Chiang Mai Thailand to Lhasa Tibet on a Qingqi

[CrazyCarl]

God damned American expat Scofflaws!

CC

[Tall guy]

Hey CC !! On a scofflaw scale, I am going to have rate you far above me..... Let's see, where was I? All this driver license talk has my head spinning....Oh wait, here I am....

Departing from Lijiang , I decide to take the long way through Tiger Leaping Gorge. Here is a look down at the middle rapids. That is a walkway that has been built recently.


No need to worry about injury if you blow a turn, as your death will be a certainty. But because of oncoming traffic, the best plan is to keep to the outside of the road. If you become wimpy and ride the center of the road, and meet a bus coming at you, you will have nowhere to go. So then your choice will be either a head on, or a wild veer which will send you off the cliff..... Slowly and lots of horn honking is the way to do it.


This detour through the gorge is about 100 kilometers longer getting to Shangri La , but it is very scenic and the road is almost perfect.


Here is a local guy turning a round object into a square object, all by hand. Think a chain saw would come in handy here.


Finally reach Shangri La. Am not really sure why they call it that as it bears little resemblance to the city of the book Lost Horizons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La It is located on a 3200 meter high windswept plateau. It is cool by day, and downright cold by night. There were a lot of Chinese backpackers which I was not used to seeing. All the backpackers I meet in Thailand are foreigners. Two nights and one day there doing work organizing stuff on my bike. Also spent a lot of time trying to get a better Garmin map of China. This 400 meter offset the Chinese government forced Garmin to put in their map is killing me in large Chinese cities which are like a maze. Then on the way north to Tibet. I did meet a great guy named Kevin who runs an equipment rental place in Shangri La. He gave me some tips on the locations of the checkpoints which made me feel I could avoid them. So after a couple days there, time to head north to Tibet for the final try. Here is a yak attack. They are very docile, just pass slowly so as not to startle them. The closest one on the right is looking at me, and probably thinking " Hey moto man, I've got the horns. You mess with me your gonna get them".


As I am riding towards the border feeling pretty bad ass, I see this guy walking along the road. I stop to chat with him. He is excited to see me, and takes several pictures of me. Turns out he is walking to Lhasa. :eek1
I take one picture of him, then he carefully gets this flag from the back of his pack and unfurls it so I can take a picture of it. No idea what it says....


Reach my first major pass. The bike is running a bit weak, but ok. 2nd gear only for the last section. :deal Yep for sure not in the states any more...


Nearly 14,000 feet. Ok, you guys in India crossing 18,000 foot passes stop laughing. :nono I came up to altitude slowly, and was also taking Diamox. Felt absolutely great. :clap


Nail beds still nice and pink. An easy visual way to check if you are be oxygenated properly. On my last China trip where I went up too fast
the nail beds would be light blue....


Passed a small village where this old woman was spinning a giant prayer wheel. She also had rosary beads in her hand.


Closer...


My birth year !!!!! These markers are every few kilometers. The number 1953 actually represents the distance from that marker to Beijing.
I think it is a subtle way of letting these far off provinces know that Beijing is the head of the country. It seemed a bit silly, a bit like putting in milage markers in Arizona that had the distance to Washington DC in America.


Here making asphalt at about 4000 meters. China is making this entire road into a major highway which will be named the Yunan Tibet Highway. The scope of the project is astonishing, amounting to in essence a 200 kilometer roadworks. It was amazing to watch these guys work hard at such high altitude, breaking rocks and moving lots of gravel around.


The mountains start to get higher, and completely devoid of any vegetation. It felt like a mountainous desert. The river below in this gorge in a young and small Mekong River. Seemed odd to me, as I am used to a huge and brown Mekong River along Laos and Thailand.


Some kind of mining operation alongside the river. There was a scary foot path in from both sides. Yet they had this tractor and trailer operating in the mine. They must have brought it in in pieces.


Dramatic vistas, complete with a waterfall created by excess water from a hydroelectric plant.


I am now getting up close to the Tibet border. I did pass one sleepy checkpoint, the kind where the bar is always up and the guy is inside watching TV. I just blast on through closely following behing a car full of some new Chinese friends. Do not think the guy ever saw me in the cloud of dust.....It is now getting late.


