Lhasa to Kathmandu - part 2
On Friday (20 October) we woke up early to go stand on the side of the road at the edge of Tingri. Ben and I met 3 more hitchers here at the edge of town. Many half-empty land cruisers passed without stopping. I'm sure the fact that there were 5 of us hitching plus 1 more chatting and a number of children about us didn't help our chances. Nevertheless, after just 2 or 3 hours a tourist bus pulled over and the 5 of us piled in. Leg 3 of the journery, Tingri to Zhangmu for 50 Yuan ($6.50). We had aimed to get to the border for 200 Yuan and we had done just that. Most people on rented land cruiser pay 5 times that amount. Ben and I were thrilled that it proved so easy to get along the Friendship highway without organized transport. It usually is not so easy. On the bus journey we once again passed Brian and Rob cycling near the top of one of the last 5100-meter passes.
So we arrived at the border town of Zhangmu, Tibet that afternoon. The ride from Tingri to Zhangmu is going down as one of the most scenic ever. The high barren mountains of Tingri gave way to dramatically deep, green, foggy gorges as we dropped off the Tibetan plateau. It was simply surreal. We cruised along a road blasted into the sides of a dramatically steep valley with a river at times a thousand feet below. Of course there was no guard rails to be found so I tried not to look out the front of the bus. It was a breath taking ride.
Zhangmu is perched quite literally on the side of a mountain. I've never seen a town like it before. One road switch backs down this mountain and buildings cling to either side of the road. And they call it a town, it looks more like a crazy lifesize model of some strange idea of a town. We spent the night in a hotel there and enjoyed indoor plumbing (albeit no showers) for the first time in a while. The view from our room was quite good and in the morning we could see fresh snow on the top of the mountain the town was perched aside.
The next morning (Saturday, 21 October) I finally left Tibet, although it felt like I left Tibet the day before. The change from Tingri to the border was simply out of this world. The people changed dramatically too. Chinese and Tibetan gave way to Indian and Nepalese in a virtual instant. After going through Chinese and Nepalese customs, Ben and I took the local bus from the border to Kathmandu. For $2.50 we went almost 200 km over ~8 hours. So the final count was Lhasa to Kathmandu for $27.50 overland. I don't think it can possibly be done any cheaper as hitching in China and Tibet typically isn't free or easy.
I had reverse culture shock upon entering Kathmandu. Kathmandu simply has everything and its really a bit crazy. The tourist ghetto, Thamel, is something like Ko Shan Road in Bangkok. Nepal is leaps and bounds ahead of Tibet. Its almost sterile. Nepal is really cheap though. Ben and I are splitting a double room with bathroom for $1.50 each. Dinner last night in a nice, trendy, western restaurant was 4 times that! Really overpriced for Kathmandu, but we needed a good meal.
So we arrived at the border town of Zhangmu, Tibet that afternoon. The ride from Tingri to Zhangmu is going down as one of the most scenic ever. The high barren mountains of Tingri gave way to dramatically deep, green, foggy gorges as we dropped off the Tibetan plateau. It was simply surreal. We cruised along a road blasted into the sides of a dramatically steep valley with a river at times a thousand feet below. Of course there was no guard rails to be found so I tried not to look out the front of the bus. It was a breath taking ride.
Zhangmu is perched quite literally on the side of a mountain. I've never seen a town like it before. One road switch backs down this mountain and buildings cling to either side of the road. And they call it a town, it looks more like a crazy lifesize model of some strange idea of a town. We spent the night in a hotel there and enjoyed indoor plumbing (albeit no showers) for the first time in a while. The view from our room was quite good and in the morning we could see fresh snow on the top of the mountain the town was perched aside.
The next morning (Saturday, 21 October) I finally left Tibet, although it felt like I left Tibet the day before. The change from Tingri to the border was simply out of this world. The people changed dramatically too. Chinese and Tibetan gave way to Indian and Nepalese in a virtual instant. After going through Chinese and Nepalese customs, Ben and I took the local bus from the border to Kathmandu. For $2.50 we went almost 200 km over ~8 hours. So the final count was Lhasa to Kathmandu for $27.50 overland. I don't think it can possibly be done any cheaper as hitching in China and Tibet typically isn't free or easy.
I had reverse culture shock upon entering Kathmandu. Kathmandu simply has everything and its really a bit crazy. The tourist ghetto, Thamel, is something like Ko Shan Road in Bangkok. Nepal is leaps and bounds ahead of Tibet. Its almost sterile. Nepal is really cheap though. Ben and I are splitting a double room with bathroom for $1.50 each. Dinner last night in a nice, trendy, western restaurant was 4 times that! Really overpriced for Kathmandu, but we needed a good meal.
posted by Dustin at 3:54 AM
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