Xian – May 30 2014

Well Lucky B has had a big day today, starting with some leisurely breakfast and coffee in Xining, a trip to the airport (expensive coffee $9) and casual 1+ hr flight to Xian. Comfortably picked up and chauffeured in a Buick to the Hostel (prearranged). I was here about 9hrs before the train would have delivered me and it was time to go exploring.

Xian is a big city, much bigger than Xining. It is a walled city and where I am staying is just inside the wall near one of the big gates. The walls run for 14km around the old city and there is much more beyond the wall. Apparently you can ride bikes along the wall but I have not been up for a look yet, although the buildings are impressive. (see last pic at night of one of the gates)

In the centre of the city is the Bell tower (see pic of building in middle of roundabout, with the Drum tower near by.

This is a very modern and commercial city, every designer in world seems to have a shop here. All very up market and expensive. The chinese are doing it tough, in one little section of the street I saw a Hummer, BMW 3, BMW X5, VW Toureg and maybe a Porsche. They are common here. (see pic)

I must have walked about 6 km this afternoon, up and down stairs and surprisingly enough, because the altitude is lower, I didn’t feel like I was going to die on every step.

Tonight I went up to the “Big” Wild Goose Pagoda (there is a little one) to see a lights and water show. It was ok (see vid) but the crowds were full on. At the end of the clip you can see some of the light toys the Chinese  seem to like so much.

Things that make colour and noise are very popular. I got guided around by a couple of Chines girls visiting from another provence, they were on the bus and one of them works for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in her home town. Sensing I was an Aussie, they guided me to the big square where the Pagoda is and then cleared off.

I was not going to take my chances with a bus back, as it was a long way so I got one of those Tuk Tuk type taxis. I think it must have been electric as it died half way home and he seem to just change a duracell or something and we were off again. I have refined my concept of road rules here, they now are;

1. There are no rules, just general guidelines
2. Generally, whoever is biggest has right away
3. But if you are small and determined and push in first, then you can get away with it.
4. Driving on your side of the road is just a tendency
5. There are no requirements for lights, helmets, blinkers or any thing else
6. Go with the flow.

The other thing I noticed is that all the airport and subway and shopping posters/billboards and peoples mobile phones have always got incredibly sharp, highly colour saturated photos of mountains, waterfalls, flowers etc, but when you look at the actual world around you, everything is drab grey/brown with visibility of about 1km or less. Just an observation.

Tomorrow is my birthday so I am going to the Dumpling house for a long lunch.

Sunday  I have booked an all day tour to see the Terra Cotta warriors

Footnote:   Xian is over 3100 years old. Population as at 2010 was 8.5 million. Elevation 405 mtrs (virtually sea level).

Xining – May 29

Today was a slow day, started early and took a walk into town, exploring a few cafes and shops and markets. Enjoying all the smells of a large asian city, nothing like it for getting the olfactory organs a good work out (apart from Chinese Trains). Surprisingly enough, the markets and particularly the open air unrefrigerated meat markets did not smell that bad, it must be relative to the surroundings. Apples and other vegetable items were starting to look good.

 I had an enjoyable bus ride to the end of the line and back again. I was looking for the Big Mosque that was on the the no 2 bus route. I obviously missed it as I rode the bus all the way to the end of the line, got tossed off the bus and then paid again to ride it all the way back into town again, only to find when I got off the bus back in town, there was the Mosque. I was so annoyed with it hiding itself on the way out, I did not go in, just simply took  a picture to say “got you now”. It is reputedly a place of higher learning and would be obviously wasted on the likes of me. I then caught another bus that was supposed to take me back near the hostel, only to ide that to the end of the line and then back again to discover it does not go where the the little hostel card said, but a few blocks away so I ended up getting off the bus virtually in the same place I got on at. At least I had a cheap tour of the city.

They must like fireworks here as today, and yesterday afternoon, I have been hearing volleys of fireworks going off, that or its the prison firing squad doing their bit to keep the country safe. I hope I never find out.

Off to Xian tomorrow morning and I have booked my full day tour to the Terra Cotta warriors on Sunday. Saturday is my birthday and I m going to have a very long lunch at Xian’s famous dumpling house.

The Lucky bastard

 

For all the Bill’s we know who don’t know their place, well this is it:

Happy Cats:

No Fake Rolexs here:

The Mosque that tried to hide from me:

 

Ordinary hill by day, butterfly field by night:

The Lucky bastard

Xining - 28 May 2014......

I arrived in Xining this morning about 9.15 am. Xining is an historical town in western China who’s name “xining” literally means "Peace in the West” or something similar. It has a mixture of Tibetan, Chinese and Muslim communities and is a city of around 2-3 million. Although it is obvious it is expanding quickly as everything seems new.

The nice people at the LETE Hostel I am staying at arranged for me to be picked up from the train, which was a great help. The room is very nice and reasonable. I even have my own washing machine (which seems to be working) and little kitchen.

I haven’t really ventured out yet, just getting affairs in order. However I have cancelled from train ticket from here to Xian in two days time and got a cheap flight instead. 11 hrs train Vs 1 hr flight. After the last train trip, I need a break from trains. One of the fun bits of the last train was to go to the dining car, I needed to shuffle past 2 sleeper carriages and the step over a multitude of bodies all sprawled out over another 4 seat only carriages. Running this gauntlet was no end of fun and amusement. I wimped out and went for a flight on next leg. Plenty more train action down the track.

Couple of pics of view from rooftop café at Hostel Lete this morning.

Last Train out  of Lhasa 27-May 2014 ......

