DRIVING ALONG THE TOP OF THE WORLD

 

We are off bright and early to drive to the border. It is only 150km, but in true Nepali fashion it takes all day. Google Maps takes us on a scenic tour through Kathmandu until we find our road. Immediately we start winding up hills and before we know it, we are amidst miles of terraced crops and tiny villages. Then google turns us onto a road I don’t see on my map (in hindsight it was probably correct) and we turn and go back to my “main” road. Miles of road works, mud, dust, rocks and “whatever you do don’t look down” stuff. It is incredibly scenic, just a pity the pollution/dust haze still lingers, and we can’t see all the snow-capped peaks. Finally, we meet the main road that comes in from the Kathmandu/Pokhara Road, and tarseal which sadly doesn’t last. Then we are back onto broken road etc.  It is about 5pm as we near the border. Echo, our Chinese tour operator, has asked us to get to the border today ready to cross tomorrow. When we see the Customs building, we stop to get our carnet stamped out. While waiting John fills up with water and I chat to the Police. He gets all our details and finds us a flat roadside spot and even chases away a van that pinches it while I’m not looking. It is dark by the time we settle in. There is no passing traffic as the border is closed.

At daylight we head along the disgusting track, made even narrower with all the trucks and cars parked beside the road, to Immigration. Once it opens, we are stamped out and join the queue of trucks waiting to cross the border. They let us over one at a time. And what a difference. The entry gates are huge and imposing and the roads are sealed! But this is where the bureaucracy starts. Sonam, our guide, is waiting to hear from us but of course we no longer have phone range, so the Chinese guard gives him a call and we wait. He needs a special clearance to come to Immigration. When he arrives, we head inside to get our passports stamped,  then it is time for the truck to be inspected. I am told to sit and wait while John and Sonam deal with bureaucracy. About 6 guys poke and prod GR2 and look everywhere. They confiscate our Tibet map that I left sitting on the dash (fortunately they didn’t see our Lonely Planet or that would have gone too), and they object to our map on the outside of GR2. They say the borders are wrong. Standoff! In the end John puts a big piece of tape over Tibet and finally we are free to go. We can now relax and enjoy the drive, back on the wrong side of the road again.

The roads are so much better and the scenery magical. The only surprise/shock is all the cameras watching us at nearly every 50m! Crazy. Who looks at all that footage. It is only a short drive to the town of Girong where we can camp in a carpark. Sadly, we can’t just go and find a scenic spot to camp in, we must be registered with the police and cameras are always checking that we are there! Here we sort out a sim, find an ATM and explore. There are wide streets with barely a soul in sight, just a few electric buggies bustling about. After wandering the streets and indoor markets we head to the lovely Temple. In the morning, we have time to wander town before Sonam arrives. The sky is clear, and we can see snowcapped peaks everywhere.

We head off with Sonam comfortably sitting in the back with the two-way. We follow some magic gorges and only have 2 police stops. We also stop at a pretty waterfall and then the lovely aqua lake of Pei Co Cuo which has great views of the peaks. The highest is Shishapangma at 8012m. We are now passing lots of Tibetan villages with flat top roofs neatly stacked with wood and yak poo patties. There are 100’s of decorated yaks out munching grass and miles of cultivated paddocks. Much later we reach the town of Old Tingri and find the Snow Leopard Lodge. The carpark is more than adequate, but we must go and register with the police.

Today we are excited! We drive out towards Tibet’s Everest basecamp and stop at the town of Tashi Dzom where all vehicles must stop and the passengers transfer to an ecofriendly bus for the final stretch. Sometimes there are advantages of being old – we get a free ride and entry, saving us over $100. At the top, only a few steps away, is the viewpoint with Mt Everest in full view. Well, the clouds do come and go, but it’s still awesome. Apparently at high season the queues to take selfies at the lookouts are huge. Oh, and we pop in to admire the world’s highest Buddhist Temple.

Later we bus back down and then head along the famous route 318, rather like route 66 in the USA. And what a stunning drive involving 95 hairpins and magic views over some mighty mountains – Qomolangma or Everest as we know it at 8848m, Lhotse at 8511m, Chu Oya at 8153m and Makulu at 8481m. The others are under 8000m so do not get a mention! At our last lookout the thick clouds roll over the mountains as we leave. Wow what a day. We head down to the town of Shegar/Tingri for the night.

The next day we continue our drive, passing countless villages with the locals out preparing their fields for the next crop. Our pass today is 4950m with lots of long straights rather than hairpins. At the top it is snowing. By midday we reach the city of Shigatse where we locate the “main roads” department to get Chinese number plates and drivers’ licence. More than 2 frustrating hours later we leave with our required papers. The biggest hiccup is John driving a truck when he is over 63! – I should say well over! We head to our hotel carpark and still have time left to visit the Tashilhunpo Monastery before it closes. A lot of puffing up the steps (remember we are still at 3600m) It is a lovely old place with heaps of temples full of golden buddha’s in various poses. But the best part is when the monks don their cloaks and yellow hats and head into prayers. Sonam heads off leaving us to explore. We do love our freedom. We look at the shops, eat at a local restaurant and watch the dancing there (A bonus!)

