Riding along the Taklimakan desert

For the last few days (25.5. to 28.5) we were riding along the northern edge of the Taklimakan desert. This was a real change to the environments we were riding in before: Hot, mostly flat and straight roads. These were long ridding days! In their course, Go-West-Strategy, aimed at the exploitation and development of the far western parts of the empire the Chinese are now building a new highway leading to Kashgar. Hence, sometimes we could cover quite some distance riding on perfectly straight and new roads. At other times however we were forced to ride through the construction sites. 

It's flat now!

Chinese highway construction seems really funny to us. On some stretches it is built right on top of the old road and there is no alternative but to go straight through the construction works and snake left and right along the building sites on bad dusty roads. There are neither signs which would lead the direction, nor workers or traffic lights to control the one lane stretches. Basically you have to find your own way through the labyrinth and watch out as there is only one fundamental rule: Trucks don’t give way to motorcycles – even if they come straight at you on your side. 

Yet sometimes we couldn’t ride too far despite perfect roads. It was the heavy storm like head winds which made riding very difficult, tiring and never ending. At 95 km/h ground speed and with 40 to 60 km/h head wind our communication system struggles, so we can’t even chat or listen to music – boring! Why did we speed up that much over these last days? Well, because we didn’t want to miss the livestock market in Kashgar. It is held every Sunday and seems to be a true attraction. The thought that we might only reach our final milestone in China on Monday was unbearable for us, so we had to speed up. Having said that these were rather looooong days on the rooooaaad along the desert, the road side attractions also became a little less frequent. There was not one highlight after the other like in Yunnan and Tibet, but there were very little curiosities along the way:

Dust devils! These strong whirlwinds twisted around along the horizon as well as along the road side. Pretty fun to watch them spin around dust and small objects like pet-bottles or Styrofoam pieces. But we had to be careful not to ride straight into such a devil when it blazed across the road as it could have shaken us off the bike.

Our road basically followed the foothills of some mountain ranges (first the Bogden Shan and then the Tien Shan range) to the right hand side. In the evening was therefore the best riding time as the sinking sun illuminated these ranges in stunning colors and made their funny shapes visible. Besides these dominating ranges we passed by other, smaller bizarre looking rock masses which emerged from the otherwise flat desert landscapes. Before the desert city of Turpan there was an outstandingly beautiful range. It looked as if the small pinnacles were just being carved out of a massive junk of sand stone by the constantly blowing winds. 

What made the sight even more interesting was the foreground. We had landed in grape country. There were massive grape plantations all around us with their lush green colors making a nice contrast to the otherwise red and yellow landscape. The grapes are not planted to produce wine here, but for making raisins and sultanas. There were thus traditional grape drying sheds lined up all around us. These sheds called Chunche are constructed out of clay bricks with lots of holes in their walls. In these shady sheds the grapes can be be hung up to dry quickly by the warm wind which can sizzle through the holes. Amazingly easy technology which seems to work well considering the huge piles of raisins found in the markets.

In Turpan we set a new altitude record – this time on the negative scale: after a long drive down we arrived in the Turpan depression which is a fault-bounded trough located around and south of the city-oasis of Turpan. Besides being the third lowest exposed point on earth this depression is entirely below sea level and it is apparently also the hottest and driest area in China. We didn’t stay long, a quick lunch and we continued.

We usually traveled on the highway, but sometimes we made a detour through the rural villages along the way. These towns were all small oasis with lush green agricultural fields surrounding them with huge poplar trees protecting the fields from the desert winds. It was fun dashing along these alleys of trees and watching the hustle and bustle on the fields and in the small town markets. We realized that we are in the traditional Muslim communities of the region now. Not like in the big, modern Chinese towns along the highway. Here we did not have to watch out for dogs and pigs running across the road anymore, but we saw men with long beards and small white hats, and women in colorful headscarves instead. And the local fruit we sampled (surrounded by crowds of people of course who came to watch the foreigners) where just super tasty!

