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June 30, 2005
Zheme Ban
Shigatse, Tibet
Total KM 5761
Elevation 3950
"Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth."
- Katherine Mansfield
I'm back in Shigatse... I was heading south-west on the Friendship Highway (not another one!) toards the Nepalese border when things went all pear shaped. I believe I unknowingly entered into a "Bermuda Triangle" like section of land which sucks up digital cameras, bicycle trailers and bags with all of your gear - including the new equipment you may have just purchased the previous week for trekking in the Everest region. This "Tibetan Triangle" also likes to kick you when you're down, but I'll talk more about that later.
I was riding on some extremely corraguated roads when I glanced down and noticed that my camera, attached to my handlebars, was missing. I quickly turned around and re-traced my tracks, but the going was tough b/c of the 20kg that I was towing so I unhooked my trailer and quickly rode back to where I was camping the previous night. No camera. I had been riding for about 2 hours now, without breakfast, so I was understandably hungry. I quickly raced back to where I had unhooked my trailer and was looking forward to an oatmeal and dried fruit breakfast while comtemplating what to do about my camera. No trailer. Well, I'm fucked now aren't I? I go and ask a few different construction crews if they knew the whereabouts of my camera - somewhat important - or my trailer and all my belonging - very important. As I was getting on my bike after questioning the third crew, my seat fell off! The bolt that clamps the seat onto the seat post broke. Talk about being kicked when you're down. Now I'm fucked! Tyler, you are quite articulate aren't you? You must have been an English major, no?
No camera, no trailer, no belongings and no seat! Maybe now would be a good time to turn Buddhist (I'm in the right place for it at least) - no desires equals no suffering. Material possesions can bring so much unhappiness, it is only when you have nothing (possesions) do you realize how much you really have in your life!
Zheme Ban? (sorry my Pinyin is crap, zheme ban? is Chinese for "What now?", "What to do?" Please feel free to correct my spelling/translation.) That's what everyone kept saying to me, and I to them, after I told them what had just occured. It was a long afternoon running around and being drivng throughout this "Tibetan Trianlge." Everyone wanted to help me and they all thought that they could get my bag back. I was told 3 times that my bag/trailer had been located, but to no avail. I got a ride back to Shigatse in a Land Cruiser with some moneyed Tibetans and Chinese who are overseeing the massive construction projects going on along the Friendship Highway. I went out for dinner with them and afterwards we went on a wild goose (bag?) chase around the city. Apparently my trailer will be here tomorrow morning at 10:00. I'm now contemplating my options if it is truly gone. Only time will tell. There has been one more unpleasantry in my life as of late, just read the title of the previous entry...
Anyways, whether or not my bag is really gone, I have got to keep heading down towards Nepal. I won't be able to update this until July 5th at the earliest.
Posted by tyler at 10:59 PM | 1 Comments
June 27, 2005
Preperation H
Shigatse, Tibet
Total KM 5613
Elevation 3950 M
"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."
- Andre Gide
The ride from Lhasa was nice because of road construction. How does road construction make for a nice ride you say? Well, about 150 km were blocked off to cars and trucks because they were laying asphalt, but bicycles and motorbikes could pass through without hassles. That made for a quiet two day ride.
Posted by tyler at 02:40 PM
June 24, 2005
The Holy City
Lhasa, Tibet
Total KM 5260
Elevation 3600 M
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
- Arthur Godfrey
8 days, lots of pavement, a 5000+ M pass and 6 hours of night time riding through "closed" cities has brought me to Lhasa, a city full of colorful Tibetan pilgrims and mostly Chinese shopkeepers.
I visited the Potala the other day, the traditional winter home of the Dali Lama. Of course, it's been quite empty since he fled Tibet from the invading Chinese almost 50 years ago.
Tomorrow I will head down south along the Friendship highway towards Nepal, stopping at Everest Base Camp. If energy and spirit are still intact after reaching base camp I'd like to go a little further, possibly to Advanced Base Camp (Camp 3) at around 6500 M. We'll see what happens.
Posted by tyler at 04:53 PM
June 14, 2005
High altitude lows
Bomi, Tibet
Total KM 4695 KM
Elevation 3000 M
"Many Tibetans believe we live in the age of Kali, a world full of suffering, hatred, environmental destruction and war. They believe that this will be followed by Shambala (Shangri-La), a world with peace, happiness, environmental harmony and understanding."
Just a quick update here, I'm not supposed to be in town but at least a dozen cops already saw us, and I even had a chat with one of them! He was really curious about our journey through Tibet and didn't seem to care that we don't have the proper permits. Still, I don't really feel comfortable spending too long in town, so I must keep this quick.
Something ridiculous has happened every day on this trip across Eastern Tibet, one of the worlds most remote and unexplored regions.
We are now about 600km from Lhasa.
Day 1 - Matt went over the handlebars of his bike because his front shock compressed too much and his handlebar bag bent his brake frame (causing the front wheel to lock up). At least he didn't go over the 1000m cliff!
Day 2 - Matt broke his chain right before a town where cyclists often get arrested and sent back. Luckily we were near a hidden campsite and got off the road fairly quickly.
Day 3 - There was a mishap with my multi-fuel stove, I almost burnt down both of our tents! I have now learnt that a watched pot doesn't boil, but it also doesn't start a forest fire!
Day 4 - We woke up and found 3 people sitting and watching us. I also got a flat tire that day.
Day 5 - Wild dogs chased us and one of them got a hold of one of Matts panniers (saddle bags) and wouldn't let go. Matt was cycling full bore while dragging this huge dog who had his teeth sunk into a bag! The dog punctured a bottle of chain oil! It was hilarious and very scary.
Day 6 - I changed both tires the previous night and then woke up to find that I had two flat tires without even riding on them! Later that day I fell in a river while searching out a nice campsite.
Day 7 - I had pretty bad altitude sickness while climbing a 5008 M pass.
Day 8 - All day was on pavement! Not really ridiculous...
Day 9 - I had food poisioning.
Day 10 - Still suffering from food poisioning, I needed to hitch 20 km to a large town where I could get some rest. We pulled up to a checkpoint and I saw a cops hat sitting on a chair, my heart rate increased ten-fold. It's illegal for foreigners to be in this area without a permit - permits are only available if your're on a tour ie. NOT HITCHING OR CYCLING - but the cop didn't seem to care, he said hello and then I pretened I couldn't speak Chinese. No worries.
Day 11 - We met some pilgrims prostrating themselves to Lhasa. Prostrating is where you get on your stomach and stretch your hands out above your head, then stand up and place your feet where your hands were, repeat, repeat, repeat! They had been at it for 18 months and probably have a few years to go in order to get to the "Holy City" of Lhasa. It was quite a humbling experience. Prostration is a very powerful way to show devotion.
Day 12 - My food poisioning has recovered but now I have Giardia!!
Giardia is horrible, it's a parasite common in many animals so you can easily get it from drinking from rivers and streams unless the area is totally devoid of animals. I've been filtering all my water but you can even get it from brushing your teeth with contaminated water. I need to be more careful.
A 2 gram dose of Tindazole cured it and I'm in good health once again!
Posted by tyler at 05:55 AM