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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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4473/...4a17ecee_b.jpgLhasa-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4489/...cc39a883_b.jpgLhasa by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4464/...6d71cda0_b.jpgLhasa-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4445/...207753b7_b.jpgLhasa-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4472/...8bb267ff_b.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4504/...c4f42d44_b.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4467/...c598e16f_b.jpgLhasa-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4489/...8da7d2e6_b.jpgLhasa-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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4451/...e9ae8d71_b.jpgLhasa-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4488/...366fcc4e_b.jpgLhasa-33 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4450/...ebcc0068_b.jpgLhasa-34 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4461/...c069f1e8_b.jpgLhasa-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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4486/...a957a95f_b.jpgLhasa-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4443/...97eba59d_b.jpgLhasa-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4460/...b753db84_b.jpgLhasa-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4471/...6ebdb3b5_b.jpgLhasa-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4487/...0ca2cb82_b.jpgLhasa-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4468/...1b12fb8a_b.jpgLhasa-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4505/...1aaed99c_b.jpgLhasa-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4494/...2f929c49_b.jpgLhasa-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4443/...28e0b54c_b.jpgLhasa-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Counting the money donations! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4508/...2dc57244_b.jpgLhasa-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4507/...6bcf6ca5_b.jpgLhasa-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4474/...7f8857fc_b.jpgLhasa-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4507/...0c16b9f2_b.jpgLhasa-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4450/...990a60dd_b.jpgLhasa-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4508/...9b455a9e_b.jpgLhasa-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4497/...786fc7d6_b.jpgLhasa-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We are hungry and had a quick lunch and then headed to the hotel at 2 for a well deserved rest. We only went out at 4 for a few minutes to get our clean laundry and SUPER clean suits!!!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4467/...3f546cf3_b.jpgLhasa-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We did not venture out again until after 6. We walked the 20 minutes down to the Potala square for some photo op and dinner at a local only place. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4511/...3bb5be16_b.jpgLhasa-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4454/...e6edda4e_b.jpgLhasa-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4487/...64a74c2c_b.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4493/...21dbfc2b_b.jpgIMG_0146 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4476/...b3eecd8a_b.jpgLhasa-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4492/...9bbca28c_b.jpgIMG_0157 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4470/...bb7297e8_b.jpgIMG_0166 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4474/...c3b12a5d_b.jpgIMG_0167 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4498/...2636c5d2_b.jpgIMG_0168 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4446/...68054bf9_b.jpgIMG_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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4470/...2fd12cf1_b.jpgIMG_0162 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4450/...82272f7a_b.jpgIMG_0163 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4504/...2af9e7c0_b.jpgIMG_0165 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4494/...d6aa75f2_b.jpgIMG_0170 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4489/...913e1442_b.jpgIMG_0174 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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).
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4480/...7063ba39_b.jpgIMG_0179 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4493/...408408e3_b.jpgIMG_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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4503/...38d4f98b_b.jpgLhasa-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4465/...18b6693c_b.jpgLhasa-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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4446/...943516ba_b.jpgLhasa-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4484/...22af64e3_b.jpgLhasa-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4467/...3c35b2ef_b.jpgLhasa-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4506/...b6c6af70_b.jpgLhasa-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4499/...906c688c_b.jpgLhasa-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4505/...dea2b949_b.jpgLhasa-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4458/...25da6802_b.jpgLhasa-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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4512/...320c20fa_b.jpgLhasa by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4466/...38863d7b6e.jpgScreen Shot 2017-10-01 at 22.26.39 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4472/...91d6de6d_b.jpgScreen 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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4501/...2d200485_b.jpgFILE2724 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4448/...0e846ab2_b.jpgFILE2725 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
There were 3 police checks in the first 150 km and we were waved thru. We stopped 144 km from the city for lunch and gas. There is a major check point 100 km from the city and we arrived about 15 minutes before the guides, but once they arrived we were out in less than 5 minutes. There is much less traffic on the G318 and almost no big trucks. There are several nice canyons and a few small neat Tibetan villages along the way.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4502/...0ec6ebd9_b.jpgFILE2741 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4496/...34d0f92a_b.jpgFILE2758 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4514/...79c895d9_b.jpgFILE2764 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4474/...fa2d0516_b.jpgFILE2807 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr San dunes as well!! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4479/...1f9aea92_b.jpgFILE2783 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
That said it still took 7 hours to get 272 km to Shigatze.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4458/...3025943f_b.jpgShigatse by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The hotel does not look like much from the outside, but the lobby is amazing with ornate woodwork painted in bright colors. The rooms have the look of a sultans bedroom. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4508/...82253ecb_b.jpgIMG_0188 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4465/...fce4a0dc_b.jpgIMG_0189 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4449/...a9f30256_b.jpgShigatse-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4501/...93ce4fec_b.jpgShigatse-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We took a taxi across town for 2$ to a traditional Tibetan restaurant and tried “Yak” butter tea, which is actually quite nice as well as other local specialties.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4476/...8581623a_b.jpgShigatse-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We have confirmed the road closure for tomorrow even though we had hoped there would be a break in the construction this week for the national holiday. This means we must be past the police check point before 0730 and this is 150 km away at Lhaze. We need to be up at 4 and on the road by 430 for the 237 km to Tingri. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4460/...ac0780d6_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-10-01 at 22.28.04 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4489/...56ce2d4d_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-10-01 at 22.28.28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We had packed all our gear in the truck last night and the guides left before 4 as they have to deal with the speed control. They did however get us a packed breakfast from the hotel for later this morning. The moon is full and lighting our way. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4482/...57bd986e_b.jpgFILE2825 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4497/...f460dfe4_b.jpgShigatse-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4444/...5196e79e_b.jpgFILE2830 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4460/...1c5c215f_b.jpgTingri by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4454/...66c30eec_b.jpg 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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4498/...08fa0818_b.jpgTingri-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4475/...9db2deb4_b.jpgFILE2855 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4456/...66efbb59_b.jpgFILE2885 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4494/...5dfb2da2_b.jpgFILE2888 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). https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4473/...e071f0e9_b.jpgTingri-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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4471/...5bc7b165_b.jpgTingri-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The plan for the day is to ride 118 km to the Everest Base Camp at the top of the world.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4467/...227749c5_z.jpgScreen 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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4496/...6b340711_b.jpgIMG_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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4444/...194bcd91_b.jpgEverest by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4471/...849d6899_b.jpgEverest-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The first part is across a flat valley bottom and then rises over switchbacks to the 40 km mark for the first view point for Everest.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4490/...878bdbdf_b.jpgEverest-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4488/...a628454b_b.jpgEverest-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4513/...12181b72_b.jpgEverest-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4447/...3c052b41_b.jpgEverest-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4459/...99a346b0_b.jpgEverest-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4444/...5c883079_b.jpgEverest-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4491/...523b7564_b.jpgEverest-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4477/...11a5c2ea_b.jpgEverest-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. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4514/...fd6f5fbf_b.jpgEverest-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4487/...46e1a039_b.jpgEverest-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4461/...f9c64735_b.jpgEverest-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4454/...ffe4be9a_b.jpgEverest-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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