Langmusi

21st September we get going again. We cycle through a region where we have to pay an entrance fee to get in. After a few km we get of the paved road and onto a smoothly rising dirt road. We now have entered the world of the yak and sheep. Along the road we have seen so many sheep being slaughtered and we wondered where all the sheep come from, now we know. Around lunchtime we are invited to have lunch with a Tibetan at his tent. 500m from the road surrounded by yaks, sheep, pigs and little Tibetan kids, we get dry bread and butter in hot water. Not the best lunch ever, but company is worth something as well. Just when we are searching for a proper place to camp we are invited by a Tibetan on a motorcycle to eat and sleep with him. Halfway (?) his home he overtakes us and we are not able to find him again. We decide to have dinner in the village and then cycle a few km back to camp.

In the morning we are nearly over run by a herd of sheep. In the town after breakfast, I do an investment in my travel gear by buying panniers. All of my stuff still fitted in or on my backpack, but while cycling this hardly is accessible. With the panniers I really start to look like a proper cyclist. Later in a bigger city I want to have a rack constructed for the front wheel, so I can put them there, having a better weight distribution. Today we end up in a very small town, with to our surprise a decent hotel. In the evening we are invited in the owners house and I get a lesson Tibettan from one of the daughters.

The next day we reach Langmusi. Underway we stop at an Tibettan festival, nothing much happens. A lot of Tibettan families are sitting on the grass. It is more a social event I guess, after waiting an hour for something to happen I get going again. Chele and Enrique already had left. Langmusi is a very touristic town and although there are some nice buddhist and moslim buildings, the atmosphere is somewhat spoilt by the scores of white people walking by. At the same time it is nice to meet fellow travelers though. Sunday is a rainy day and we fill the day by writing, reading, washing and I of course work on my never ending project, my guru shirt. In the evening I say goodbye to Chele and Enrique, I am going to try to go to Shanghai to visit Marieke. For that I take the bus at 7 the next morning. On the way down from a pass we almost turnover. The mud road is so slippery that first we move sideways and then tilt dangerously to my side. Fortunately nothing happens and we continue to Zoige. I had hoped to get a connecting bus to Chengdu, but the only one leaves at 6 in the morning, which means I will stay the night in this boring town. That is why I am updating my blog I guess.