hats off!

We had to write a few words about these gentlemen... As we pass them on the road, we kind of think: strange, they don't quite look like ordinary Chinese farmers, but they don't quite look like cycle tourists either... We were wrong: hats off to these Chinese cycle tourists who have ridden 2300km so far, on single-speed bikes! They push their bikes uphill (even if small, even when on tarseal), and they struggle in the wind. But they keep going! With a big smile, they tell us they are going to Lhasa. We find it hard to believe: "on these bikes?!" ... Sounds like it. They let us go first, and we will put some distance between them and us rather rapidly... it's all about the gear! The few sentences exchanged in our basic Mandarin, their smiles, as well as their gear (!) will stay deeply in our minds as we attack the high mountain passes ahead of us, at well over 3000m above sea level.

After Dali, we do a little detour, because it sounds beautiful and because the snow line is still quite low, and we've got to ride through passes as high as 3000, 4000 and even 5000 m only a few kilometers north. So we first head to Lijiang, at 2300m above sea level, and then Zhongdiang, at 3200m - the last towns before the official Tibet autonomous region. The landscape is all heights, sudden drops and almost vertical slopes. We ride on a small road cut in the cliff face through the "Tiger Leaping" gorge where the usually quiet Yanktse Kiang river becomes a raging torrent. Through the gorge, we witness the dramatic drop of the cliffs from the top of Snow Mountain at 5500 m down to the Yanktse river at 1700m. Along the road, rice is replaced by barley, and the buffaloes give way to the yaks - stronger, hairier and more agile on steep terrain. The architecture, and the way people dress change gradually, adapting to a tougher climate and a more isolated, more extreme environement. We keep going up, with excitement, riding up those never-ending hair-pins that take us over higher and higher passes: 2800m, we go back down, 2950m, again, we go back down, 3400, back down again, 3550m... Every time we go down, we go up a higher pass. Our hearts are beating hard, and we fell full of life. Soon, we'll be touching the clouds! At 3300 m above sea level, we find snow. At last, we get to wear all those clothes we have been carrying since Singapore! Wind, cold, rain: as we ride higher and higher, the conditions are getting more extreme. No more 180 km days like in Thailand! But what feeling and emotion as we discover a new valley, or a new plateau as we ride over a pass, or around a steep corner. Along the way, we stop in small villages looking and feeling more and more Tibetan. We get some energy and strength back into us. And those wood-fired stoves in the middle of the kitchens are so good! As the temperatures drop, we sit closer and closer to them, sipping our green tea and eating a bowl of rice together with the local specialty. All of this being shared with the smiles, the admiration and the encouragements of the locals. Like these women who think that what we are doing is definitely too hard, that they would not be able to do it... But at the same time, we can see them carrying enormous loads up steep ridges, and working so hard in the fields...

The houses now look like fortresses: high white walls face the wind, and on the other side, a lower wall surrounds the courtyard where daily life happens. The houses are massive, made of big trunks and wooden boards - no nails. The yaks and other goats live underneath. Chortens, small stupas, flags and prayer wheels... We are getting closer to Zhongdiang and feel we are getting closer to Tibet which we so hope we'll be able to enter. Theoretically, "legally", we are not allowed to travel to Tibet without being part of an organised tour. Independent travelling, especially by bike, is still prohibited. So, we have listed the check-points of the PSB (Police Security Bureau) and we will attempt to pass them at 3 o'clock in the morning, when everyone is hopefully asleep. We also think the conditions are not so bad at the moment: first, China has clearly understood that tourists bring money: a good incentive to shut ones' eyes on some things... Second, China is getting ready, in no uncertain terms, for the 2008 Olympics. So it's always better to keep the tourists on the right side. But yet again, we can feel this degree of uncertainty that will be part of our trip for the next few weeks. Will we be able to go through? This time, it is not about whether there'll be a bridge over the Mekong river, or whether the road will have been reclaimed by the jungle or not. No, this time, the game is about avoiding the men in grey...

We leave Zhongdiang to face our first pass over 4000m, and our last few kilometers in the Yunnan province. At the first pass after Zhongdiang, we encounter our first snow storm: the wind is blowing hard and the snow flakes are burning our faces. We find shelter in a small Tibetan home - a small heaven - where a young couple welcomes us with expressions on their faces that say " what the hell are you doing here on such bikes in such weather?!"... What comfort the small fire in the centre of the dark and sobre room brings us! We get to drink our first yak butter tea. The first mouthful is so rich it is sickening. The second mouthful has more of a neutral taste. At the third mouthful, we are almost savouring, and realising how much energy - much needed energy - this drink is going to give us. The young couple, whose whole face smiles, also share with us some cheese (yak's or goat's, we're not sure) grilled on the fire, and tsampa (made of barley flour). "You've got to get some energy into you!" they seem to tell us. These precious minutes near the fire however must come to an end. And Mike's words already can be heard: "come on, let's leave this "false" paradise". So leaving our hosts of a few moments who obviously cannot believe it, we get back on our bikes to face the raging snow storm.

As we ride down the road, winding our way down to 2000 m, we find the Yanktse river again. There, it has dug its bed and slowly flows down from the high Tibetan mountains. We also find better weather. In fact, it is under a brilliant sun - but not without wind! - that the following day we start our climb of our triple-pass: 4200m, 4100m, 4200m, under the watchful eye of the Meili mountain overlooking us from its height of 6740 m. The ascent is long (60 km) and slow, and we would not be able to tell on how many holiday photos or videos we will end up, but the tourists seem to appreaciate our form as we ride up those passes! The higher we get, the more speechless and breathless we are: what amazing views! As we once again leave the tarsealed road for a paved one, each hair-pin leads us a bit higher, where the snow is still deep enough to cover the small chalets along the side of the road, and where the glaciers show off their greatness and raw power. It seems our bodies are not big enough to contain our hearts, ready to explode from so much emotion: so much beauty, and the immense silence surrounding us! We set camp in a low point in between 2 of the summits, at some 4100 m. We heartily eat our last Italian spaghettis (Barilla!) and spend a few hours by a small fire, surrounded by summits from 5000 to 6000 m, silence, snow and a full moon. The morning is particularly cold. So, dressed like Michelin men, we start descending on the other side, all the way to Deqen. Ahead of us is Tibet.

So Mike will have celebrated his birthday in style: his first 4000m, gingernuts for breakfast (special parcel sent by his parents in Poste Restante!) with a cup of tea, facing the Himalayan mountains, 30 km of downhill with close to no uphill, a photo next to his bollard, a beer shared in the comfort and warmth of a traditional bar - with a nice wooden interior - at some 3200m above sea level, and 2 candles (the red one is worth 30 years, the white one 2) on a snickers bar serving the purpose of birthday cake... Celebrating Mike's birthday is also about thinking about time that passes, and the importance of every and each day - to be lived to the fullest. Carpe diem, seize the day!