Alive and well in Manigango

Alas a blog wouldn't be a blog without these: blog posts.  Admittedly, the big wide web has been tough to get at in some of these towns, especially when I arrive late.  I do miss it.  Nothing about biking is lonely except arriving in a strange place and not having access to the outside world.

 

I am currently sitting in a internet place in a little backwater town called Manigango.  What an incredible name!  There is a steady stream of Tibetan people sitting behind me watching me write this.  I think seeing someone use the keyboard for writing text might actually be a bit of a novelty.

 

Tibetans are pretty funny people.  They all wear these robes and cowboy hats, which helps the place live up to the "wild west" mantra.  Most women have these azure stones woven into their braids, and many men wear strange earrings things.  Most people over the age of 40 have at least one gold tooth.  They are much taller than Chinese people.  The result is these rather intimidating characters, sort of a Captain Jack Sparrow meets Genghis Khan, but every single one of them has a smile on their face and gives a hearty hello when they see me.  Three times I've leant my bike to Tibetans who have wanted to try it.

 

The past few days it's like I've been in a National Geographic magazine.  One day a red-robed nomad with an umbrella beckoned me inside his canvas tent to have milk tea, butter, and this barley powder with his family.  There are daily yak crossings on the road.  I met a Tibetan schoolteacher who showed me around the village school.  I've gone into monasteries and there have been monks chanting some sort of scripture.  I've gone into golden temples (is that the right word?) where a senior lama is giving blessings by candlelight.  I was having a snack way up in the mountains with two monks the other day, but apparently one was really important because two women came up and were bowing down before him asking for blessings.  I've seen contraband photos of his holiness the DL.  Then there was last night when I was late getting to town so went and spent the night with some nomads.

 

And then there is the scenery.  I'm not organized to get photos up but let me tell you, it has been spectacular.  There are a lot of grassy hills stretching out forever and then sometimes really high glaciated peaks.  I suppose it could be similar to Switzerland except that it's all at 3000m.  Plus, there are the prayer flags, stupas, and monasteries making every vista truly Tibetan.  It hasn't been all blue skies, but the days that are clear are unreal.  Last big city I was in, called Ganzi, now holds the distinction of being the city most similar to Minas Tirith.

 

The biking has gotten easier, partly because the passes are more manageable, partly because my body is getting used to it.  There were two days of awful rocky road, which is sort of soul destroying.  The bike has been holding up but the weight is causing some concerns to the racks that hold all the luggage.  I just try to keep everything balanced and stay on top of things when they break.  I have run out of Snickers bars which is a shame.

 

My point of no return, as the Doc would put it, is probably about 4 days from here.  From there, the town of Yushu, I'm only heading out of Tibet.  If this area erupts in strife and the police shut it down to foreigners, I don't think it will impact my trip.  But really, I think I'm already past the point of no return.  If they were going to stop me anywhere, it would have been Ganzi, a place where "there has been fighting".  There were two checkpoints coming into town, and the place may have well been under martial law for all the riot police and tankish things I saw there.  I was ready to beg to book a bus to Yushu or something, but at the checkpoint the police were very friendly (we had tea together) and just told me to get out of Ganzi and be careful on the road.  The whole issue is really interesting and not black and white and probably something to write about some day.

 

And there we are.  I'm on a rest day now, staying with a nice Tibetan family and sharing my western films with the kids.  Tomorrow I take a bus to Dege, a pretty reknowned stop close to the Tibet border.  Then I bus back here and continue on.  Bus is an easy call as the high pass to Dege is like 5000m (we're at 3900m right now) and doing that twice in two days sounds like a really stupid idea.  Some might say this whole bike thing is a stupid idea but we'll save those comparisons for another day.  Tashi delek!  (which means hello)