To Tongma: many pilgrims heading to Lhasa

April 18, 2007

We spent most of the evening outside our tent near the campfire enjoying the mountain scenery around us. When the first stars appear we let the fire burn down and get in our tent.

The night is colder than we expected, a lot of condensation ice has formed on the inside of the rainfly. Patrick tries to restart the fire in the morning, but the wood around us even the pinecones are too wet from the dew to catch fire. We eat our oatmeal and coffee and pack up.

Today is again mostly downhill, that is we end up at a lower elevation. Losing elevation is not the same as downhill, as we will have many kilometers of climbing today. We see several impressive mountain peaks and a beautiful valley/canyon through which the green Tsangpo river flows on its way to India.

As we go lower, it gets warmer and by noon Patrick is in shorts and t-shirt for the first time in a while. The forest is much denser with a thorny undergrowth. Lots of crickets can be heard and there are many bugs in the air. Other cyclists have complained about leeches, mosquitoes and bad camp spots on this stretch, but we assume that must be more of an issue in the wet season. We have a choice of two towns for our destination today. The lack of good camp spots and several landslide areas make it a good day for a guesthouse, plus we will be able to recharge all our batteries before the next stretch to Lhasa.

Tongne seems nice, starting with a good meal at a restaurant, then checking into a very basic room behind another restaurant down the street. The toilets are perched over the ravine, and next to the pig pen. Patrick discovers a small unlit room with a hot shower. We are given permission to use it!

Later we eat another good meal at our guesthouse, we'll need lots of fuel for the next couple of days. From this elevation of about 2000 meters, we must climb back up to the next pass at over 4500 meters. We have been lucky with the road surface though; where previous cyclists had a rough gravel road, we now find smooth asphalt. We hope it will continue tomorrow.

One more road note today, we saw lots of pilgrims on their way to Lhasa and three of them are doing it the hard way. They are wearing leather aprons, rubber tire strips over the noses of their shoes and leather with metal gloves. Every step they place hands together over their head, then their heart and throw themselves flat on the road, slide to a halt, stretch out the arms in a prostrate position, get back up and do it all over again.

And it's still over 600km to Lhasa! Now that's practicing your religion!