I am on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, but my new car friends insist there is a town ahead with food and accomadation, indicated by them of putting two hands together next to your head, and cocking your head at an angle. Am thinking this is perfect. The local knowledge I had from Shangri La was that the next check point was in Mangkang, well inside Tibet. That was only about 40 kilometers ahead. Visions of glory were dancing in my head......I now planned on getting up at 4 in the morning, and going through the Mangkang checkpoint before they opened. Yeah baby !!!!!
As it was almost dark, and I did not want to lose the car guys because I knew they were going to be stopping very soon , I was following them closely. Come around a corner, and BAMM, checkpoint time. No way to turn back, as soon as they saw me three police men come running up to my bike.
Where is your permit ? Uhhh I do not have one. I tried to get one , but was refused.
You must turn back, this is a special zone and you are not permitted.
My passport is taken away, and I am led to a small restaurant next to the checkpoint. The police did not speak a word of English, however there was a young Tibetan student there who spoke very good English. He acted as a interpeter during my grilling. First I am told that Tibet is dangerous and I should not go. I laughed and said I liked danger. Then they said if something happened to me they would be responsible.
I told them it was far more dangerous to ride in big cities. If a bus ran me over in Chengdu, who would be responsible then ?
It was a classic circular arguement, because in the end I know they will not let me in. At one point they show me a copy of a Tibetan travel permit. I tell them thanks in Chinese, and grab it. That got a big laugh from them. They then wanted to take a bunch of pictures of me with various officials there. ????? So I went along. When the head guy who was stopping me took his picture with me, I put a mean look on my face and put my fist next to his face like a playful threat. His friends were dying with laughter. But in the end, there was no way they were going to let me in. So in essence I was detained, since they kept my passport, and told me I had to spend the night in this crappy room that truckers used I think. The checkpoint closed down at around midnight, so they kept my passport so I could not sneak through in the middle of the night. In the morning I packed up my stuff, got my passport back, and was ready to head back. I did snap one picture of the checkpoint before I left. The head guy comes running over and keeps saying no. I cannot begin to understand the attitude. They are worried about me taking a picture of a bar across the road ????? I took it anyway, and left to go back down.

[Tall guy]

Here is a dejected Beemer boy, on the way back down the mountain. A smile did pop out, just because I am such a stunning enviroment.


I did meet some Chinese long distance bikers about 100 kilometers down the road from the checkpoint. They guys are beyond cool. Hardcore to the max, they take 125 CC machines, put on a top box, strap on a duffel bag, and head off on long distance rides. Of course they greet me like a long lost brother. :clap They then pictures took of me with everyone of them. Using my Iphone and a map I indicate that I had been turned back from the checkpoint. They invite to travel to Lhasa with them, acting like the checkpoint was not problem. Hmmmm. I tried to ask them if one of them was a government official, concept being maybe with a bit of juice they could get me through. Answer seemed to be no. I think they were just being hospitable, not realizing the difficulties of a foreigner getting into Tibet. If I went back with them and got turned around again, it would have been a frustating 200 kilometer dirt road round trip. In the end I regretfully said good bye to them and wished them luck..


I did not feel so bad, because traveling in this area you are in fact in Tibet. No matter what the Chinese maps say, this was Tibet. If you look at the housing and the faces of the people, they are clearly Tibetan. I loved the rammed dirt houses.


Back to Shangri La to spend the night, the head out the next day to Dali. As I am leaving I see some kids alongside the road. Am thinking this would make a great picture, as they were dressed up in tribal outfits, but were grubby like any other kid in the world. As soon as I stop they come running up to me. When I pull my camera out, the negotiating starts.....The leader , the boy, holds up one finger which I think means 1 yuan. Ten would have been a bit steep.... As soon as my money clip appears, four more fingers pop up. As there are four of them, I now indicate 4 yuan with four fingers. Smile of agreement..... As I get ready to take the picture they break into song and dance. Not really sure what the two fingers pointed at me means....


Yumm !! Roadside strawberries, some of the best I have ever had. That basket was 10 yuan, about 1.50 US. They were grown nearby.


Field usage of The Stick for chain oiling. Don't leave home without it......


When you see this......


