Tour de Tibet - Part 2
Trip Start
Aug 25, 2003
1
43
55
Trip End
Jul 18, 2004
Gyantse,
China
Monday, May 3, 2004
Due to some poor planning we ended up having a rest day in Gyantse. This was not all bad as we could use the rest and because Gyantse is probably one of the best towns in Tibet. Almost all of the architecture is Tibetan (not Chinese) and because Gyantse's Baiju Temple is pretty impressive. The temple is more like a temple complex the highlight of which was the Gyantse Kumbum. This nine story stupa-looking structure contains 108 different chapels. Each chapel contains different images some more disturbing than others. Of course the more common images of Buddhas are found here, but also some less common ones we hadn't seen before. There was a protection Buddha in one chapel that was squashing a person with his feet, he had human skins flung over his arms and shoulders (not real ones, mind you) and was bearing fangs (not teeth). Not exactly the happy-go-lucky Buddha most westerners are familiar with. Another chapel depicted the Tibetan sky burial in graphic detail: bodies being devoured by birds or, if you did something wrong, a wolf
Another Dusty Road
. I left the Temple with more of a fire-and-brimstone image of Buddhism.Day 5 Gyantse to Shigatse
A long but fairly easy day. 92 km but no passes AND paved the whole way. About halfway there Marcus, the Swiss cyclist, caught us and rode with us for about 20 km. This is where we learned that he was at one time a professional mountain biker. This made us feel a little better about him zooming past us on the first past us with full paniers. Marcus broke the wind for us in return for some more conversation. It turns out that Marcus has been sneaking though all the Tibetan checkpoints at nighttime. He started cycling in Bangkok and plans to cycle at least to Turkey if not all the way home. In other words he is what we would call hard core. After 20k I think he had enough of our pace and drafted behind a truck the rest of the way to Shigatse. Once he took off we took a breather and much more slowly made our way to Shigatse. Sarah was dragging a little from being sick so it was good that we had another rest day (this one planned) in Shigatse.
Day 6 Shigatse
Shigatse is not as pleasant as Gyantse, the Chinese influence seems to have overwhelmed this Tibetan city
Base Camp
. The Tashilumpo Monastery was impressive, but the way the tourist groups went through it felt kind of zoo-like. Shigatse was a nice place to rest since we had a nice room and access to showers. Also I needed to find another tire and this was my last chance. Somewhere along the ride I rubbed a large hole in the sidewall of my rear tire - I was lucky I didn't pop the tube. We found a tire but I was warned about the quality of Chinese tires, but I figured a cheap Chinese tire was still better than a good tire with a gaping hole. Well, there was only one way to find out. By evening I was feeling sick and run down as well so we decided to spend one more day in Shigatse and make up the time by skipping the ride up to base camp (skip the cycling, we would make up the time in the jeep). We were spending evenings here with Marcus and his friend Monica so that made things a little better. Actually somewhere along the line Marcus also got sick and was also recovering in Shigatse.Day 7 Shigatse
Sick. Laid in bed. Took my last shower for the next six days.
Day 8 Shigatse to mm Marker 4998 (4998 km from Shanghai)
I believe Sarah refers to this day as "The day we learned what truly crappy bikes we've rented." Our guide told us that we would be riding to just past Jiding Qu, which meant we were only riding for about 58 km
Big Pass
. This was good because I was still feeling pretty run down but I figured that I could handle a relatively short day (no passes either). The ride was fine until about 10 km from Jiding Qu, then Sarah's chain started grinding pretty harshly through her rear derailer. At Jiding Qu I took the derailer apart and greased the cogs using what grease our guide could dig up. I'd say there's a 50/50 chance that it was Yak grease. That seemed to help at first but then the grinding came back. Luckily, since we had taked that extra rest day, another group of cyclists with another company were biking the same route as us. Their bike tech oiled up Sarah's chain and told us that her derailer was so worn that it no longeer fit the chain. He gave us some chain lube and offered to give both our bikes a once over at their camp that night. Well the chain lube helped alot although it didn't make my ride any better. At Jiding Qu our guide told us that it was still another 25 km to our guesthouse and that actually turned out to be 40km. Sarah was definitely pulling me all day, by the end I was so tired I almost didn't make it. So much for a short day. That night, the other group's tech, Jose, looked at our bikes and the verdict was not good. He did give a spare part for Sarah's derailer and wished us the best of luck. That night we spent the night at a Tibetan truck stop and gained a drunken Chinese truck driver roomate in the middle of the night. Not exactly the great night's sleep I was looking for.
Monk Practicing His Music Audio
Day 9 Km Marker 4998 to Lhatse
An unexpected short day. 54 km and a easy-ish pass, only a 400 + meter climb. I was hurting at first, taking breaks ever 20-30 minutes. Sarah was pulling me again. Luckily the pass wasn't bad and the downhill was great. Lhatse wasn't anything special but we did find some good Chinese chocolate (thanks to a tip from Marcus).
Day 10 Lhatse to Baipa
This was the highest we would bike the whole trip - the sign at the top of Gyatso La said the altitude was 5220 meters. Of course that meant we had a 1100 + meter climb. I was off to another slow start, it took me about 3 hours to feel before I go "my legs." That meant Sarah had to pull me for that section. Actually the pass wouldn't have been that bad if not for the altitude. It was another slow climbing road that wound around the mountains and we rode almost all of it. Near the top Monica, who we had met in Shigatse, popped out of a truck. She was hitching to the Nepal boarder and seemed to be making good progress. Aparently Marcus had recovered and was only an hour or two behind us. The top of the pass was an explosion of prayer flags, one of the best displays we have seen. The ride down was nice scenery - actual green pastures! The downhill was more work than I would've liked, we had headwinds but not as bad as day 3. After 8 hours and 30 minutes of riding time we decided to take the jeep for the last 25 km
Monk, Practicing His Music
. Not because we were tired, we actually both felt great (somehow), but because we didn't want to get rundown or sick again. Day 11 Baipa to Base Camp
This was our "catch up" day by jeep. That was fine by me, even though the road into Everest was recently redone it still looked pleanty rough. We drove up to base camp and stayed at a yak-hair tent called "Hotel California." There's actually not alot to do at Base Camp, after you take some photos in front of Everest and check out the Yaks surrounding the area that's pretty much it. We played cards and listened to the wind howl all day. Aparently May is the time to climb Everest so there were lots of groups preparing to climb Everest there. There was a climber from Hong Kong trying to ascend another smaller peak in the area who came down that day and stayed at our "hotel." After a month of climbing his group had to come down - the winds were just too severe. I can't even imagine what it was like up there - after just one night at base camp both Sarah and I were feeling pretty nauseous from the altitude.
