Tibet has finally beaten us

July 28th-30th, day 102-104, Lingzhe


We head to the next town on the route, Lingzhe.

There has been some very severe weather further east and the Yangtze River is in flood in various places. The weather is easing now, but it has damages the road ahead, which is closed undergoing repair. We therefore have to stay here and wait. This is a problem, because so does everyone else who wants to use the road, and all the hotels are full. One phone call to Lilly's agency later, and some rooms to magically appear, so we check into the hotel and wait.

2 days later, we receive the news that the damage to the road is much more severe than we thought, and so another detour is necessary. There is another route through Tibet, but the Chinese are reluctant to grant us a permit to travel that way, instead suggesting leaving Tibet the way we came in, to the North and back through Golmud in Qinghai Province, and east from there. This is no good to us, it's a very long way and would completely blow the schedule.

Pete then announces that we will arrange for a permit to get us out of Tibet to the south, and into Nepal, we would have a few days in Kathmandu, and then fly to Bangkok from where we'll explore South East Asia. Meanwhile, we'll head back to Lhasa again and wait for the permit.

July 30th - August 2nd, days 104-107, in Lhasa again

Well, the permit to leave via the Nepal border will take about 2 weeks to issue from Beijing, so that's out, for us at least. The only way forward now is a flight to Chengdu in Sichuan Province. The truck can't continue the journey with us, which is a bit sad, and there also can't be any more camping. It'll all have to be cheap hotels and public transport from now on.

On the last full day in Lhasa again was spent sorting out what luggage we don't need any more (no more camping, no more cold weather) and the stuff we don't need will stay on the truck, and we'll pick it up again from the truck when it arrives back in the UK. The plan for the truck is for Pete to wait in Lhasa for the Nepal Border permit, drive it to Kathmandu, then get one of his friends to come out and pick it up and drive it home via India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Europe.

August 2nd, day 107, Flight to Chengdu

Meanwhile, it's goodbye to the truck and the first flight of the trip. It's disappointing to have to fly, because now we won't get to complete the crossing of Asia over land. It's only a short internal flight, but it still feels like cheating. We really have no choice, though.

We have a free afternoon exploring Chengdu. It's a huge sprawling city of some 15 million.