Heading into the desert

Yesterday (24.5) we left Dunhuang to tackle our long east-west ride to Kashgar. From now on our bags would be more stuffed again as we could finally store away the layers and layers of cloths. As usual the first task of the day of course was to fuel the bikes. Well, easily said then done. In China there is a special rule for fueling up motorbikes. It does not at all speed up the whole process and, to our disgrace this rule is very closely followed in Xinjiang Province. The law says that motorbikes cannot, under any circumstances (no, not even big bikes with four aliens on them) get close to the fueling hose. Instead they have to be parked in considerable distance of around 20m away. You fuel them with a traditional Chinese tea pot, which of course you have to usually pay in advance, because the fuel station staff are extremely scared that you would otherwise leave without paying, and of course you have to shlep these teapots back and forth yourself.

That done we had our first ride through the dry and hot region. We spotted another herd of double humped camels, Boris' favorite animal so far  on the ride. It was funny to see them loose their warm coat. The ones we had observed previously, further up north looked much more fatty and big. But now we knew that this was only because the thick fur. These double humped camels are funny things with their slobbering lips and huge heads.

We stayed the night in Hami and enjoyed another delicious dinner on the local market. While we would walk right into the kitchen in Yunnan and pick the food we like to make some delicious dishes (and this was by the way not at all rude, the chefs loved it and everybody does this), here the set up was a bit different: Here everything takes place in the open space of the big main square of town.

Numerous little barbeque stalls are lined up around a sitting area of plastic tables and chairs. You go around these stalls and pick what ever you like to be thrown on the grill: Chicken or mutton, bread and vegetables. All is prepared on small skewers and served to your table. A fantastic easy going atmosphere. Unfortunately all skewers are usually marinated with the same spicy seasoning. Boris has already enough of them and I am also reaching the limits, not last as my stomach does not handle this spice mix all too well ... and mutton is not my favorite. Luckily in some of these eat-and-drink bazaars there are also other dishes like stews or dumplings.

Of dried fruit, Buddha caves & sand dunes

On the late evening of 22.5 we finally completed the lengthy and cold Xining-detour. We arrived in Dunhuang, unfortunately missing Horst's family who just departed on their own journey. Dunhuang is a buzzing, lively, lovely tourist city. It felt like x-mas riding downtown as the streets are decorated over and over with colorful lighting strings. Finding a hotel was not easy: not too cheap – as usually filthy and dubious, not too fancy and expensive, good parking for the bikes, proximity to pedestrian zone, … jaja, we know what we want! 

Why was it not easy to find accommodation? Because Dunhuang is very famous. It is located at a crossroads of the ancient Silk Road. In the era of hooved transportation (here mostly camels), this rich oasis was once a major stop and strategic position between Lhasa and India to one side, and Mongolia to the other side. Dunhuang has a fantastic market for dried fruits and all kinds of nuts. Here’s where we stocked up with snackies for the road and afterwards enjoyed dinner in the market.

Dunhuang is also the “base camp” for visiting the nearby  Caves of the Thousand Buddhas or Mogao Caves, making it not only a strategic stop, but also a cultural and religious crossroads. Legend says that a Buddhist monk travelling on the silk road had a vision here around 366 AD. In the sunlight he saw a thousand Buddhas coming down from the sky in front of the conglomerate walls. Hence he started excavating caves where he had had his vision and retreated there for meditation. In the centuries thereafter more and more meditation caves or grottoes were created.  Great to visit these caves, which are equally research site and the prime destination for streams of predominantly Thai worshipers. The caves contain very fine Buddhist murals with tails from Buddha’s life or sceneries from the silk road. Depending on the age of a mural – and the period of creation, the characters in the paintings had western, oriental, or rather Chinese features and where decorated in completely different styles. We had a very good Chinese guide, who knew her script very well and was able to explain many things to us. It’s amazing what can be read from these murals, but also from the huge Buddha statues (Over 32 meters tall and the second largest Buddha statutes in China), and also interesting to hear what treasures were destroyed or robbed by western expeditions and “the great earthquake” meaning the Cultural Revolution.

