Day 14 & 15: It Is Not The Destination That Matters

DAY 14.


Alright, I have made up my mind. I have decided to give Western SiChun a try. Therefore I am heading towards LiTang today. It is not the destination that matters, it is the journey that counts. As usual, the road out of ShangriLa is filled with beautiful mountain passes. Just as I was enjoying this beautiful creation of mother nature, I saw another rider just ahead. Like me, he was riding slowly, admiring the scenery. I begin to wonder if he was also on a touring trip. Though he does not have big laguagges like mine, he sure dress like one tourer. Then through his mirrors, I saw his face, the face of a westerner. "Finally a biker", I told myself and so I open up my throttle, got ahead of him and waved at him to stop.


ME: Hello, are you touring around China too? Where are you heading?

HIM: What is your name?

ME: I am LOH. And you?

HIM: HEY LOH, I AM CHRIS!!!


Then we spend the next few minutes in both surprise and excitment. WOAH!! Do you know why? This guy that I happened to bump into on the road is the guy whom I tried to meet up with for the past one week or more. We had said that we will meet up and ride together even before I left Singapore for China but we never had the chance to see each other though we tried to meet up. Then here, out in the mountains, we happened to see each other. This is fate. I mean, China is so huge. What are the chances of seeing someone you know on the road? And what if I had not decided to wave at him to stop. If so, we would had rode past each other without knowing that this is the guy that we both tried so hard to meet.

Ladies and Gentleman, this is CHRIS.





Since we are fated to meet, I had decided to change my plan and ride with him for a day. He is heading towards DeQin, a small town that is very near Tibet. There is nothing much about DeQin. It is the road that thats you into DeQin that is attractive. Well, touring is not about the destination, it is about enjoying the scenery and going to places that is difficult or impossible to get to without your own transport. Like I said, It is not the destination that matters, it is the journey that counts.

Enough said. Let's ride!!



The ride to DeQin brought me to even higher ground. From 3000 over meters above sea level, I am now riding up to 4000 over meters above sea level. WOAH!!! I like that. Taking a break and admiring the great view.





Then we rode past another famous tourist place. But just too bad I cant remember the name of this place. According to Chris, this sight appeared on many postcards. Maybe someone can tell me what is it.



Chris taking photographs of the river bend.



Moving on again. This is the kind of road we had ridden on for the whole day. Bends after bends after bends.



Then the road turn from tarmac into this.



Damn, it was not comfortable for me. Too bumpy for my bike to handle. And you know what, this kind of road goes on for the next 80km. And at the end of it, my ass hurts like hell. Like chris said, it is like having someone kicking my ass for 80km. He is so right.

Resting my ass for awhile.



Here we go again.



But hey, look on the bright side of life. After riding 3/4 of this rocky road, some snow peak starts to appear. Though not much of snow but it was enough to get many travellers along this route excited. We were not the only one who stop to take photos.











Then we ride on. And we are now at 4292m above sea level.







From here, we can see that the road which we rode through was not only rocky but full of bends.



We can also see some weird bare mountains hidden behind the clouds.




So the sun begun to set and we maganged to arrived at Deqin before last light.



There are not much lights here and so we can see that the sky is filled with stars and with that, the halo of the moon.



Well, as usual, I wrote my little travel diary before I sleep every night and So did Chris. I think this is something that most travellers will do. It helps us remember the things we see, the people we met and most importantly to record down the beautiful memorious we had. When Chris was done, he shown me what he "wrote". I think it was interesting.



HA. He drew instead. It is true. On the map, it was a pretty straight line from ShangriLa to DeQin but in reality, it is not. I think this entry of his truely depicts the meaning of "A picture speaks a thousand words".

Now since that I am so near to Tibet, I am very tempted to ride into Tibet. I can passed off as a China Chinese unless i am asked to prove my identity and so if there are no road blocks, I should be safe. If not, if I got caught by the police, I dont know what will happen to me because as a foreigner, I need a permit to enter Tibet. Even if so, it has to be with a group tour. Tibet is a controlled area for foreigners. Your movement will be controlled unless ofcourse if you are a China Chinese. So, should I try to fake and bluff my way through? Will my cover be blown? The risk of getting caught for riding into Tibet is so much higher than giving Western SiChun a try. Should I take the risk?


