China and Tibet
Part 1, from August, 2nd 2006 until mid-October 2006

Roadbook
This roadbook gives information about distances, landmarks, road condition, altitudes, passes, villages and availability of water and food late 2006 READ ON >>

Sitting, digging, dragging and pushing
Forward, backward, there’s no movement. Everybody wants to leave the bus, to help the driver digging and pushing, but the young Chinese official keeps standing in the doorway. He starts shouting, forbidding us to leave the vehicle that’s awfully stuck.... READ ON>>

Passing a destroying river going to Kashgar Hospital
After two hours of driving there is a traffic jam; with its devastating violence the fast flowing river has swept away ninety metres of the road alongside the mountain. Soldiers and road workers in bright pink uniforms have been working for hours already.... READ ON>>

En route to Tibet (part I): A muddy existence
Drum, drum, drum, brrruh, brrruh, drum. We’ve woken up only five minutes ago when a herd of thirty immense yak thunders past on the hill just above the tent. The imposing animals are driven on by two shepherds, who.... READ ON>>

En route to Tibet (part II): Bush-camping with a capital B
Our hearts ache a little when we leave our secret spot; us awaits a climb with a height-difference of over seven hundred metres, from 4.200 to 4.955 metres. The unpaved road is of a good quality most of the time, except in the bends: they are completely worn out. It's deadly quiet; nature is wonderful, only the creaking of the pebbles under our tires disturbs the peace.... READ ON>>

En route to Tibet (part III): Cycling in the snow with a buddy
Peter walks down and sees me in the distance where I, because of the lack of oxygen, walk and push my bicycle up the mountain. Tears trickle down his cheeks when he sees how I don’t give up despite the exhausting and difficult circumstances. Peter thinks I’m very courageous. When I finally reach the top it starts thundering, by hail and snow.... READ ON>>

En route to Tibet (part IV): Striptease in a restricted area
Never before did we have to take of our shoes, socks and trousers as often as today, and put them back on again. The sight of the mountain landscape, the cloudy streaks in the blue sky, Tibetan antelope, flowering succulent plants and colourful lichen strengthens us during the climb to the Satsum La-pass, at the new record height of 5.350 metres.... READ ON>>

In Tibet (part I): Sleepless nights and a bloody lip
The surliness of the Chinese woman changes to arrogance and aggression when we put a reasonable amount of money on the table and want to cycle away. She grabs hold of Peter's bicycle, kicking Sascha's and shouts like a sucking pig. Soldiers rush up to her, trying to calm and reason with
her.... READ ON>>

In Tibet (part II): You get older daddy, just admit it....
Even more often than yesterday we have to leave the road and drag, push, pull and trail the heavy bicycles through sand and up hills. When Peter waits for me two kilometres before the summit, he feels a sharp stab of pain in his lower back, the same spot as in Kashgar. He's frightened out of his wits... READ ON>>

In Tibet (part III): Sand, noodle soup and rocks
Two kilometres further on the highway we arrive in New Namru, that's so new we think it still has to be built. We pass a barrier and a police-post, without being stopped or shot at. In Ali we should have, according to the information of other travellers and books, bought a permit (five Euro) for the restricted area we've already passed in Tibet plus a hefty.... READ ON>>

In Tibet (part IV): And the day started so beautiful...
It's four degrees above zero, the sun starts his daily warming round and slowly rises above the gigantic mountains; apart from the murmuring of the purling river it's dead quiet. We pack our tent and push our bicycles along the riverbank.... READ ON>>

In Tibet (part V): Kailas' kora and the absolution of Karin's sins
Walking the kora once frees the pilgrim of all sins committed in this lifetime. For Buddhists it's considered very auspicious to walk the kora three or thirteen times; 108 times brings enlightenment in this life. I only go once, because nowadays there's electricity as well.... READ ON>>

In Tibet (part VI): Snow leopards, pink birds, black fluffy mice and flying donkeys
It’s going to be a wild animal day today, which starts with the fantastic sensation of pitiful braying donkeys in the sky. It seems like the roof of the world is affecting our ears in a strange way: we must have caught a new kind of altitude sickness. We look up and after a while
our eyes discover.... READ ON>>

In Tibet (part VII): A hole in the ice
Just like other cyclists and tourists we still – even after having spent six weeks over 4.000 metres – regularly suffer from the effects of the high altitude: exaggerated gasping, shortness of breath, a strange cough, sleeping problems and we’re tired faster than usual. But okay, it’s our
own fault.... READ ON>>

In Tibet (part VIII): Cycling with a buddy in the sand, the end of Highway 219
It's already seven p.m. when we find an empty stone hut. After the usual interior decorating we have a beautiful shale table, a couch of dried yak dung, a wall-to-wall carpet made from a nomad tent and a back-support of dried grass.Our own Tibetan hotel for the reasonable
price of zero Yuan.... READ ON>>

In Tibet (part IX): Chinese cheat, Tibetan wind and Antarctic cold
It is about time to call it a day, but pitching the tent in these circumstances is impossible. Between the mountains, right ahead of us, we catch a glimpse of the Gang Benchen, from where black, threatening clouds storm in our direction.
It’s getting colder and.... READ ON>>

In Tibet (part X): Never leaving Tibet again
Tibet, the most uninhabitable place where we’ve ever been, forever stole our hearts. Nothing grows here, life is almost impossible for animals and plants and the region is very inaccessible for humans.... READ ON>>

In Tibet (part XI): Blinded by oxygen rich greens
With every two hundred metres less altitude it gets more humid, tropical and greener than it already was. Hundreds of small and bigger waterfalls are glued left and right to the mountainside, only the sound betrays the movement. We are almost in ecstasy, the temperature is rising, our breath is finally back to normal and the fresh green.... READ ON>>