Today we head to Lhasa. One of those mythical places that has been on our bucket list forever, along with Timbuktu (sadly not possible when we drove through Mali) and Shangri-La (this trip!). We follow the main highway through countless tunnels, some as long as 15km. Sonam directs us to a carpark where we can camp. It is only 5km from the city centre, there is a water tap and it is quiet! He heads home to see his boys. Again, we are free! We catch a taxi into town and explore Barkhor Street – the place to be in Lhasa. We just wander the stalls, watch the locals and enjoy ourselves.

The next morning Sonam arrives, and we catch the bus in this time…so much cheaper at 1 yuan each. We head straight to the incredible Potala Palace to join the queues of Chinese tourists waiting their turn to plod up the 200 stairs. Many of them are carrying oxygen bottles as we are still at 3595m. No photos inside, but really it is the outside that is stunning.  Another WOW for us.  Later we wander Barkhor St and around the Jonkar Temples stopping for lunch at a very local restaurant.  There are no tourists here! The Chinese tourists do love to get dressed up in over-the-top ethnic costumes, with styled hair and makeup. Then walk around, stopping to pose for countless photos.   Nothing beats lots of selfies, and it is a huge business here with countless shops hiring out outfits etc. Sonam heads home and we wander. The bus we catch doesn’t quite go the right way, so lots of exercise today.

The next morning it is time to leave the city, so we pick up the big motorway and head off. Lovely driving with hardly any traffic. Awesome. But all good things come to an end. The motorway ends and we wind up and over mountains in streams of traffic. And Chinese drivers are not much better than Nepalese or even Indian drivers and they all want to drive the famous Route 318!  Oh well it keeps John on his toes! We wind up and down massive mountainsides and stop at the lookout for Mt Namjabarwa (apparently China’s most beautiful mountain). Sadly, it is covered in cloud, but it is hilarious watching the Chinese in full selfie posing mode. As we leave it starts to snow, making the forests look awesome. When it clears we can see for miles. Love all the trees covered in pink blossom and the brightly painted villages. The plan is to camp beside lovely Lake Ranwa, but Sonam has explained that it extremely cold at night (and our heater has stopped working so we are sleeping under a huge pile of bedding) and suggests we carry on to Basho, apparently only 90km away. In retrospect a bad move as the traffic and road is appalling. Basically, one lane only through half tunnels hewn into rock faces, trucks squeezing through gaps or coming to a complete standstill and roadworks. In one word – chaos!  It is well and truly dark by the time we arrive – not our favorite scenario at all! Selfishly I’m cranky that I can’t take photos of the lovely scenery, but John must pick his way along a broken road in the dark. Our headlights aren’t so good and there are no streetlights!

An early start as we have lots of driving to do today. The traffic is almost nonexistent so it’s easy to dodge sections of broken road, but we soon discover why there is no traffic. We come to a huge queue of trucks; the cars tend to squeeze through any gaps they can find. Two hours later we move! The road has overhanging rocks making slow going for all the trucks. Then we hit 72 hairpins up a massive mountain crawling the entire way. The oncoming traffic is completely jammed up by a rolled over truck at a hairpin. If only the cars would behave we might move a bit faster, but of course they don’t! We turn and head south following a lovely river and arrive at Zogang for the night. Sonam goes to find a hotel while we camp with a row of Chinese motorhomes in the center of town. Despite driving virtually all day we have only driven 200km.

A chilly night and I reluctantly crawl out of bed as we have more miles to do today. We follow the river through steep terraced valleys then head up and over the mountains to the Tongda La Pass at 5100m. The snowy mountains are just magic, and we stop at lots of lookouts for that perfect photo.  Yet another mountain pass before we head down to the town of Markam. It is supposed to be our stop for the night, but tomorrow we are scheduled to drive 400km, so we want to get extra done today as 400km is a huge driving day! But things don’t always go to plan.  A blow out! At least it didn’t happen in one of the many long tunnels. John starts to change it but quickly realizes that the last tyre shop tightened the nuts too tight. Sonam stops a local and the three of them use all their strength to loosen the nuts, making it a much longer change than normal. Then we head into town to hunt down a tyre shop. It is getting dark by the time the third place will do the job. Fortunately, Sonam finds us a park outside his hotel that is conveniently right beside the tyre shop making it convenient for the job to be done immediately.

Of course, the next day is practically all driving as we are due at the magical town of Shangri-La where we will say goodbye to Sonam and Tibet and hello to Echo, who will be with us for the rest of our Chinese trip.  Tibet would be the perfect place for free camping, but sadly our hands are tied. We must have a Tibetan guide and stick to a planned route. Despite the frustration of being restricted, we have loved our time in Tibet. If you want to go, we urge you to do it as soon as possible before it is swallowed up by China and loses it’s amazing culture.