Tibet Tour April 2016 Part Two. Day 6 To Day 10. Shangrila And Tibet!

Sep 19, 2006
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Tibet Tour Day 6. 23 April.
Another Early start. Rode from Dali to Lijiang. Visited a few Temples along the way. One an Ancient Monastery on top of a Rugged Hill where the Monks Live and Train in Kung Fu still, Amazing. Meet up with Some Chinese Adventure Riders on GS 1200's, They were so Happy to see Us so got a Selfie with them! Got some rain towards the End of the Ride. Stayed at the Li Wang Hotel. Another Beautiful Classic Hotel in the Heart of the Town. A Fantastic area with Cobbled Streets, Wooden Shop Houses and Streams running through it! A Fantastic area to Explore!
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The Mountain Top Kung Fu Temple! Amazing Place.
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Inside the Temple! It took a little bit of Talking as they were Reluctant to let Us in? Very Secretive!!!
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My New Adventure Riding Chinese!
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His GS1200 was Loaded with Every Extra even a Cranking Stereo!!!
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Always Time for a Well Deserved Beer at the End of Each Day!!!
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How Classic Our Hotels were! Works of Art!!!
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Tibet Tour Day 7. 24th April.
This was a Rest Day where We were free to do what We wanted and Lijiang is such a Beautiful City there was a lot to See! My first Priority was to try and Buy some more Thermals to keep Warm! So in the Morning Myself and Russ McDermid caught a Taxi to the New area of the City and spent the Next few Hours looking! Seemed like I was out of Luck and then on the Walk back came across a Shop selling Exactly what I wanted so made My Day! Evening We managed to Find a Bar that steamed the Moto GP for Us but it was a bit of a Broken signal but at least we saw it! Go Rossi!

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Checking over the Bikes and found this one to have a Nail in the Rear Tyre! Incredible as it may seem with 14 Bikes traveling close to 5000 kms this was the Only Puncture We had!!! And No Breakdowns!!!
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Tibet Tour Day 8. 25th of April.
ANZAC Day and I was in China but the Boys still had a turn out everywhere else without Me to Show Our Respect!
Meanwhile I was Traveling from Lijiang to Shangrila.
We stopped in at the Famous Leaping Tiger Gorge along the way which has the equally well known Yangtze River flowing through it! Sadly the volume has slowed Due to a Massive Dam further up stream. You can see on the right side of the photo the Old Water Height mark. As We climbed in Altitude the Temperature dropped and by the time We reached the Plateau it was Blowing hard and had sleet coming in. I didn't manage to get a decent Photo of it but it was Darn Cold! We then dropped into Shangrila itself which the Chinese called by another Name? The actual Word Shangrila is used commonly and appears to be more of a Province or Area than one Particular Place? It was still a Nice Town albeit Cold Ha Ha!

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The Yangtze River. See the Old Water level Mark on the right of the Photo.
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Leaping Tiger Gorge!
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Our Chinese Guide! He was a Genuine Good Guy. Well Spoken, Educated and a Wealth of knowledge!
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To Avoid High Taxes Our Guides Bike was Stickered as a 200 cc Chinese Bike, It was in fact a Kawasaki KLR650, Classic Ha Ha!!!
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The Next couple of Photos were on a Plateau before We dropped into Shangrila. The Wind was Howling through here and it was Cold as anything!!! Not sure if You will be able to see in the Photos but there was light Snow or Sleet falling!!!
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Only stopped for some Quick photos and got out of there quick smart, Too Cold!!!
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Classic Old Tibetan House!
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Look at the Intricate Woodwork in that!!!
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Tibet Tour Day 9. 26th April.
Moving on from Shangrila today further into Tibet We got up to an Early Cold Start then climbed the Highest Peaks of Our Travels. Stopped in at a Beautiful Ancient Monastery for a look and after a days Stunning Views arrived at Cizong a remote Village sitting on the side of a Hill overlooking the Mekong River which is considerably smaller up in Tibet where it Starts!. A Massive New Bridge is under Construction so once this is completed the Village will be remote No More. A Word on Construction, everywhere We went in China and Tibet there was Massive Construction going on, Building Bridges, Tunnels, Dams, Highways! It is Staggering what is being built Simultaneously. Mega Projects and Mega Money! We had a Quiet Night at Cizhong staying in a Guesthouse.

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Inside this Monastery was impressive but No Photos allowed but I know a few of the Group got some Ha Ha!
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Cool Picture of a Tibetan Monk!
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Prayer Wheels, You walk along making Your Prayer spinning the Wheels all the Same way!!!
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Kay and His New Friend!!!
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High and Cold here!!!
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We Lucked out with the Weather! Fantastic so the Views were also Stunning!!!
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This is the 3rd Highest Mountain Range in the World and Unclimbed? Don't ask Me why???
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This is the Mighty Mekong River up in Tibet! Not so Mighty up there at the Source!!!
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Road Works held Us up for a little bit!
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Our Guest House for the Night! Our accommodation was Top Notch throughout for all accept this one!!!
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Vegetarian Dinner for the Night!
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Tibet Tour Day 10. 27th April.
Today We were supposed to Ride from Cizhong to Shaxi. Unfortunately We meet some Travelers who said the Road was blocked by Multiple Land Slides so We would have to go back??? Not to be out done, Kay, Russ and Mike decided they would go early and investigate if We could get through on Bikes? So off they set in the mean time the rest of Us decided to visit a local school and give some presents to the Kids and make a nuisance of ourselves! It was a Great Fun morning till We finally got the Call from Kay We have to go back the way We came!!! This added considerable distance and We risked getting into Shaxi very late in the evening so We set off immediately! With minimal stops and Perfect Weather We made fantastic Time and arrived before Dark in what can only be described as a Beautifully Preserved Heritage Town. Incredible and well worth staying!
The Only Place in the World these Grapes are Grown now. Originally from France. So they make Great Wine here!
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Tibetan School.
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Time for some Presents to the Kids!!!
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How High did We get You ask? This High!!! That is getting Close to double the Highest Point in Thailand!!!
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Yakketty Yak don't talk Back!!!
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This Guy missed His Turning off Point and ended up losing all His Front Wheels in the Drain! I Bet His Boss was Impressed!!!
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There's a Tiger in those Mountains!!!
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The Tibetan Monastery from a Distance!
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To Be Continued in Part Three. The Final Chapter, The Run Home!!!
 
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ianyonok

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Interesting report and photos, Thanks Ian. A wonderful trip to see a very different area.
I use the same mesh jacket you have. Utterly useless for Tibet....... I have never ridden so cold in my life, as up there.
 
Sep 19, 2006
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The Jacket was Fine for Me Ian. I had the Liner in and a Thermal Top on. Plus the Wet Weather Gear over the top keeps any Wind Chill out. Plus I brought a Couple of Scarfs in the Market and that helped a lot to keep the Cold off Your Chest and Neck! The Coldest were My Hands but not so Bad I could Warm them on the Exhaust Ha Ha!