Everyone who saw us was asking if we were on our way to Lhasa. It’s a popular destination for Chinese overlanders. Unfortunately, we would not be joining them.

Noodles in a filling station. After leaving here, a hilarious chinese guy on a motorbike hung out with us for the evening. After finding out he was going to Lhasa we asked if he was going to see the Potala Palace. Through his translator app he replies ‘No, i travel to feel the feeling’. Right answer.

Our first Prayer flags.

A Chinese businessman chasing an ibex for a photo

A brand new taoist temple. However interesting the temple was we would have been more interested in a restaurant

“Maybe theres a restaurant around this corner” we finally found somewhere well after dark. We were literally jumping with joy.

And we are officially on the plataue. Thats about the height of Mont Blanc for some refernce.

And the plataue is as a flat as you’d expect.

Can’t pass up a swim at 4000 m

The water at over 4000 m was pretty cold and after only few strokes i was gasping for breath. There isn’t much oxygen either at this altitude either. After cathching my breath i decided

Good bye Andre.

High grasslands

It snowed every night on the plateau.

All this snow would be burned off by noon at at this altitutde. As a combination of the stronger sun a and lower melting point.

After every climb there’s a descent, and on the plataue both are pretty big.

A giant Prayer wheel at our first monastery

Thanks for the coffee Vinnie.

Huge vultures scared from a carcas .

Combustion engines loose a lot of power due to the lower oxygen. So the roads have to be long winding switchbacks that never get too steep. make for pretty scenic riding.

A lot of the roads we’ve cycled on have been so fresh that they’re still steaming. This was one of them.

The wind was so strong we could barely stop.

This Brand new bridge towering over rural china sums up the country pretty well.

Evening riding is pretty nice.

Prayer wheels

Hugo and his crew

Stupa

Us and our gang.

Mani wall in Zhidou.

Monks having a waterfight

Someone doesn’t approve.

Hey mister.

Where did he learn that?

This is how we spend most of our days off.

Weather at the passes is pretty volatile.

A shaggy dog losing his winter coat.

Leaving Yushu.

One of our better camp sites.

Newly built temples are quite common as the Chinese realise their value to tourism.

All you have to to to receive a nice new temple is renounce any relation to the 14th Dalai Lama.

Monks practicing their dance moves.

Entering The Princess Yushu Temple valley.

Prayer Flags sending out good fortune to all sentient being. They are a pretty common sight all across the plateau.

Monks taking pictures of each other. They were all to happy to pose for mine when the saw me.

New chinese roads, ancient prayer flags

Hup the Reds.

A wrathful Dharma protector. If you give away any sect secrets and he’ll be coming after you.

The faithfull circumambulating the world’s largest Mani Wall.

This monastery was destroyed. Our guide explains what happened, something involving guns. Couldn’t figure out whart or whom they were used on.

A veiw into a prayer hall while monks chant.

This little guy became our selfassigned guide for the monastery

Chinese make pretty nice roads.

We had all four season going over this pass

We met a lot of families picking caterpillar fungus. They were even more surprised to see us on bikes up this pass then we were seeing them. After chatting with them they gave us a push up the hill to get us going.

The weather cleared up when we reached the pass.