Tibet here we are !

Tibet here we are !

20 May 2012
/Michael Göbel
Day 1 - Arriving in Chengdu Our group! Our Tourguide? Our Bikes?....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . We can´t wait to go to Tibet. Spending the first day in Chengdu(China) was exciting, but we are ready for Tibet. .....Everything is so bright here..... Day 3 - Restdday in Lhasa We arrived yesterday in the afternoon in Lhasa and everybody got headache, that´s normal! Lhasa is 3600 meters high! So we have the restday to aclimatise. Today we felt better and did some sightseeing, the old town of Lhasa with its markets, the Jokhang Temple and the Potala Palace. The hundrets of stairs up to the Potala Palace took our breath away. Group at the Potala Day 4 - Restday ride to Namco Lake Our first riding day was just perfect. Going to Namco lake, the highest lake of substential size in the world, we got the first impressions of the landscape in Tibet, snowcovered mountains, green valleys and on top our first 5000 meter pass - breathtaking! New Edelweiss friends Tourguide got a new bike! The road down to the lake - what a view! < Exactly 5180 meters(ca. 15600 ft) Fotoshooting at the lake with a Yak Day 5 - Lhasa-Bayi Today we said good bye to Lhasa and headed east to Bayi on scenic roads. It was a long riding day with over 450 km and our first gravel experience. Our second pass road over 5000 meters, the Mi La, offered us some great views. But the highlight of today was a sidetrip in the morning on a fantastic gravelroad up to a small monastery at 4400 meters. The whole mountain was covered by prayer flags and from the distance it looked like a giant spider net. Prayer flags at the top of a pass Jörg and Warren install our Edelweiss prayer flag Gravelroad up to a monastery Mountain covered with prayer flags Day 6 Bayi - Lanxian 2930 meters, that is the altitude, we reached today, the lowest on the whole trip. We saw a 2600 year old cypres tree and had a wonderful lunch at a Chinese restaurant, before we rode the 250 km on a great motorcycle road to our destination Lanxian. The absolute Highlight was a small old monastery, where we could have a close look and inhaled the special athmosphere. Lunch with Chinese Family Sanddunes? Yes! Typical landscape along the Yarlung Tsangpo Day 7 - Langxian-Tsetang Today was the ultimate ride! A really challenging offroad section over 130 km with deep sand alternating with very rough rocky parts. This road climbed up to a 4930 meter high pass where it was snowing. After that hard riding day we reached the hotel exhausted, dirty and happy. Aloy from Brasil enjoying the sand Petra and Jörg at our Chinese Picnic Leo from Austria dirty and happy Day 8 Tsetang - Gyantse Motorcycle riding at its best at the Kamba-La pass. A mountain pass like in the alps with plenty of curves and good pavement, but 4800 meters high. The view from the top to the Yamdrok-tso lake was just incredible. In the afternoon we made another 5000 meter pass, the Karo-La, very close to a glacier. At the top of Kamba-La pass Group picture at Lake Yamdrok-tso Approaching the glacier of Nojin-Kangtsang What´s on the Menu tonight? Day 9 Gyantse - Tingri Today we did the highest pass road on this tour, the Lhakpa-La, 5270 meters or 17570 feet! One bike had some trouble at that altitude and we had to tow it. I won´t tell you what brand it was... We saw the Mount Everest for the first time, it was overvalming. Some side trips on dirt made the day complete and the beer at the hotel in Tingri tasted fantastic. Yaks going to work Petra and Jörg enjoing the scenery Side trip to a lookout Little Yamaha is towing the big GS Adventure After ride beer at the hotel Day 10 Loop to Mount Everest Base Camp This was the day of the days, that was what we came for. 113 gravel hairpins one way and the world highest mountain in front of our bikes. Standing that close to the mighty Mount Everest at the base camp, the whole group was about to cry. What an experience! The ride over more than 200 kilometers of gravel in high altitude was hard and exhausting, but it was worth every single meter. Yaks crossing the road Road to Base Camp Monks from the world highest monastery checking out the bikes Mount Everest Group at Mount Everest Base Camp Day 11 Tingri - Shigatse After that amazing day yesterday, we were ready for a kind of rest day. Doing the highest pass again today was like a peace of cake. Even the GS Adventure made it without any problem. Only one flat tire held us up for a while. The third one on tour. Arriving in Shigatse with its huge monastery was quite exciting. Many people on the road and no visible traffic rules. Petra and Michael having a cigarette at 5230 meters Fixing another flat tire Group waiting for the tire repair Break at a local shop Day 12 Shigatse - Lhasa, last riding day Unfortunately this was our last riding day and we have to say good bye to Tibet. In the morning the hotel staff in Shigatse made a really nice leaving ceremony and we headed east to Lhasa on the Friendship Highway. The lunchstop was something special, together with hundrets of Chinese bustourists. They really made a mass in the restaurant and everybody wanted to take a picture fron us or with us. We should charge for these pictures and make a lot of money. Arriving back in Lhasa we celebrated our finish with real Italian coffee and chocolate cake. It is hard to say good bye to Tibet and to our riding buddies, who really became friends. It was a memorable trip and a once in a lifetime experience. Thanks to everybody, beeing such a nice group and making life as a tourguide pretty easy. Take care everybody! Hope to see you again! Michael Leaving ceremony at Shigatse Hotel Carol from Australia enjoying the scenery Strange motorcycle brand Lissi and Leo enjoying the wellfare Capuccino