Debating taking place in the third beggest moestary on the plaatua

This is Party Tibetan. After buying some eggs for our breakfast he pulled up and invited us to dinner with excellent english. After having excellent meal(this is Sichuan after all). We went for tea and he invited us to stay in his this evening and we accepted . A little bit later he started saying he would put us up in a hotel. NOt wanting to put him out of pocket we said no but he insisted. We accepted and then later he told us that we were staying in a hotel instead of his house because he had just been invited to a party. We laughed and said we’d see him tomorrow and left him to go to his party. The next mornign Party Tibetan arrived half an hour late stinking of drink and looking failry hungover. We walked around the local monestary third biggest on the plataue.

This family pulled up and pilled out i got pictures with them all

We bumped into this chinese cycle coming the opposite way to us. With our broken chinese and his broken english we figured out he was spending three years cycling around just china(you’d need it). And yes he is cycleing with a guitar on his back.

Less than 1000km left as a trio.

These guys ran across a field craxled under and fence and climbed the hill to the road to say Goshe Delleg

These guys were all smiles until the camera came out.

Family Who say us from the road came over to have a better look. This actually happens all the time especially here.

Bye guys

Many people wave you over for tea and unfortunaly you can’t stop at all of them or you wouldn’t get anywhere. This monk was just short of jump up and down so i just could refuse. He was with a group camping in the mountains picking the catapiller fungus. He gave us tea yogurt with sugar and a soft drink for the road.

Long uphills have long downhills

but they don’t last foreve

There aren’t any rocks in Qinghai but getting into Sichuan we began to see mantras carved everywhere

and buddhas

Andre getting of his bike to get the best shot.

Seeing the top of the pass you will be at in and hour

Getting closer to the top of a climb we can be heard chanting tunnel to each other, hoping to will one into existence.

Andre and I joined this Tibetan for a lift up the pass

We often Have the whole monestary to ourselves when we come across them on the road

Unfortunatly this door was lokked, would have been fun to see the inside.

Monastery roof

At the higher altitudes, vehicles have reduced horspower because of the thinner air. So the roads can’t be too steep. This results in beatiful switchbacks winding their way over the pass.

The minorities across China are very popular tourist attractions. So after destroying all the clutures the communist party give grants to to minorities to rebuild their traditional houses

Giant tibetan dwarfing my bike

We got invited for dinner by a some tibetans building a house near our camp spot.

Tibetan food may not be the most exciting but the company is second to none.

It wasn’t long before they were dressing us in tradition clothes

My one was sheaap skin lined and i was dying

Weather can get pretty bad

The pandas are completely focused on eating. They don’t even move they’re heads to see where the bamboo is they just grope at the pile hoping to pidk something up while they still eating

Little guys less than a week old

The panda cubs were hilariously. Seeing these guys climb and wrestle explains why there are so few left in the wild.

While the other two cubs were wrestling this guy was chilling at the top of a tree

Their heads and necks are as long as their arms and legs so they’re used as much when climbing

Gotta get the ‘gram.

That top one is actually stuck in the Y. After hitting the other one in the face until he knocked him off he fell out and landed on his head.

A red panda having lunch.

And the rest of them having a nap

Turns out Hugo is taller than a red panda

Andre roughhousing

Aww, last shot of us.