Well not literally, but it will be for me. I wanted to experience the Tibet Railway, (highest railway in the world), but now having done it, its a hard slog 24hrs on a train. I was the only westerner I could see and as far as I know the only one who could speak english. The staff, although helpful, seemed to have very limited grasp of english and communications was brief.

The views were good, but not THAT good to endure 24 hrs in a crowded train. There were 6 berths to each compartment and not a lot of room. My bag had to go at the end of  my bunk, along with my backpack. 6Ft plus me and smallish bunk, you get the picture, not much space. Luckily I had a bottom bunk, the top bunks needed their own oxygen supply. Little old me would have never got up there and if I did, I don’t know how I would get down again.

Rest of the Motorbike crew parted ways in Lhasa, they flew back to Kathmandu and then some on to other destinations and some home. Overall a good bunch, no major ructions in the team and generally looked out for each other. It was a Shared experience.

 

A pics of a Tibetan lampshade from in Lhasa and a vid out train window near or just past highest point (I cut audio out of video).

 

 

The Ride ..........

Now that a few days have passed, it is appropriate to record my thoughts on the motorbike ride from Kathmandu to Lhasa.

Firstly, without this trip being organised and without the fixers and other arrangements being in place, many of my goals would not have been realised. To go to Everest Base camp and to ride through the high Himalaya and visit parts of the world, very remote and only read about in books was a very special opportunity.

However the ride itself was tough, tougher than most people on the tour expected, even experienced dirt bike riders. John and Helen (motorcycle adventures) have never said this was an easy ride, but I think most in the group had underestimated how hard it would be. The roads in Nepal are very poor, especially towards the border, there are potholes a small yak could disappear into and never be seen again. Even the starter ride in Nepal, listed as an 80 km ride, took about 4hrs (one way) to complete and was very dodgy in parts, especially towards the finish. You would turn into a sharp left corner only to find the road disappear into rough potholes which would bounce you and the bike all over the place, at times it was hard to hang on.

The roads in Tibet were admittedly better, but it is a question off starting points for better to apply. The high passes were spectacular,some with views of the best part of the Himalaya range. Luckily for us the weather was always clear and good. Whilst John recommends winter gear for the high stuff, in Nepal where it is Hot, take lighter summer gloves and gear. The heavy stuff is a pain in hot slow riding conditions. Although across Tibet winter gear is preferred. Whilst we had fine weather, it could have easily been snowing or raining in parts.

Generally the accommodation was good, considering where we where, we had clean dry beds every night (and whilst mostly hard Tibetan Style)  which I liked. We also had running water and flushing toilets most nights (snow leopard hotel at Tingri) the exception. They were there, but just didn’t work. At least we were not camping. This is a very remote part of the world with not a lot of western luxuries, The locals have it much tougher.

The Bikes, 500 cc Royal Enfield Single cylinder engines.  A piece of shit is my humble opinion, no guts, no suspension, handles like a wet sponge. But they seem to plod on like the donkeys they are and maybe that’s why they seem to be used a lot for these type of trips, that or they are just cheap. Someone should organise BMW 1200 GS, much better bike for this trip.

The ride out to base camp from Tingri is not for the faint hearted. Its about 200km of off road riding (note not poor dirt road, but off road riding) These tracks are not roads, they are the result of successive tyre tracks and are rough. I think I made the sensible decision and rode in the bus that day (although that was like being in a washing machine for 8 hrs). It is a hard days work but the result is you get about 1 hr at Everest base camp on the Tibetan side. If you do want to do this ride (and that is what some people specifically take this trip for), then be prepared to be standing on the pegs most of the day to keep your balance and ask yourself are you skilled and fit enough to do this on a 1950’s designed bike, never designed for dirt riding with road tyres at over 5km up, where your brain and body don’t function well.

One suggestion that was mooted later was that it might be better to actually stay a night at the Everest Base camp (yes there is a new basic hotel there) so you spread the pain of the journey over 2 days and you would have more time to observe Everest close up at different times of the day, morning and evening especially would be good as the sun comes from the side. However it is 5400 mts up and that might not be such a good idea to stay at they level.

Another surprise part about the ride (although we were told) is how long it takes to get anywhere, when you look at the Km to be travelled  each day, it seems like an easy days ride, with time to spare. Wrong, each day is a full days ride, all day, mostly 12hrs from start to finish. There are many stops on the way, police check points, speed limits between departure and arrival points, often long lunch stops (because nothing happens quickly) and whilst it is stated you can ride at your own pace and stop as much as you like to take photos etc, in reality this does not happen and  a self censoring behaviour creeps in to keep up and not delay the overall teams  goals, because it would. Your actions affect everyone else on the team.

In summary, this is not a holiday, its tough and hard work, but the rewards are also special and it is made a lot easier by the tour organisers, if only they would use BMW 1200 GS bikes.

Any typos are the fault of predictive text and the author accepts no responsibility. It is an altitude thing, the ride has been over nearly a week and I am a 1000 kms or more north at Xining and I am still at 2200 mtrs, which is higher than Australia’s tallest mountain. Looking forward to some denser air.

Last Day In Lhasa (Pics & Vids)

Today was my last day in Lhasa, it has all came and gone so quick. Tomorrow its off by train from Lhasa to Xining West (24  hrs)

This morning I went for a walk around the Barkhour Square, following all the others who always walk in a clockwise direction. They were all interested in me because I am big, which helps me get their photos. This afternoon we went to the Sera Monastery to see the debating monks. I am sure I heard one say to the other now STFU.

Will be off line for a few days after this.

 

 

 

 

Tibet Videos 1 (three vids)...

1. First high pass after entering Tibet

2. Sunday morning singalong at the Potala Palace

3.   Pilgrim to the  Jokhang Temple

Title- Sunday 25 May 2014 – Lhasa   -   Pics