It's 3pm, we are finally on our way to somewhere. The day started with getting to the Shigatse bus station at 730am, trying to purchase the bus ticket to Sa Jia. The bus turns out to be full, so from the advise of a driver, we bought tickets to Lhatse, a town at the intersection along the highway and the path down to Sa Jia , where we might be able to catch a ride for 10 yuan from there.
We returned just in time before the 9:30 am departure to Lhatse. As we wanted to return to Shigatse later in the day, we were doing a lot of calculations. The direct bus will take 3 hrs from...
Day started with endless blue sky's and fluffy cumulus clouds. A simple bus ride from Lhasa to Shigatse. The road and scenery is so picturesque that it reminds me of Vietnam. It would be perfect if I am on a motorcycle, cruising along rather than dozing off in the bus.
Once we made it to Shigatse, it's when things started to become challenging. Apparently, I'm considered a foreigner even though I am Chinese. Not being allow to stay at all hostels except one in the area. And the only hostel that accepts foreigners is fully books. Let's just say all these restrictions are making it difficult....
It's been a week of non stop research as to where to go from Lhasa. Had a rough idea before arriving here, but planning the details is time consuming. There are two possible paths I would consider from Lhasa.
Westward path from Lhasa heads along the Southern Silk Road, then northward slowly along the borders of China and Central Asia countries, following into Kazakhstan and into Moscow, Russia. The Silk Road is mysterious, hardly travel by anyone. There are jeeps for hire, but I've heard the road is really beaten up.
The other path would be heading south, along the Friendship highway between...
Arrived Tibet lhasa yesterday by flight from Chengdu. As much as we want to come to Tibet by train, it is fully booked till Aug 13th. For about the same price, we arrived with an 2 hours flight instead of an 48 hrs train journey. A very quick shortcut to Tibet, but our body is not use to this higher altitude of 3500m. If we took the long way here, we could acclimatize for 2 days at Xinning, a city that is 2300m above sea level, so the body can get use to the lower air oxygen content.
We all arrived with a slight headache, which is mildly normal. One of us is starting to lose appetite,...
Met a few couchsurfers while in Chongqing. Didn't couch with any at the moment, more for making friends while in the new city. Get to chill and understand more of their western Chinese culture.
Have asked why in Sichuan territory everything is so spicy? Apparently there are a few categories of spices. There is slow spices that slowly comes out after you savor the other flavours. There is instant spices that hides all other flavors, especially useful for food that's about to go bad. Then there is the numbing spices, which gives a burning sensation along the tongue and the lips. No amount of water...