To be perfectly honest, it was the opportunity to visit Tibet that got me on this trip, not so much any innate desire to visit China. So, now that I have managed to get all 2600 photos that Caz took onto my computer, let's get into Tibet. Check these out.
Crossing into Tibet
The Visitor Centre. Note the herd of yaks climbing up on the roof. One of the first things we noticed was that as the population started to thin out, the traffic dropped off, the air became easier to breathe and the skies became clearer.
Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Jinsha River, a tributary of the Yangtze. This is the so called Three Parallel Rivers region.
The road followed the Jinsha River after Tiger Leaping Gorge, and as can be seen from the photos, this is a very high maintenance area as far as road maintenance goes. One never quite knows what is going to come crashing down or collapse into the abyss with no warning.
The summit of one of the high passes.
Watch out for the yaks.
The buildings start to look a bit different.
So do the people.
And that is hard work, in anybody's language.
Chinese propaganda. The Buddhist monks welcoming the Chinese liberators. Total BS.
With a Chinese temple to commemorate the liberation (above). Meanwhile, here is a genuine buddhist temple (below)
But nothing lasts forever, and meanwhile, the weather takes a turn for the worse as we continue the climb up onto the Plateau.
And the temperature plummets to 2 degC
What goes up must come down, so we began to descend again soon. Fortunately, no dramas. Here is Dequen, Tibet, where we stopped for lunch.
Of course its fresh. It was swimming five minutes ago.
But look at it now!
Then it was back to work on the bikes. Or perhaps I should say "On Zee Bikes!" like Kay does.
This is as far as we went into Tibet, the village of Cizhong, before commencing our return journey. Too bad, I would have liked to keep going. The Chinese are busy building brand new houses all over the place in this village. Not sure why, nor for whom.
But this was a genuine surprise. In Cizhong, we found a fully functioning Catholic church, all set up for the recent Easter rituals. And it had its own vineyard, and made its own wine, which some of us were able to sample. I imagine that this was originally established by missionaries back in the 1800's, when China loomed large in the list of places needing salvation. There's more to this place than meets the eye.
But Buddhism still wins the day around here. Anyway, before too much longer it was downhill, out of Tibet and back onto the flat lands, and back into Yunnan.
And back onto the goat tracks.
And the odd water crossing. The blokes on road tyres relied on momentum to carry them through. So there was lots of splashing. And the crossing got progressively deeper as it got gouged out.
Those of us with knobblies just took it in our stride. Textbook execution, with minimum splash. (That would be me in the water!)
So there it is. I have to say I liked Tibet a whole lot more than China, if that isn't blindingly obvious by this stage. The difference is quite appreciable in many ways, and I would like to see more of it, particularly the capital Lhasa, but that could be unlikely. For a start, it would mean getting another Chinese visa, and going back to China. But never say never. I'm usually pretty flat after a trip, and this was a tough one. But then sooner or later, I get the itch again...
Crossing into Tibet
The Visitor Centre. Note the herd of yaks climbing up on the roof. One of the first things we noticed was that as the population started to thin out, the traffic dropped off, the air became easier to breathe and the skies became clearer.
Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Jinsha River, a tributary of the Yangtze. This is the so called Three Parallel Rivers region.
The road followed the Jinsha River after Tiger Leaping Gorge, and as can be seen from the photos, this is a very high maintenance area as far as road maintenance goes. One never quite knows what is going to come crashing down or collapse into the abyss with no warning.
The summit of one of the high passes.
Watch out for the yaks.
The buildings start to look a bit different.
So do the people.
And that is hard work, in anybody's language.
Chinese propaganda. The Buddhist monks welcoming the Chinese liberators. Total BS.
With a Chinese temple to commemorate the liberation (above). Meanwhile, here is a genuine buddhist temple (below)
But nothing lasts forever, and meanwhile, the weather takes a turn for the worse as we continue the climb up onto the Plateau.
And the temperature plummets to 2 degC
What goes up must come down, so we began to descend again soon. Fortunately, no dramas. Here is Dequen, Tibet, where we stopped for lunch.
Of course its fresh. It was swimming five minutes ago.
But look at it now!
Then it was back to work on the bikes. Or perhaps I should say "On Zee Bikes!" like Kay does.
This is as far as we went into Tibet, the village of Cizhong, before commencing our return journey. Too bad, I would have liked to keep going. The Chinese are busy building brand new houses all over the place in this village. Not sure why, nor for whom.
But this was a genuine surprise. In Cizhong, we found a fully functioning Catholic church, all set up for the recent Easter rituals. And it had its own vineyard, and made its own wine, which some of us were able to sample. I imagine that this was originally established by missionaries back in the 1800's, when China loomed large in the list of places needing salvation. There's more to this place than meets the eye.
But Buddhism still wins the day around here. Anyway, before too much longer it was downhill, out of Tibet and back onto the flat lands, and back into Yunnan.
And back onto the goat tracks.
And the odd water crossing. The blokes on road tyres relied on momentum to carry them through. So there was lots of splashing. And the crossing got progressively deeper as it got gouged out.
Those of us with knobblies just took it in our stride. Textbook execution, with minimum splash. (That would be me in the water!)
So there it is. I have to say I liked Tibet a whole lot more than China, if that isn't blindingly obvious by this stage. The difference is quite appreciable in many ways, and I would like to see more of it, particularly the capital Lhasa, but that could be unlikely. For a start, it would mean getting another Chinese visa, and going back to China. But never say never. I'm usually pretty flat after a trip, and this was a tough one. But then sooner or later, I get the itch again...
