We really needed this well deserved rest day. We were exhausted so we relaxed and slept. But after this day, there was another pass waiting. It was paved, but the climb lasted 70 km. This meant it was gradual, but as I said, in Tibet there is no day without setbacks.
We arrived on the top of the pass very late after a very long day of climbing. We were really looking forward to the downhill, but then the wind came. An extremely strong and cold wind. We had to push it to get down and this was just too much after this long climb. Almost dead, we arrived in the dark. And this was only just after our rest day, exhausted again!
But what was waiting for us: a downhill of an incredible 250 km. Well, a Tibetan downhill, with quite a few small climbs in between, but in the long run it was downhill the whole way. The landscape changed dramatically. Before the mountains were bare and there were only rocks. But now there were pine trees everywhere in their beautiful autumn colours, sometimes deep red. Snowy mountains where above us and a turquoise river was below us, just beside the road. Actually, you couldn't really call it a road. It was dust again and rocks. Still we managed to go quite fast. The last part of the downhill was through rainforest! In Tibet, believe it or not.
We arrived at our first unexpected checkpoint, but the uniformed men were really friendly and only checked our passport. We told this to a Swiss cyclist who was heading in the opposite direction and was going to pass this checkpoint the following day. We couldn't believe what we saw, when this next morning, he passed us on a bus back to Lhasa! He got arrested at this very checkpoint and they took his bike and passport. We were shocked. Not even 5 minutes later, on the top of a pass, we were stopped by a police car. You probably can imagine how nervous we were. We showed the officer our biggest smile, he showed his ID-card. "PSB, can I see your Travel Permit?" Pat was so smart, he just said "Off course" and showed the cop our visa!! The man looked at it for a while and to our big surprise, he let us go! We couldn't believe our luck. I took advantage of the situation and asked the officer if he could take our picture. We were so happy, but figured that our luck probably wouldn't last. But nothing happened. It must be our charming smile...
The days that followed, we slept in beautiful pilgrims guesthouses. You see them a lot on the road, people that walk to Lhasa. They take three steps forward, lay down flat on the ground, make a praying gesture with their hands and get up again, repeating this all the way, sometimes more than 500 km. A fascinating and bizarre sight. They eat and sleep in those guesthouses and us too. We are also some kind of pilgrims, right? We saw the most beautiful people there and on the road. The men had braids and red fabrics in their hair, women with long skirts and silver jewellery. Sometimes it was like in the movies, men wore animal skin and the women were leading their yaks along steep mountain paths. Beautiful.
Only two passes to go before Lhasa and we were counting the days. The accommodation was so basic, we hadn't had a shower in days. We were tired and cold, but still cycled many kilometres a day. But finally, there it was, our last pass. It was over 5000, so we started early, maybe a bit to early. At 4300 m the temperature dropped in no time to -10 degrees Celcius! The water we carried froze while cycling! On this altitude you have 50% less oxygen, so your body reacts to this. It was like there was a rope around our longs. You get really dizzy and get headaches. Cycling sometimes goes slower then walking. But after half a day of climbing, we were there!! It was an emotional moment!
From here 2 days downhill to Lhasa, which we did with an incredible speed! The feeling we got standing in front of the Potala palace is indescribable. A victory, enormous pride. WE DID IT!!!!!!! |