Later in the afternoon Boris and I took a ride around Dunhuang, for once with an unloaded bike. Just behind today’s busy “City of Sands” streets we discovered another Silk Road feature and today tourist attraction: Sand dunes! A big sea of them. We discovered the original oasis with its Cresant Lake, where caravans used to come for drinks and shelter. In order to escape the tourist hustle Boris and I climbed the first big sand dune and quickly got into a very secluded area. But climbing the steep sand dunes was absolutely exhausting. Two steps forward and one step back! We explain this not with the lack of fitness but with reverse altitude sickness. There’s just too much oxygen around for us now, coming from the Tibetan plateau. We enjoyed jumping around and sliding down the dunes and went for another creative photo session before heading back to town to meet up with the lads for dinner.

Dashing across the Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan plateau is huge. Its is approximately four times the size of France, or about the size of Western Australia. We left Nam Tso with the aim of crossing the Tibetan plateau heading north towards our next milestone, Goldmud. It took us two long riding days to cross the elevated plateau with its average elevation is over 4,500m. Despite the altitude and the cold weather the ride was very enjoyable. At times we travelled through fantastic vast grassland plains which were met by high snowcapped mountains. At other times the landscape looked desert like with rocks displaying stunning yellow to purple colors.

We were absolutely fascinated by the Chinese engineering work. When it comes to building of infrastructure the Chinese are absolute experts, it’s really amazing.  The entire two days of travelling over the plateau we followed the Qingzang railway which was built in 2006 and connect Lhasa with Xining in Qinghai Province. It is the world’s highest railway track and there are countless tunnels and bridges. The tracks rarely deviate from a straight line regardless of what hills or mountains surround.

Our road was also in near perfect conditions and it felt like we were flying over the roof of the world. As if Chinese engineering was not impressive enough, a new power line was under constructions as we dashed over the plateau. It was fun to watchthe lines being constructed. We were amazed by the small amount of heavy machinery that was used for building the power line. Instead there were countless workers who were sitting on the half-finished poles attaching the cables or screwing missing elements onto the existing steal structures.

We were tempted to label any of these technical achievements, the railway, the road, or the power line as “the New Great Wall of China”. What fascinated us most about all of these constructions was the fact that everything had to be laid on permafrost, which caused technical difficulties of building the railroad tracks as well as the road and the power line. The Chinese overcame this challenge by building the road and railway on elevated tracks of around 2m of height consisting of thick gravel. For the railway they apparently also inserted cooling pipes in various places to help keep the boggy ground frozen in summer.  Dashing past old sections of roads we could see what happens if such techniques to withstand the permafrost and the frozen rivers were not applied. We saw massive cracks of up to 10cm running across the road and bumps which could well throw you off the bike alongside of collapsed bridges.

Despite the high-tech infrastructure development we realized soon that were travelling through some very remote parts of Tibet. In every town we stopped for fuel a big crowd of people surrounding us and the bikes would quickly form. The Tibetans were often dressed in their traditional cloths, the men wearing their traditional long hair with red strings braided into the hair. The women were wearing their typical long skirts or they were dressed in modern (in our eyes absolutely ugly, bitchy looking) Chinese fashion.  Getting the opportunity to see foreigners was very special for them, so while having lunch in a local Tibetan restaurant we had a crowd of at least 10 people pressing their faces against the window from outside.  The absolute highlight of three little grubs was Boris going to the local public toilet. They followed him all along and did not leave even when we wanted to have some privacy and waved them to go outside. Instead they stood there and watched him do his business all the way.

Nam Tso

On the 16^th of May we got on the road again. We travelled from Lhasa to Nam Tso, a famous lake that we absolutely wanted to see. On the way to the lake we passed over the Kyang-la Pass. It was a very steep climb up to the pass and Rosie was at the maximum in second gear as we slowly crept up to the top of the 5240m pass. We again beat our altitude record with the detour to Nam Tso! Wanting to go even higher for the good view on the lake Boris, Simon and I climbed a nearby hill. We went up only about 50m more or so, but every step was absolutely exhausting. Luckily the way down was easy and fun as we could slide down a big snowfield.

