Friday June 5, 2009 - Lhasa to Golmud - The Tibetan Plateau

After breakfast we voted unanimously to keep driving through to Golmud. The road continued to be awful. Just a mud road in the process of being built into a paved road. The plains are as flat as the eye can see at times, and at others, mountain ranges surround it. We are running along side the railway from Lhasa to Golmud which took 5 years to complete and was opened in 2006. Apparently some cars are pressurized so people suffering from altitude problems can travel comfortably. One chap off the other Truck went to the Dr. in Lhasa because he was feeling so tired. He was told his blood pressure was really low and he should take the train to avoid the high passes. Golmud is located at 2802 m. There are no communities in this northern part of Tibet, but there are lots of yak, small ponies, and deer or antelope scattered over the plains. Again we were stopped at a road block and the road was closed for roadwork's. I think we arrived around 12:30 p.m. so immediately decided to cook lunch, which we did....and then waited. We played some games on the Truck, and then the younger crowd went outside to play hide and seek...and still we waited. It started to get cold, so we wrapped up, and still...we waited. Around 7 p.m the Trucks around us started their engines and to move forward, and we all rushed for a last minute pee, but it was a false alarm...and still we waited. At 8:0 pm sharp, things started to move. There were hundreds of trucks around us, and it was dead slow, moving forward. Trucks vied for position, made 3 lanes where there should have been two thus blocking the road, honked at other trucks trying to usurp their position, but somehow, once again, it all seemed to work and were were on our way. It was a "dozey" day, and I lived it in a haze, snoozing, eating, peeing, and generally paying little attention to the inconvenience around us. We hadn't gone very far, maybe another 20 km, when we had to stop again. Another road closure. This time because they were "paving" the road. We waited some time, then our guide got the OK for us to use a diversion along side the road, so we backed up, got some other tucks to back up, and turned off the road down the bank to the dirt, bumpy track below the road and running parallel to it. By the time we got through all of this it was around 10 pm. At this point we still had 300 km to go to Golmud and we anticipated arriving there around 2 pm It was freezing cold and so we got our sleeping bags out and tucked up on the truck and attempted to snooze. No wonder the Chinese close the roads during the day, they don't want you to se what you are driving on!! We were on and off the main highway to Golmud, mostly off - and it was do incredibly bumpy that you could hardly call it a road. At one point we were driving through a river valley in the Quaidam desert actually along the river bed. So you can imagine, our shock when we looked out the window and saw water surging past us. We had taken a detour, along with hundreds of other trucks, which took us through the river. Then we stated to realize where we were. Then horror set in as we saw the number of trucks burried up to their axles in mud and water. It was a surreal experience, sort of like travelling on the moon (the moon was bright!) and we hoped we wouldn't get stuck because we might be there for days. Fortunately, Ian is a great driver and he barrelled the truck though the river, around the stuck trucks, and intimidating anything coming towards us to move out of the way. We did it. We got through in about 10 mins and were back on the old bumpy roads again. Shortly after, around 12:30 p.m. we stopped for dinner - veggie/egg fried rice. Despite the late hour, the cold and the awful conditions, the food tasted really good at the Huaxing Hotel! Then it was back on the Truck to finis the last 100 km on a decent highway, and snooze some more. At around 5:030 to 5:45 we pulled up to our hotel, unloaded our bags and crawled to the elevator (thank goodness they had one) and our bedroom on the 4th floor. We were in bed and asleep in minutes. The bed was so comfy, nice white sheets and snugly downy, and a bathroom that worked with hot running water. Bliss.