This could be around the corner. I love these massive repairs that are all done right on the road. On a multiday job, they just camp by the road until the job is done. I have seen complete engine overhauls done on large trucks just like this.


About 60 kilometers outside of Dali, I come upon this accident scene. Think it had just happened. No one had stopped, and there were two guys by the edge of the road. One guy was pretty cut up pretty bad , and had either broke his leg or hip as he could not move. His friend was propping him up into a torso upright postion. I saw several cars go by, with no one stopping except me. I had a feeling the guy went through the windshield due to the cuts all over him. I brought over my first aid kit. I do not carry much in the way of pills, but have a LOT of stuff to stop blood. I indicate I want to help him stop some of the bleeding, but he politely refuses. I think he was worried about him being a burden to me. He kept saying thank you in Chinese. He was one tough guy, as I could see he was going partly into shock. Yet he was holding a blood soaked mobile phone making calls......
In a surreal moment, the first vehicle on the scene was a tow truck. A minute later a local police SUV showed up. 5 guys picked him up, and put him in the dusty cargo area in the back of the police vehicle. He only moaned a bit when they were moving his broken leg.
Then a bizarre scene happened. While the guy is lying in the back of the SUV in severe pain, a long discussion takes place about something.
I am no medical expert, but certainly know about " the golden hour". After a traumatic injury, you need to get to a hospital as soon as possible in case there are internal injuries such a bleeding. I listen to this dicussion for a couple of minutes in amazement, then I become EXTREMELY insistent that the police need to take this guy to the hospital. They then left right away. I then went to the friend of the injured guy, and using my Iphone wished good luck for his friend. He then thanked me profusely. I rode away a bit slower, really really hoping I do not have an accident here...


Getting closer to Dali, I come upon an army camp by the side of the road. As I am zipping along, I see two Chinese tanks with crew members parked on a dirt road next to the highway. Cool !!! I love tanks. So of course I have to turn around and go back to look at them.
As I stop on the on the road about 6 meters from the tanks, I am giving them a good long look to see how they are built. Not very impressive, they looked like something out of WW2. A far cry from an Abrams M1 battle tank from America. After about 10 seconds the crew becomes very agitated, point down the road, and keep shouting go. I was dying to take a picture, but Mama didn't raise no fool, I knew it was time to go. So sorry , no pictures............A bit later down the road I get passed by an exact Chinese copy of a US Army Humvee.

[iamcanjim]

Those neat Humvee copies are made by either Great Wall or Beijing auto. You can pick one up for cheap. Saw them at the Shanghai auto show.

[CrazyCarl]

Crimson asphalt. The boys in green! The plot thickenz!!!

[Tall guy]

After I passed the two tanks there was a huge temporary military base. All tents. I just thinking of snapping a picture, but after the tanks there was a soldier posted every 10 meters all along the road. This made picture taking impossible. No crimson asphalt. The guy leaking blood was sitting in the flat area next to the tree. So crimson forest ??

[CrazyCarl]

Yeah snapping pics would be a bad idea in that situation. Things is stickier than they wuz inda past. Well you can always try a different route?

CC

[CrazyCarl]

If you haven't already made up your mind to go one way or another, you can head north from "shangrila" towards Sichuan. It's the same way ChinaV and I went last year and managed to get through. You won't be dissapointed by roads or scenery on this route. Let me illustrate...


- this is only a few KM's north of Shangrila (Yunnan) -


- As is this....


- and this...



Like a total slacker I never finished the trip report from last year but I can say the road northis not a bad route and even though it has checkpoints, just make it clear you're going home to stay in Chengdu.

Damn... I really need to work on that report...

CC

[GXT200_Costarica]

how many kms did Mr Tall Guy drive from Chiang Mai to reach Lhasa ,TIBET ? thanks for sharing all this experience very nice pics. Cz from Costa rica.

[mythbuster]

My Chinese wife translated the mudflap mate ..just the shops company name..so it probably helped keep the Police off your back around there..

Interesting the attitude of the Police in the License area ...good that they seem to be softening up a bit ...

Great trip mate enjoy ..I am planning to maybe go to Guang Zhou early next year for a trip and will try and catch up with ChinaV and a few of the people there..

Thanks for the excellent story ,trip and report photos...
Have a ball there and if in Brisbane area any time any of you on this forum give me a buzz...