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20 Nov 2017
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Contributing Member
Veteran HUBBer
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: RTW, From Vancouver BC 2012
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Today were were up and out by 8 and took the city bus down to the Potala Palace for some great photos. We were delivered here by Pam, but handed off to another guide from his company Suran as Pam needs to secure the Everest base camp/border permits for us. We have to be inside and up some of the 365 stairs to get in for our ticket time of 10.
 Lhasa-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
There are 2 security checkpoints and 2 ticket check points. You can not buy tickets the day of only the day before, which Pam did yesterday after the hotel was finished with the passports. (They must register the passports with the local police here in China). Pam was happy to see we had a coveted 10 am time slot. The ticket has a time and your passport number on it. There are hundreds of locals walking clock-wise around the Palace up to 3 times (2 hours) per day. Some are prostrating the whole way and this takes 3-4 hours for one circuit.
 Lhasa-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-33 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-34 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-35 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
At the first security check point the guard noted that Orvar had a different number on the ticket and the passport he has his Chinese visa in. He had to be in Sweden to get the Chinese and Russian visa, but as they will not issue them more than 60 days before entry that was not possible. In Sweden they have a loop hole for this and will issue you a second passport that you can have the agency obtain visas for you. He had clarified this with Ride China and the Chinese and Tibet entry paperwork had the right number, but they did not update the Tibet travel company here in Lhasa. They decided to let him in, but at the second check point it took a lot more talking by the guides to get him in. This means there may be an issue getting the Everest permit as the paperwork they submitted will have the wrong passport number. Pam has gone off to try. You walk up slowly and take lots of breaks at we are still at altitude. Once you enter the palace there are no photos and you must be in and out in an hour or the travel company will be declined further entry with their groups.
 Lhasa-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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21 Nov 2017
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Contributing Member
Veteran HUBBer
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: RTW, From Vancouver BC 2012
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Then it was a death defying rickshaw ride back towards the hotel and the Jokang Temple. The poor driver got cut off by several cars and then a bus!
 Lhasa-36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-37 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
https://youtu.be/UClkWtKnBHE
The entry to the Jokang square is thru a security check, which took some taking as Pam has our passports right now. There are hundreds of people walking around the temple here also and dozens prostrating at the gates.
 IMG_0134 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-38 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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21 Nov 2017
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Contributing Member
Veteran HUBBer
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Just inside the main Jokang temple gate entry there are separate queuing lines for pilgrims and tourists, but then they all join back up after 20 m and then funnel thru the one narrow door into the central building. There are also people exiting this way even though it is not the exit and this is causing mayhem.
Inside the line to the left is not moving because several hundred pilgrims are waiting in a special line to get closer to the “living” Buddha. We went right and into the main assembly/ chanting hall. From our side of the barrier we could see the naked Buddha, but the crush of people pushing on the other was truly something else. It was actually a bit scary. There are no photos inside.
The real exit is thru the stairs to the upper patio and then back out onto the street. Only the tourists are going this way and so the crowd is much thinner.
 Lhasa-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Counting the money donations!
 Lhasa-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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21 Nov 2017
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Contributing Member
Veteran HUBBer
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The Swede is not doing well physically. He has not been eating or sleeping well for several months and is malnourished. This with being 65, a brutal week so far, and the altitude he is done. We sent him off to the state clinic for assessment. He was seen there and got some IV fluid, glucose, and vitamin for a whopping 20$ US.
 IMG_0166 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_0167 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_0168 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_0169 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Today the rest of us are headed to the “KTM” Lhasa’s shop , which is about 5 km from the city center. They have agreed to let us use their shop and drop our used oil there. It is a very clean and nice shop. In the van we had brought the oil organized by ride China, but surprisingly they have oil here (unlike every other motorcycle dealer sine we left the EU) !! They also had a replacement lamp bulb for the 800 Adventure and a power washer to give the bikes a bit of a clean. Trevor was kind enough to do the work on Orvar’s bike since his Twin was done in Beijing.
