some Chinese, so bonus - a break from the body language/LP dictionary routine. I considered for about 5 minutes joining Will on a detour to Dege to see the printing lamasery, but rejected the idea as soon as I saw the way to Dege goes through a 6,000 m mountain pass. Altitude appears not to be a huge issue for me, especially after spending almost a month between 3,500 and 4000m, but at the elevation of 6,000 m it was going to be cold, and I'm seriously sick of it. Next morning Will and I got together for a delicious noodle breakfast right around sunrise and took off in different directions.

The winy Sichuan-Tibet Hiwy

The view

I opted to hitch a ride to Ganzi with a local guy, who was apparently earning a living by driving people in his pick-up truck. Now that he had me going to Ganzi (about 2 hours drive), he needed to find more passengers to make it worth the trip. To make things more interesting for the potential passengers he asked if I can drive shift gear and had me drive the truck around town, stopping by everyone who was standing around, looking like they need a lift to somewhere. The guys was a natural in marketing. The trick eventually worked (3 rounds around town) and a Chinese girl and a guy also agreed to ride with us. Here comes the interesting part. The driver is a Tibetan, and an admittedly a very cute one (for his 150sm). You know how some guys have it, some guys don't...well this one had it big time. The Chinese girl was quite disgusted to get her checkered pink coat into the truck at the beginning, bcs it was rather old and filthy. After 5 minutes of loud disapproving comments, she finally agrees to take the ride. As soon as we leave, the guy starts chatting to her in a very casual manner. Now remember, this is all in Chinese (literarily), so I don't understand a word, but it is soooo clear... He probably haven't had a shower for a week and spoke Chinese with pesant's accent, but when he dropped those guys off 2 hours later, she was writing down his phone number at the palm of her hand. I wish I had asked him for a picture, but I was too shy to do it. He was such a flirt...

Prayer paper flying out the window of the bus

Ah, Ganzi was a nice town too - very Tibetan, nice monastery and stupa. It was also the coldest town ever when the sun came down. 

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Hugs & Kisses,

Delisious lunch at a top notch restaurant

Manigango - one street town

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pick your noodle

Tibetans have a thing for bikes

a wooden house

The Ganzi monastery

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Chola Mountains

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