• D G
  • Annika Fendler
  • D G
  • Annika Fendler

From Lhasa to Kathmandu

Going from Lhasa to Kathmandu by bike. Baca selengkapnya
  • Awal trip
    15 September 2018
  • Die letzte Trainingsfahrt

    10 September 2018, Jerman ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Den letzten Sonntag vor der Reise haben wir für unsere letzte Trainingsrunde genutzt. Wir haben uns eine ganz besondere Tour bis zum Schluss aufgehoben: Den kompletten Mauerradweg an einem Tag. Es war ein perfekter Spätsommertag und obwohl es eine lange Fahrt war, hat es von Anfang bis Ende Spaß gemacht. Und am Ende hätten wir gleich noch weiterfahren können;-)Baca selengkapnya

  • Hutong life

    17 September 2018, Cina ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Hutongs are definitely a lot different from
    what I expected. While most of them were torn down in recent years to make space for new highrise condos, they apparently experience a hip revival. Some streets are still quiet and residential, but you can find hip coffee places, restaurants and art galleries everywhere.Baca selengkapnya

  • The first buddhist monastery

    20 September 2018, Cina ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    We arrived in the Himalaya and that means that we visited our first buddhist monastery, the Kumbum monastery in Huangzhung. The temple is the birthplace of Tsongkhapa, the founder of Gelug buddhism and an important pilgrimage site.
    But it became a special visit for us because we were immediately spotted out by a young monk. He showed us every corner of the monastery, was joking all the time and loved posing for pictures.
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  • Wannabe Rockstar friendly

    20 September 2018, Cina ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Have you ever been in the mood of destroying a hotel room but were afraid of the costs? Go to China. They have a pricelist for each and every item in the room, so you can party according to your budget.

    It's not long ago that Chinese people, especially business men, were partying so hard on their rooms that the hotels came up with the pricelist.

    Have a closer look at the items, it's entertaining to find weird items.
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  • Dancing in the streets

    20 September 2018, Cina ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    No need for a dance floor in China. Just go to the nearest park, set up your boom box, turn the volume to max and start dancing. No matter if you are into Chinese pop music, traditional songs or gangnam style, there is something for everyone.Baca selengkapnya

  • Arriving in Lhasa

    21 September 2018, Cina ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    So, we finally made it to Lhasa.
    After a 24 hrs train ride across 5000 m high passes and permafrost ground.
    No altitude sickness so far, and we immediately got some chinese medicine to keep it that way😉.
    Lhasa is breathtaking in other ways, the light, the temples, the people. Can‘t wait to explore more.
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  • Visiting Potala palace

    22 September 2018, Cina ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    It is without doubt one of the most impressive buildings in the world: The Dalai Lama's palace in Lhasa. Being Tibet's palace and administrative building since the 17th century it's now empty since the Dalai Lama fled to India in the 1950s. It's Lhasa's main tourist attraction. Though the number of tickets is limited to 3000 a day it's packed with people. You can only visit a small part of the over 1000 rooms and you have only 50 minutes for the visit. (And it's super expensive, btw.)

    Still it is very impressive, especially as the tourist crowds are mixing with the pilgrims worshipping the different holy items. Not to forget: The enormous political symbol that lies in the building, being the home of the Dalai Lama. Police and military is everywhere. And fire extinguishers. They were put up everywhere since Buddhist monks burnt themselves a couple of years ago protesting against the Chinese occupation.

    If you are wondering why there are no pictures from inside: it's usually not allowed to take pictures inside Buddhist places.
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  • Debates

    23 September 2018, Cina ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    According to buddhist belief in Tibet ignorance is one of the greatest sins (the others are greed and jealousy).
    Monks have to study all their life. More importantly they have to understand... So they have debates everyday. Meaning one monk is sitting down while another one is standing beside him asking him questions. For several hours. This will also decide about the seating order in the main hall (meaning their status in the monastery).
    It is really fascinating to watch, although we can‘t understand the language.
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  • Day 1: Easy going

    24 September 2018, Cina ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    An easy first day of biking. Flat, only 100m height on 65km. Very good road. Quite a lot of traffic, but super relaxed. Everybody is very tolerant with us, passing cars are keeping a lot of distance. We were able to ride on the road without problems, if passing was not possible people stayed behind us. Wish we could ride that relaxed in Germany...

    And a local woman was very impressed by Annika's calfs.
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  • Changes in scenery

    27 September 2018, Cina ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Yesterday we passed one of the highest glaciers in the world. After a long uphill ride to 5040 m, the glacier suddenly appeared before us reaching up to over 7100 m. It was simply breathtaking (and not only because of the thin air up here😉).
    Afterwards our road went downhill and the landscape changed quickly. We passed a reservoir and finally we spotted trees and farm land again.
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  • Staying on the tibetan countryside

    30 September 2018, Cina ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We found a hotel for the night. It‘s clean and it has Wifi. And it has an outstanding interior. And a donkey!
    Only drawback: It doesn‘t have a toilet😯. But on this trip we anyway have to get used to very „basic“ facilities.Baca selengkapnya

  • Meet the team

    30 September 2018, Cina ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    You might have guessed so: We are not alone on the road. It's actually quite a big team. Four people doing the tour, our German guide, a tibetian guide and two drivers. A van and a truck.

    That may sound a bit too much logistics for four people, but: You are not allowed in Tibet without a local guide. The car is not only a safety feature (imagine someone having problems with the height so he has to go down quickly...) but also needed because there are some parts of the route we cannot cycle. The truck is needed to carry bikes in case of an emergency and also because the bikes cannot go from Tibet to Nepal but have to go back to China. We will get other bikes in Nepal. And the German guide knows the route.

    Though our guide speaks Chinese it is actually quite important to have a local guide who can speak tibetian. The more you get to the countryside the less people are speaking Chinese. And it's not always clear where to spend the night. We had one planned hotel that was being renovated, another one was just demolished (sic!). And tonight we went one village further because the guides said the accomodation is better (though it is lacking a toilet..)
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  • Going to mount Everest base camp

    3 Oktober 2018, Cina ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    Today we don't cycle but go to the mount Everest base camp by bus. It would be possible to cycle, but it already takes 4 hours by car. All in all it would probably take 3 days to go up, see the mountain and go down again.

    You need a special permit to be allowed to go to the base camp. And it was already checked twice now. And there is at least one more checkpoint. They check the permit, the passport and your visa...

    The Chinese are taking loads of pictures in front of the main gate, standing on their land cruisers.

    And then the road begins winding upwards, 54 turns to the top. At about 5200 m a last turn and then you have an amazing view!
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  • Staying in a tibetian village

    4 Oktober 2018, Cina ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C

    Coming back from the mountain we had accommodation in a small village. We stayed with a tibetian family in a traditional house. On the ground floor a living room, the only room in the house with heating: A yak poo fireplace. Upstairs the guest rooms and a hole-in-the-ground toilet.

    You can see the Everest from the village and also from our room!

    Standing on the house's roof we watched the villagers bringing in the cattle while waiting for the sun to go down. No wonder people think the Everest is holy when all the other mountains are already dark and the peak of the Everest is the only thing still lit.
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  • Crossing the border

    7 Oktober 2018, Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Crossing the border to Nepal was really a show. The contrast between the two countries could not be more obvious. A big customs building, which was meant to impress in China vs. a shed in Nepal. Even the bridge across the river that separated both countries started deteriorating in the middle. Needless to say that the chinese site was fine.
    And the road... The perfect new street changed into a bumby trail. Mountainbiking skills are definitively a plus in Nepal.
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