North west China to the Tibet border

[KTMphil]

1st Yak

 

[KTMphil]

Approaching Shangri La from the south




Shangri La or Zhongdian as the Chinese know it by, was made famous by James Hilton's 1933 novel, Lost Horizon, where he describes a valley at the western end of Kunlun mountains. Lots more here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-

It has a high Tibetan population, some say as high as 80%

 

[KTMphil]

Cold, wet and tired, I treated myself to a decent hotel in the middle of Shangri La, the Holy Palace Hotel, 460 RMB/ 5,300 Bht!




It was a bit worn for a 5 star hotel, but a huge room, even with a card playing table

 

[KTMphil]

Plaque on the hotel room was pretty interesting, showing the Shangri La elevation 3,340 meters




It was quite surprising what a large, modern city Shangri La was, in the middle of nowhere, kind of reminded me of vegas without the gambling, amazing what cash flow the tourist industry can provide if marketed in the right way.

Shangri La by day




Shangri La by night

 

[KTMphil]

There's a sacred, Buddhist temple 2km north of Shangri La thats worth a visit







An impression of what the old city looked like




From the temple, all the guides and Chinese were pointing and photographing this. It must be ancient sacred ground



This was inside one of he temple buildings, he monk got pretty upset when my camera accidently went off

 

[KTMphil]

Looking south from the temple over the city of Shangri La

 

[KTMphil]

Lots of things to look at in Shangri La, the ladies in their traditional dress a the market look beautiful









Fashion with ethnic attire

 

[KTMphil]

Huge market




Pork as far as the eye can see




Not sure if this is horse or yak meat




Lots of tasty looking smoked cured meat







The domestic cats even look different

 

[KTMphil]

The local blue stone was used in most of the big buildings



They seem to be crazy about pool.....every village had pool tables

 

[KTMphil]

I had seen this guy on the highway, looks like he done some serious km's






Dragoncloud Inn seems to be one of the best places to stay in shangri La at around 150 RMB a night. Well run, new rooms, its at the north end of SGL's old town.





SGL's old town, quite beautiful

 

[KTMphil]

A rotating Pagoda in SGL's old town




Another pagoda

 

[KTMphil]

Traditional dancing in SGL's old city in the early evening

 

[KTMphil]

Next to SGL's old square check out the Gallery Bar, very tastefully done

 

[KTMphil]

Now it was time to head north to the wild west. Up until a few years ago, Shangri La was the furthest north a foreigner could go with a Tibet permit. Now foreigners can go 180km north to Deqin & then a further 60km north of Deqin, where the first Tibetan checkpoint now is. The area north of SGL is nasty, raw, cold & in the winter is frequently cut off by snow storms,an area that needs respect.

Next morning time to head north of SGL.The altitude pressure difference was playing havoc with my cashew nuts.




You could feel the difference, the sky was whizzing by and it was 5-7 deg cent. cooler













But it had the best scenery so far!

 

[KTMphil]

i wonder if these roads flood? they were not that high




The G214 north to Deqin is a really fun road

 

[KTMphil]

More fun




A fantastic viewpoint north of SGL

 

[KTMphil]

Route G 214 north of SGL,south of Deqin has about 6 nasty sections of broken road, they are building an expressway, not sure if it will be a toll road






A sacred monastery south of Deqin





Some hard core Chinese riders headed up to Lhasa, Tibet










I tried to ask him why so many coat hangers, but he didn't speak english

 

[KTMphil]

July in the northern hemisphere and im seeing snow



And this is the main highway!! - often blocked by snow storms





It was bloody cold and this was a sunny day





Looking at the snow and ice made it colder!!

 

[KTMphil]

A Tibetan horse caravan traveler, probably the same route that's been done for1,000 years

 

[KTMphil]

The route north to Deqin, no need to go fast, so much to look at





1st peak at some of the glaciers in the region











Almost north to Deqin now, a village on the outskirts









Glacier between the pagoda's

 

[KTMphil]

Finally get to Deqin, a town in the middle of nowhere





Found a small hotel down the main street 100 rmb/ 500 Bht










Went for a stroll around Deqin











The market was small, one thin street

 

[KTMphil]

Monks checking the bus timetable




Another getting some veggies




old lady in Deqin






An interesting "KTM" theretoo





Chinese chap on a BMW 1200 GS and another on a Galaxy

 

[KTMphil]

Next days planis to get over to Mile mountain. This is one of the most sacred Tibetan mountans - over 6,000 meters its NEVER been climbed. Some Japanese climbers tried some years back and they all died. After that up to the Tibetan checkpoint.



This one rugged nasty raw road, with landslides everywhere

 

[KTMphil]

This was near Mile mountain, it was on the news that evening, so is something special







The turn off for Mile




The river as pretty angry below the bridge

 

[KTMphil]

Got to the base of Mile mountain and got this

 

[KTMphil]

More to come.........

