Mushypea

Jokhang Temple

We’re here at last, in Lhasa! The past three days have been spent getting spiritual in the land of snows visiting the medieval back streets of the Tibetan quarter around the Barkhor and following the pilgrims as they walk, kneel, clap and prostrate themselves before the great Jokhang Monastery, the most important monastery in all of Tibet.

Debating monks

Our guide, Dawa, has been busy answering our many questions as we aclimatise to the altitude and our stomachs  to the food. The weather has been kind to us although it thundered last night and we woke to a sprinkling of snow on the mountains surrounding Lhasa.

One member of our group, Chris, has had a mechanical on a test ride yesterday. His rear brake was fading, something which can happen with hydraulic brakes at altitude. Thanks to a local Chinese bike mechanic, he’s up and running now with a new shifter, hose and brake mount.

The Nepali crew arrived after two days with the support truck and we meet them  tomorrow at 7am to load the truck and  kick off the journey to Gyantse four days away. We’ll be camping for three nights in the hills. Tomorrow consists of  a cool 70km ride and then we have our first climb, approximately 25 km to the top of Khambo La gaining 1000m in altitude before we drop down to the scorpion lake, Yamdrok Tso.

Early morning in Kathmandu

These are the words our smiley Kathmandu guide, Sri, greeted us with as we headed out to Boudhanath Stupa. Word must have got out that there are some bikers in town – mind you it wouldn’t take a genius to figure it out, the hotel foyer is full of World Expeditions bags and bikes! Sri explained to us that Boudhanath is the second largest stupa in the world, the largest being in Myanmar.

Although the stupa is interesting in it’s own right, what caught my attention was what it was standing on, a gigantic 3D mandala! Mandalas are based on ancient Tibetan 3D diagrams of the universe constructed in 2D – sounds strange huh?

Can’t wait to visit the mandala in the old Tibetan town of Gyantse – you can actually walk inside the complex there but I wonder if it’s possible to visit the very core? To get to the centre of a mandala, the traveller has to overcome many challenges – sounds a little like the journey to Shambhala – well it’s no coincidence – more to come on that later..

Big thanks to Sri for his guiding today around Kathmandu.

Boudhanath Stupa, Kathmandu

So, our bikes are all packed up and waiting to be transported to the airport tomorrow morning. At 5am the Nepali crew will begin their 3 day truck journey to rendezvous with us in Lhasa, the old spiritual and political capital of Tibet. We have three days to acclimatise in the Land of the Gods before beginning our expedition across the Himalayas. Tashi Delek!

Grub gets a face lift

The decals went on this morning. They were on for about an hour before she was wrapped in bubble wrap and cardboard before being popped in to the bike box bound for Nepal. Hope they make the journey – next stop Kathmandu and then on to Lhasa – woohooo!

Let the adventure begin!