Tibet Day 9, Namtso Lake to Lhasa

The previous day, 8, to follow.

A day of contrasts. After wiping the snow off our bikes at freezing Namtso Lake we wipe the sweat off our brows in hot Lhasa.

A somewhat restless night trying to warm my core with water bottles and an electric blanket. At 1am, I wake to the small hours diamox dilemma: do I go to the toilet or can I wait? The answer is biased towards 'wait' by the fact that's it's a drop toilet, outside the main building, in the freezing cold, with no light, no roof and virtually no walls. At 5am, I give in and go. And then, relieved, back to bed to warm up again.

Opening the curtains at 8:30 is quite a shock, as the bikes and ground outside are covered in snow. Those who woke earlier and even ventured out for a walk, were caught in a snow storm. The thought of negotiating the twisty path to up and down the 5000m mountain pass suddenly doesn't seem such a good idea, but there's no other way out. In the end it's not so bad as it's mostly melted by the time we leave.

But before that, I venture down to the lakeside beach to test the waters. They're bloody cold! I can barely manage 20 seconds before having to get out, and although my feet are now dead, it makes the rest of my body feel warm. During the 20 seconds I also taste the water and confirm that it is indeed mildly salty. Lake Titicaca in Bolivia is at 4000m, Namtso Lake is some 700m higher again.

Suitably warm now, breakfast is a rather nice omelette and pitta bread with honey. Protein and carbs to get me through the morning

The snow storm has cleared leaving a blue sky and we retrace our route up the mountain on thin black ribbons through a white landscape. By now wet asphalt is all that remains of the snow on the road, while all around is blanketed in about 5-10cm of white powder. We still take it gingerly though, as ice and snow don't mix well with two wheels. Swiss Martin however feels right at home in these conditions and powers up with confidence. At the top (5150m), the blue sky and snow combination makes everything feel crisp and Christmassy and there's a veritable party atmosphere with local tourists relishing the sudden snowfall. We join in the fun, throwing snowballs and Big Al even creates his own snow angel. The visibility is good and the views of the surrounding landscape are even more vivid due to the lighting conditions. Many pictures are taken and once again celebrity hounds stalk us for photos.
 
On the way down water vapour rises eerily from the road surface, now being heated by the sun's almost midday rays. Off to the side, there are strange tracks in the snow as if thousands have trudged through the white stuff; later I see the 'thousands' are a herd of yaks being led by a lone woman herder, also tending a very young calf.

Rejoining the main highway, we have to once again carve our way though lines of trucks and cars to make progress - not so easy with a wheezy 335cc motor between your legs, but kind of enjoyable thrashing it. We thought Lhasa was clean with its electric vehicles but here it's back to developing world normality with fat diesel trucks spewing out clouds of thick black smoke.

At the lunch stop we have a man down, it's Alex and he looks bad. But that's normal, so everything's fine.

What strikes me wherever we go in Tibet is the amount of serious civil engineering in progress, the roads we traverse and the rail line running parallel are obvious examples but there are many others; the investment here by the Chinese government is immense.

Alan Alan has behaved well so far, not meriting anything interesting to report, however he's gone straight in at number one with his coming together with Martin while avoiding a taxi U-turning into his lane while simultaneously trying to stop for one of Wang's random re-groupings. Almost stationary, his bike topples into Martin's and the bikes become locked together and difficult to separate.

We arrive back at the same hotel we left a few days ago, and after the spartan dwellings of last night, a hot shower and flush toilet are luxuries much appreciated. I have different roomie today, and he's going to treat himself to a new pair of pants!

After dinner a few of us compare SpO2 levels using a downloaded smartphone app. Scoring in the eighties, new Steve has bought a can of oxygen to help him along, while Keith and I are healthily in the 90%+ range.

Back up to 4200m tomorrow before going back to Lhasa for the last time.

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