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I am home, stockholm Sweden, and it feels so nice! The sun is shining and I have just come back from a little kayaking on riddarfjärden... so nice.

The second part of the Xining to Lijiang trip went well: it was tough, cool, and beautiful. The changing landscape, the people and of course the passes: Crossing over to Derge towards the Tibetan border I climbed up to 5050 meters...a dream altitude! and a big big downhill after that. Unfortunately, I had to pay for the fun with 3 days of terrible and non-existing roads untill I reconnected to the main road to Litang. The fact that it was raining most of the time didn't help either, but it was worth it!

From Litang to Lijiang the road goes straight south, almost... it just switches across a few more mountainpasses before coming back to the Yangtze in the Tiger Leaping Gorge. With all the rain in the south of China, the Yangtze was at its max height and forcefully pushing through the gorge!

Coming back to Shangri-la and Lijiang from the north felt very different from last year when i came from the south... the air gets more clear, the landscape gets more rough, the people more tibetan going north... coming back the cities felt big, crowdy and noisy. Still, the food, teh shower and the real bed were very very nice and relaxing.

Before i knew it, i had to get my bike and stuff packed and i was on my way back to home... but with the plans for the next trip already resonating in my mind...

Onwards to Lijiang

The last 2 weeks I have cycled from Xining to Yushu along the G214
across the Tibetan plateau.

The riding has been great: we have crossed the highest pass of 4845 meters: cool, cold and just enough oxygene to feel like an astma patient. The roads are generally good and the views are fantastic. Along the way I have visited monestaries, camped out at more 4000 meters, visited Tibetan nomads and met some wonderful people. Unfortunately i can not upload the pictures. I think i have taken over 800 sofar.

Riding together with the others has been good, and good fun... cultural differences and lack of riding experience have created quite some occassions for confusion and laughing. All together, however, I have enjoyed the company and the talks and it has given more insights in china and tibet.

Yushu is about a third of the way to Lijiang and we were hoping to get the necessary permits to cross through Tibet Autonomous Region from here. However, NOT.... no permit, or better no permits. Apparently we need about 4 different permits to please both police and military in the areas we would cross. We tried to explain that we are friendly and all that, but the cities and the roads are more closed right now then ever before due to the unrest in north-eastern china.

To keep things simple, and avoid trouble and fines, I have changed the route slightly and will travel trough the Sichuan Province instead, staying close to the border. Also I will ride alone again to see some other things and to ride at my own speed. The group falls apart as the
chinese guy got bitten by a dog and refuses to leave town, and Hutch and the Tibetan boy will travel at an easier speed.

Last night we prepared all the maps with new routes and new choices, I am not quite sure how I will ride, but I plan to visit Derge, where they have the Tibetan library and bookprinting monastery, Litang, where they have the horse festival, and then shangri-la, where i spend some time last year. On the way I hope to tick of pass that crosses over 5002 meters...