 IMG_0162 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_0163 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_0165 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_0170 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_0174 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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21 Nov 2017
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Contributing Member
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Just as we were leaving 3 Chinese riders pulled up and they are also on the way to Everest. They told us they had met other rider that said the road to Tingri (staging town to get to the Everest base camp) is closed daily 0730-1930 for construction AGGGGGH).
 IMG_0179 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_0182 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Lunch was at a Muslim place so Lamb ribs and beef. We stopped on the way to sample these “egg Mcmuffin” deals.
 Lhasa-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We took the bus back down to the Potala square to take part in the daily ritual of the locals to walk clockwise around the palace spinning prayer wheel as you go. It is not too crowded at 430 as the busy time is the morning.
 Lhasa-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Lhasa-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We hopped the bus back to the Jokang temple area and the old town and wander on Barkhor Street. We did but a small set of Tibetan prayer beads and a souvenir. This also allowed us to do some of the circuit of the Temple itself that again the local and pilgrims walk clockwise. Our guides met us for dinner tonight on their day off, which was nice as Mr Tong can really order the best food.
 Lhasa by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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21 Nov 2017
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Contributing Member
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Today we are only going 272 km to Shigatze (Rizkaze, Riz Ka Ze, Xigatze depending on which language you use) on a good quality road that winds along the river. The best part is we only go up 300 m.
 Screen Shot 2017-10-01 at 22.26.39 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Screen Shot 2017-10-01 at 22.26.27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
First drama of the trip occurred as we were leaving the hotel and turning right onto a 4 lane divided road. There was a bus parked in the right lane and the van pulled out into the left lane as no traffic was coming. Trevor was the first bike and when he pulled out there was an idiot on a moped going 50 km/h the wrong way down the the road and ran right into him. Bike down, but no damage. The guy of course took off. Trevor was not hurt in the crash, but wrenched his back as he was getting the bike up. He is in a lot of pain and all we have is Advil. We rode 8 km to the outskirts and stopped at a pharmacy and the guides went in and came out with some sprays. I gave him my Kidney belt and off we went.
 FILE2724 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 FILE2725 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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22 Nov 2017
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Contributing Member
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There is not that much traffic in either direction until about 15 km from the checkpoint. The road condition for the first 100 km is pretty good, but in the next 50 there are large sharp cut outs all over the road, which is a challenge in the dark. We passed the guides about 30 km before the check point and before the first pass. It was 4-6 degrees most of the way. We arrived to the checkpoint at 7am and the guides at 715. It is just a few km to the “construction zone”. This is the 90 km of road that is closed daily. The first 20 are fresh smooth asphalt and then another 20 of old, but not too bad road. This rises to a pass at 5234 m and it is -4. The real road construction started just before the summit (marked with a gate) and then down the other side. It is about 6 km in total of bumpy rock/dirt road (In the dark with lots of truck throwing up dust and blinding us with the oncoming lights) We were so happy to see this was not the entire rest of the way.
 Tingri by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
The sun was just rising as we made the descent. This was lucky as we then hit the old road that was paved, but in terrible shape over large sections with huge heaves and holes. The last 50 km it was 0-2 degrees and at the next summit we saw Everest in the distance just as the sun was hitting it…Magical.
 Tingri-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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22 Nov 2017
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Contributing Member
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About 3 km from town there is a police check and we went inside to warm up and wait for the guides. The team had also nicely had arranged that we could check in to the hotel when we arrived at 930.
 FILE2855 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 FILE2885 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 FILE2888 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We spent most of the day in the room with the heat on and under the duvets. It is bright and sunny out and the air temp is about 8, but when the sun hits your skin it is like a laser. We are at 4300m. We did a slow walk of the town, which consists of a few small hotel and guest houses, a gas station, restaurants, and tons of small grocery shops. Orvar has decided he will not ride the bike to the base camp, but will go in the van and he also says he will hire a truck to take the bike back over the mountain (too cold and bad road). We thought it was cold, but not horrible and mostly our toes and finger tips suffered.
