Continue trip report page 3...

10 Aug 2003: Gyantse - Lhasa, 280 kilometers

We woke up for our planned early breakfast and were on the road with our sack lunches by 7:30 a.m.

It was planned that the truck and Land Cruiser would meet the bikers around 11 a.m. at Yamdrok Tso, taking on enough gasoline to last the rest of the day until the downhill run into Lhatze.

We had a beautiful drive over the Karo La pass. We all met at Yamdrok Tso as planned for lunch and refueling.

Lisbeth's bike had a problem starting, but our mechanic managed to repair it with little delay. Across the road was a beautiful mountain slope, and Annie and Ajs could not resist the temptation to climb it on their bikes.

They roared up the trail-less slope and were out of our sight in few minutes, returning after 20 minutes. Carsten recorded it all with snapshots and video.

We soon started driving again and stopped at Kamba La, another pass, where we saw local people, took some photographs and headed down to Yarlung Tsangpo (the Bramhaputra River). The road down was pretty scary, with numerous bends.

At the end of the gravelled road, Henning flipped over his bike but fortunately was not injured. The only damage was a small scratch on his gloves, torn trousers and a scrape on his bike's rear fender. We continued along the paved road, and after a few kilometers we came to a sand dune which Annie and Ajs started riding on. The dune riding was pretty funny to see, so we took some snaps and then headed to Lhasa.

We were booked at Hotel Sangbala in Lhasa, but on arrival our agent, Mr. Charlie, switched us to a big Chinese hotel for a two-day rest. Our mechanic was able to work on the bikes in the hotel's courtyard.

August 11 and 12, 2003 - Lhasa

This was a time for sightseeing and rest to prepare for the coming push to Everest Basecamp. We visited the famed Potala palace and several monasteries. Next stop will be Shigatse, another 280 kilometer day.



August 13, 2003, Lhasa - Shigatse, 280 kilometers

I collected all our baggage and had it loaded into our truck. Breakfast was at 6:45 a.m.Annie decided to ride in the Land Cruiser with us this morning.After about 40 kilometers, the sprocket on Ajs's bike became disabled, and it was not possible to fix it, so we gave him our spare bike to complete the day.

We took our lunch at a tiny Chinese restaurant. Annie discovered that she had left some of her biking gear back at our Lhasa hotel.I asked the guide about it and he called our agent to arrange to have Annie's gear sent to the hotel in Shigatse where we planned to stay tonight. We reached Shigatse at 3 p.m.even though part of the road was pretty bad.

Our mechanic managed to repair the sprocket of Ajs's bike and did some other checking and washing. Our clients checked in to the Shigatse Hotel, but due to a room shortage, I stayed in the Shigatse post hotel, which was as good as Shigatse hotel.We had dinner at a fancy Chinese restaurant, ordering 8 varieties of Chinese food. << Previous Page | Next page >>>