 

[BobS]

More about the mountain - Kawagarbo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Kawagarbo is the high point in a range of high peaks that are generally referred to by Tibetans also as Kawagarpo. A mapping error by the Chinese army during the 1950's transcribed the name for a lower range of mountains to the north on a much larger area that also included Kawagarbo. The name of this lower range in Tibetan is Menri (Wylie system; Sman-ri in the Wade-Giles system; name means Mountains of Medicinal Herbs), but is most widely known by its Chinese transliteration, Meili Xue Shan (梅里雪山 or Meili Snow Mountain)

 

[2wheels]

Just in case you are not aware of this Phil; (Bgk Post tonight)


[h=2]China censors flood coverage[/h]

• Published: 24/07/2012 at 06:17 PM
• Online news:

BEIJING: Beijing's propaganda chief has ordered Chinese media to stick to good news about weekend floods, according to a report, after the death of at least 37 people sparked fierce criticism of the government.
Lu Wei told media outlets to stick to stories of "achievements worthy of praise and tears", the Beijing Times daily reported Monday, as authorities tried to stem the tide of accusations that they failed to do enough.

Residents of China's rapidly modernising capital have said some of the deaths could have been prevented if better warnings had been issued and the city's ancient drainage systems modernised.

Many took to China's popular microblogs, known as weibos, to question the official death toll of 37 issued on Sunday, although by Tuesday, censors had begun deleting critical posts from the Internet.

Residents of the worst-hit area of Fangshan, on the mountainous southwestern outskirts of China's sprawling capital, said the government was doing little to help find their missing loved ones.

"The government doesn't help at all, every family is responsible for searching for their own family members," said Wang Baoxiang, whose 30-year-old nephew had been missing since going out in Saturday's rains.

The China Daily, a state-run English-language newspaper with a predominantly foreign readership, ran an editorial on Tuesday urging Beijing authorities to improve the drainage system, which it said "leaves much to be desired".

But much of China's state-run media steered away from critical stories, focusing on human interest angles of residents helping each other out.

Senior Beijing leaders at an emergency meeting late Monday urged greater efforts to find those still missing, identify the bodies and repair flood-damaged roads.

"(The storm) was an extremely large natural disaster rarely seen in Beijing... bringing serious losses to the lives and property of the people," the Beijing Daily quoted mayor Guo Jinlong as saying.

"All areas of society are greatly concerned with the numbers of fatalities, (so) we must assess the causes of death," he said, adding any increases in the death toll should be reported immediately.

 

[Franki]

Phil,

I think I was ahead of you about 2 weeks. These are my views of the Shangri-la. I'll be posting my RR on ADV Rider if you are interested.

 

[rhiekel]

Here is my view of the dividing line between China and Tibet that is north of Deqin .... :-)

 

[Captain_Slash]

Great photos Phil and it sounds like you are having a very enoyable time out there.

This puts me off though (It's cold here,the coldest i've ever ridden in, so cold that my hands and feet were numb while riding today)

 

[KTMphil]

Frankie - wonderful photo's. Do you have any photo's of the bowl making nuns in Nixi? I didn't have time to stop there.

 

[rhiekel]

Great photos Phil and it sounds like you are having a very enoyable time out there.

This puts me off though (It's cold here,the coldest i've ever ridden in, so cold that my hands and feet were numb while riding today)

Phil is not kidding about the cold. Here is an area slightly north and a bit higher.....Fortunately I had an electric vest which amazed the Chinese riders. They had no idea such a product existed.

 

[KTMphil]

From the sacred temple at the base of Mile mountain, this was all i could see of he mountain.





& right here would be the very beginnings of the Mekong river

 

[KTMphil]

Poking around a bit more,managed to get some quick peeks of Mile trough the clouds








Around the Mile mountain area, it looks like there's some great tracks to explore leading to some small Tibetan villages





The trail wasn't so bad, mostly crushed slate

 

[KTMphil]

Running out of time, it was now time to head north as far as i could to the Tibetan checkpoint. Rob got arrested when he went to this checkpoint, was held overnight in a strange GH and let free in the morning, so have to be a bit careful up there. Its still only possible, as a foreign passport holder to enter Tibet in a 5 group minimum with permits issued in advance.

So northbound again on R G214 following the river, a great looking suspension bridge here





I bet she's seen some changes up here near the Tibet border





Another suspension bridge





& then to the Tibetan checkpoint barrier. knowing what happened to Rob, I stopped 50 meters before the barrier checkpoint and got my camera out. IMMEDIATELY, 2guys ran at me from the checkpoint hut one grabbed my arm and one grabbed the bike, the were both shouting at the policeman to my right to come over. Knowing was about to happen, luckily the bike was sill running i shouted "no problem" at them, which startled them and managed to accelerate out of their grips and u turn and head south away from the border checkpoint.


Below is one photo i managed to take at the border, ahead is the police and military hut with the barrier in the up position. You can make out the guy in the black in front of me holding the bike.

 

[KTMphil]

There is a fuel station at the Tibetan border - about 1/2 km south of the barrier checkpoint.


So, now back south, getting late in the day & its about 60km south from the Tibetan border back to Deqin.


Lots of small villages every 10km line the highway as i go back south


View attachment 6860


Spectacular views

 

[KTMphil]

Trucks waiting to load up and head south




Tunnels and bridges north of Deqin, the tunnel road might be my favorite shot

 

[KTMphil]

The trucks are pretty good letting you know they're here with their horns on blind corners




The road carved out of the mountain side, south to Deqin

 

[KTMphil]

With all the rain,. there were waterfalls everywhere







Coming back down to Deqin, the clouds had cleared slightly and finally some views of Mile mountain/ "Kawa Karpo", the sacred 6,740 meter high mountain.