The ride down to the lake was awesome. This was exactly what we had expected of the Tibetan plateau: A good road over a vast grass plane, with yak and sheep grazing around us and once in a while passing a small camp of nomad herders. The view of the gigantic lake in front of a snowcapped mountain  ridge was stunning. Nam Tso is one of Tibet’s sacred lakes. It is the second -largest saltwater lake in China and truly one of the most beautiful natural sights in Tibet. We drove directly to its shoreline for a look around and to explore a peninsula for the possibility of camping. As the lake is holy of course so are the small mountain and its surrounding cliffs on the peninsula. However a local monk who came down to the lake to admire our bikes and to have a look through our binocular permitted us to set up our tents.

Leaving Horst who was not keen on camping at over 4700m at a nearby guest house where we enjoyed a local dinner Simon, Boris and I headed back to the lake to find the ideal camping spot and set up camp. The days are very long up here. Coming from Laos we are of course not used to sunsets at 8:30 any more. But it’s great to have daylight for so long and watch the sunset after dinner. We went for a wander around the peninsula and had a spectacular sunset on one side and the rising of the full moon on the other side. It was a fantastic opportunity for Boris and Simon to play with their good cameras. 

Along our hike a Tibetan shepherd dog suddenly joined us. The dog was very friendly and playful and as we went back to the camp to go to bed the dog curled up outside of our tents. He made it his duty to protect us from anybody how came near the camp. So the next morning we were woken up at around 7am by his barking. It turned out that we had set up our tents about 20m off the kora (worshiping trail for Tibetans) around the mountain. Every local who went on his morning walk around the mountain of course stopped at our tents to examine the strangers and our dog did not like this at all. While packing up our tent and getting ready to leave again, Boris or I had to constantly calm down the dog so that he would not chase after the curious locals.

Bus excursion to Shigatse

After two days of exploring around Lhasa Boris and I would have liked to get out of the city for some hiking. Or we would have liked to jump on the bike and explore the surrounding. This however is not easily possible in Tibet, not even around Lhasa where foreigners are allowed to walk around freely. As soon as you want to go a bit outside of town, you need a special permit from the Chinese government. Whatever you intend to do: hike, take a local bus, visit another monastery, you need a permit and possibly a guide.  As we were not aware of this we decided to join Horst and his family to travel by bus to Shigatse and back. What a good decision, this turned out to be a stunning, fun bus ride through spectacular scenery.

With a driver - who we though undertakes his first bus drive after changing over from Yak riding - and our two guides (our tour guide and the one of Horst’s family) we pottered along the Friendship highway. From the over the 4700m high Kampa-La pass we had a fantastic view down on Lake Yamdrok-Tso. It is one of the most holy lakes in Tibet and one of the most stunning ones that I’ve seen so far as well, with its fabulous deep turquoise water. We drove along its edge for a couple of hours and then again over the next high pass. The landscape up ion these high passes, but also in the wide river valleys is very barren. Rocks dominate; there are no trees only a few bushes and grassland plains. Every time we pass a small Tibetan village we wondered:  How do people survive here in the cold? What can they make a living of, when it is too scant to grow only a minimal amount of crops? 

The colors of the landscape were stunning and changes from one minute to the next as clouds drifted passed the sun.  Boris with his eye for wildlife spotted a herd of Tibetan antelopes and again some giant vultures circling in the sky. My attention was drawn more to the geology and to the geomorphology. Because there was hardly any vegetation we could see the different layers of rock how they were stacked over each other and folded into bizarre forms when the Himalayan Mountains formed. As learned from the study books (it’s been quite a while) we could see how the landscape was shaped by the large glaciers that covered the plateau longtime ago. We could also see how the processes found in this permafrost region leaves behind frost boils and stone rings. Fantastic to see all this in such great dimensions.

On our way to Shigatse we stopped at Gyantse - Tibet’s third city, behind Lhasa and Shigatse. Here we visited the Pelkor Chöde Monastery. The town and its historic sites were a pleasure to stroll through as the atmosphere was much more relaxed as in Lhasa were everything seems quite restricted and one feels constantly watched by the omnipresent military guards.

Before leaving Shigatse the next morning we of course dropped in to Tashilhunpo Monastery, one of the few monasteries in Tibet that was not affected by the Chinese Cultural Revolution and today remains relatively unscathed. Shigatse has been the seat of the Panchen Lama, and this seat was traditionally based in the monastery. Hence we got to see the opulently decorated tombs of the past Panchen Lamas.