We had dinner at at local place and our driver had words with the kitchen because the portions were so stingy (this is so not the Chinese way).
 Tingri-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
There is solar hot water here and they turn it on at 7, but when we came back from dinner there were two large tourist buses at the hotel and of course no more hot water. Kettle boiled water and a sponge bath it is.
 Tingri-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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22 Nov 2017
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Contributing Member
Veteran HUBBer
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: RTW, From Vancouver BC 2012
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The plan for the day is to ride 118 km to the Everest Base Camp at the top of the world.
 Screen Shot 2017-10-01 at 22.30.12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We can not talk Orvar into going at all now, which seems so crazy as we have ridden all the way here for this! We had a expensive and marginal breakfast at the hotel and set out at 8 to the gas station. The fueling of 3 bikes took a total of 20 min! It was 0.5 degrees when left town. The first stop is the military check point 7 km from away. Here everyone must go into the building and line up for the 1 officer who is entering the ID data by hand into a ledger by hand. Another 20 min here.
There is an incredible new paved road to Everest Base Camp at 17,050 ft or 5200 m. The road crosses multiple 5,000-meter-passes with incredible views of five 8,000-meter peaks.
 IMG_0233 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
After the check point you then ride another 5.5 km to the entry point for the newest section of the “Friendship” (Chinese-Nepal) highway from Lhasa and pay the 180 RMB each (36$) to pass. The gate is 98 km from the base camp.
 Everest by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Everest-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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22 Nov 2017
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Contributing Member
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Just after here we saw an off road hill climb and of course went up for a better view. Our driver Mr. Tang said he really wanted to follow us up, but was not sure the Jim Bei was up to it.
 Everest-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Everest-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Everest-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
About 5 km later at the second view point you get a great vista of the switch back on the down side as well as the cloudless blue sky and the panorama of the mountains. We were all so hot now we had to peal off layers and its only 14 degrees.
 Everest-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Everest-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Everest-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Everest-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)
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Lots more comments here!
Diaries of a compulsive traveller
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Back Road Map Books and Backroad GPS Maps for all of Canada - a must have!
New to Horizons Unlimited?
New to motorcycle travelling? New to the HU site? Confused? Too many options? It's really very simple - just 4 easy steps!
Horizons Unlimited was founded in 1997 by Grant and Susan Johnson following their journey around the world on a BMW R80G/S.
Read more about Grant & Susan's story
Membership - help keep us going!
Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.
You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.
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helps answer the question - Why Go? Inspirational stories by veteran travellers Greg Frazier (5 times RTW), Peter and Kay Forwood (193 countries), Tiffany Coates (Mongolia Mayhem) and Rene Cormier (University of Gravel Roads).
Get Ready! covers planning, paperwork, medical and many other topics! "Inspirational and Awesome!" See the trailer here!
What stuff do I need - riding gear, clothing, camping gear, first aid kit, tires, maps and GPS? What don't I need? How do I pack it all in? Lots of opinions from over 150 travellers!
break down language barriers, overcome culture shock, ship the bike and deal with breakdowns and emergencies."Just makes me want to pack up and go!" See the trailer here!
Grant demystifies the black art of Tire Changing and Repair to help you STAY on the road! "Very informative and practical." See the trailer here!
Ladies on the Loose! For the first time ever, a motorcycle travel DVD made for women, by women! These intrepid women share their tips to help you plan your own motorcycle adventure. They also answer the women-only questions, and entertain you with amazing tales from the road! Presented by Lois Pryce, veteran solo traveller through South America and Africa and author of 'Lois on the Loose', and 'Red Tape and White Knuckles.'
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The definitive guide to planning your motorcycle adventure! This insanely ambitious 2-year project has produced an informative and entertaining 5-part, 18 hour video series. "The ultimate round the world rider's how-to!" MCN UK.
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