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From Lhasa to Kathmandu
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  • Annika Fendler
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  • Annika Fendler

From Lhasa to Kathmandu

Going from Lhasa to Kathmandu by bike. Read more
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  • Trip start
    September 15, 2018
  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Die letzte Trainingsfahrt

    September 10, 2018 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 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;-)Read more

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  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Almost ready

    September 15, 2018 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Packing. Almost set. But we have the feeling there is something very black, very heavy, very hairy we should not take to China...

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Bikes everywhere

    September 17, 2018 in China ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Recently a lot of people in Berlin were complaining about the amount of shared bikes in Berlin. Well, they definitely have never been to Beijing 🚴🏻‍♀️😁

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Hutong life

    September 17, 2018 in China ⋅ ☁️ 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.Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu
    1

    E-Mobility in Beijing

    September 18, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    While Germany is talking about e-mobility China is doing it. With fascinating vehicles. But they are everywhere and make the city super quiet, especially off the main streets. Obviously even ducks are not swimming but switched. Reader activity: find the police vehicles.Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    The first buddhist monastery

    September 20, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 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.    Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Wannabe Rockstar friendly

    September 20, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 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.    Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu
    3

    Dancing in the streets

    September 20, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 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.Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Arriving in Lhasa

    September 21, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 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.    Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Visiting Potala palace

    September 22, 2018 in China ⋅ ☁️ 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.    Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Debates

    September 23, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 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.    Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Day 1: Easy going

    September 24, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 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.    Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Changes in scenery

    September 27, 2018 in China ⋅ ⛅ 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.    Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Visiting a chinese supermarket

    September 29, 2018 in China ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    It's always interesting visiting a supermarket in another country. Here you can find: Weird vine bottles, Schnaps from the barrel (in different qualities), more soy sauce than you can imagine, animal parts that are a bit special for the german taste and last not least: Corn ice-cream (which is tasty btw)Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Staying on the tibetan countryside

    September 30, 2018 in China ⋅ ☀️ 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.Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Meet the team

    September 30, 2018 in China ⋅ 🌙 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..)    Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    A challenging but rewarding day

    October 2, 2018 in China ⋅ 🌙 2 °C

    Today was our hardest trip so far.
    First a long uphill ride to 5200 m.
    And then a downhill ride that felt like going uphill again because of the really strong headwind.

    But....

    We saw the Mount Everest for the first time today. And it was as amazing as expected (and cellphone pictures don‘t do it justice)Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Going to mount Everest base camp

    October 3, 2018 in China ⋅ ☀️ 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!    Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    At mount Everest

    October 3, 2018 in China ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C

    This is as close you can get. Amazing views, though you are not allowed to go closer or to the mountaineers base camp.

    And right next to the camp a very old monastery. And the monastery's toilet is simple but has an amazing view.Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Staying in a tibetian village

    October 4, 2018 in China ⋅ ☀️ 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.    Read more

  • From Lhasa to Kathmandu

    Crossing the border

    October 7, 2018 in 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.    Read more

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