DAY 15


This is the place we stayed at last night. A tibetian style guesthouse.







View of the town. And oh, I was told by the guesthouse owner that there is a SINGAPORE Village here in this town. I almost cannot believe what I heard. In Singapore, we have chinatown, little india, little thailand and so on. But never had I heard that there is a little Singapore somewhere out there. Not to mentioned that it is in this small little town near tibet. This is least expected.



Now, as for which way should I go. Hmm..... I take risks, but I take calculated risk. So I think that I would have better chances of getting into western Sichun then Tibet. Both have good sceneries but I have to consider many other factors. So.... hmmm.... Sichun is the way to go. But this also means that I would be getting my ass kick again for another 80km. Sigh.... Well, what to do? I pity my ass. Lets go.

Road works along the way.



Though I am riding along the same road, things look different. The weird mountians are revealing itself to me and I can see the snow mountain clearer.













Then suddenly the road starts to get misty.



Good thing it didnt last for long. After which I rode past a huge land that has trees cutted off. This sight reminds me of a scene from the movie Lord of The Ring, where the tree monster saw that all the trees were cutted off, he got so angry that he and his brothers went on a war with the eye.



Crossing the bridge, I am not far from Sichun Province border.





And then at the province border, POLICE!!! Oh no.. Praying hard now. I stopped. They checked me. Ask for my driving license, identification card etc. I gave them my passport and hope for the best. Then... after a few minutes... phew... thank god they only need to registered me. Thats it. They told me that if it was during the Olympics, I can never get through. Foreigners are not allowed to enter Western Sichun at the time. Lucky me, the game is now over. But then they still warn me to becareful and take care of myself.

Once through the border, I am now in the outback of Sichun. A place where it is so rugged that not many people come here. A backdoor into Sichun.I am ready for another adventure. Western Sichun is a place that is fill with Tibetians. So here, I can experience the Tibetian culture without getting into Tibet.

Pictures of outback Sichun. Western Sichun, the back door.











Then the road disappeared for a short distance.





Here, riding through the back door into Sichun, you dont have to worry much about oncoming traffic, dont have to watch out for people crossing the road and definately dont have to watch out for red lights. But one thing for sure, you have to keep a look out for animals. They are everywhere and will just cross the road anytime, anyhow.



Among all animals, we have donkeys.



Pigs.



Sheeps.



Road signs with Tibetian word is a consist reminder that this area is inhabited with Tibetians.



Besides the animals, this is what I see along the way.











I ended up in XiangCheng for the night. As this is not a place that tourist comes to, there is no hostel for me to stay and so I will have to look for a cheap BinGuang. I was hoping to get a bed instead of a room but they dont do it here. Just as I was asking around for a bed, a chinese girl was also asking for the same. I think she heard me asking the receptionist to sell me a bed instead of the whole room and so she came over and ask me if she can share a room with me. That way, we can share the cost and save money. And so I agreed.

I was surprise that she came and asked if she can share a room with me. Even more surprise as she is a Chinese. Never knew that they were so open. Anyway, she told me that she was the more daring kind and was one out of a million that would do such a thing. Most girls would not dare to do so. But she just want to save money so this is the only way.

Since this is a dead town and so we ended up having dinner together. Back in the room we chatted. After awhile she told me that she need to make a phone call and she had to go out to a payphone to do so as her handphone got stolen that day. It was already quite late and so I told her that she could use my handphone instead. I have got myself a China Sim card and it would be ok for her to use since I did not make much phone call at all. I got it just because in case I need to make an emergency call. And so I reached for my bag to take out my phone. It was then that I realised that I too had lost my handphone. I recalled that my bag overturned while I was riding earlier in the day. I must had dropped it then without realising it.

That night, we chatted till 2am before sleeping. Just before you get the wrong idea, we were on seperate beds ofcourse.



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