On our way back we had the pleasure of seeing the stunning landscape again, coming from the other side. It was a long journey back, about 8 hours of sitting in the bus and Horst, Boris and I already missed having our own control of the street. After passing again over Kamba-la Pass the rode was blocked due to construction. Instead of sitting and waiting Boris and I decided to run down the mountain slopes and let our bus pick us up when bypassing – we still have sore legs from this spontaneous action. Shortly before reaching Lhasa we passed a snow-hail-rain storm which created a wonderful rainbow of enormous color intensity. It guided us right back home and made the last stretch of the journey very entertaining for the whole bus-gang.

Lhasa

On the evening of the 11th May we arrived at our first major milestone: Lhasa. For me a dream had come true, as I had wished to visit this place since a long time ago. As usually we drove right into the middle of town, and the police men happily lifted all barriers for our exotic motor bike group, permitting us to ride slowly through the pedestrian zone to our hotel. There we had a warm welcome by Horst’s family – Noon, the kids, grandpa, grandma, niece and nephew – with whom we had planned to meet here.

Lhasa is an interesting place to wander around and explore. Its old Tibetan parts are filled with tourists which includes western travelers and mountaineers as well as masses of Buddhist pilgrims. Most of the pilgrims seemed to come from other parts of Tibet. In fact, we had past many pilgrim groups along the way up to Lhasa starting back more than 700 km and before several high mountain passes. These pilgrim groups very much impressed us on the way. The groups were usually included about 4 to 6 people doing full-body prostrations for the entire length of the journey.

This  means they take three steps forward, then get down and stretch out flat on their body with their forehead touching the ground, and then stand up again, clapping their hands and chanting or murmuring. These pilgrims are mostly accompanied by a small hand pulled or motorized cart overfilled with food and basic camping equipment. Really amazing to watch, and when always when we overtake the people get up and laugh and wave at us. Now in Lhasa we could watch the pilgrims spinning their prayer wheels and circumambulating clock wise around the famous temples, monasteries, and other sacred sites, which are so plentiful in the old parts of Lhasa.

Of course we also visited a couple of the cultural “must-do’s” of Lhasa: Together with Horsts family we drove out of town to visit the Drepung monastery, which is the largest of all Tibetan monasteries. Located on the Gambo Utse mountain out of town we had an excellent view of the city with its old parts nested into buzzy swirling new Chinese parts.

Drepung monastery – meaning rice heaps – once the residence of the Dalai Lama and is also sort of a university for Tibetan Buddhism. Apparently it used to host over 7,000 monks in the past, however today it is more of a tourist and worshiping site and the remaining few monks are here to look after the monastery only. Our guide is very knowledgeable as he has been a monk over 8 years before becoming a tour guide. He told us every detail about the history, the meanings of the paintings, and the gestures of the Buddha figures.

We try to understand it and to keep as much as we can, which is not easy considering the poor English pronunciation of our guide combined with the lack of general understanding of the Tibetan culture from our side. Boris and I both like it best to venture around in the court yards inside of the monasteries and look at the buildings. Or we climb a stupa or tower to look down and watch. We can only spend limited time inside the chapels and temples because there are too many other tourists (mostly very pushy Chinese), photo taking is not allowed or there is an extra charge, and finally, the smell of burning Yak butter candles is just too intense for my nose and rather unpleasant. Next we visited the Sera Monastery and watched the debating monks in the court yard. These debating sessions among monks are integral to the learning process in order to facilitate better comprehension of the Buddhist philosophy to attain higher levels of study.

Finally we also when to visit the Potala Palace which towers over Lhasa. It was once the summer (or winter?) residence of the Dalai Lama and is a Monastery now. It is so popular that tickets have to be arranged in advance. Then one gets a time slot for visit of 2 hours – crazy! But it was worthwhile seeing the study rooms of the Daila Lama, reception hall and chapels. And the architecture is just amazing.  After visiting Potala Palace Boris said “ok, I am totally over the monasteries now”. And this was the case for me too. There is only so many Buddha statues that you can take…