Kham East Tibet
Kham East Tibet
The news was shocking!
The ticket agent at the Shangrila bus terminal in Zhongdian Yunnan province was happy to tell me over and over in both Chinese and English that yes foreigners can now travel east through the Tibet Autonomous Region to Lhasa overland and without a permit! I really couldnt believe what I was hearing but rather than falling down in rapture I agonized over taking advantage of this new policy or continuing as planned on my alreadypaidfor governmentauthorized oneweek tour across Kham to Lhasa. Ultimately it would have been silly for me not to choose the latter.
The decadeold Land Cruiser was in surprisingly good condition having driven through Tibet 99 times. We set out through northern Yunnan to the crags of Feilaisi finding ourselves at a dizzying 4000 meters above sea level and nauseously breathless to stay overnight at a roadside pilgrimage site of sunbleached chortens windtattered prayer flags and a stunning view of Mingyong Glacier.
Bright a light so bright it was hard to believe and early the next morning we continued into undulating hills. Vistas of incomparable beauty revealed themselves with each bend. The forest was a tapestry of earthy shades in orange purple browns and greens both light and dark. With the iridescent blue sky and cottony white clouds above us we traced perilous dirt switchbacks whose collapsing shoulders threatened to toss us hundreds of meters below into the Mekong River; it looked peaceful enough from above its banks and farmland dotted with eyecatching whitewashed adobe homes that seemed to beckon us into Tibet.
Xizang! our driver called out. In fact we had been in Tibet for half a day but how could we know without having crossed any sort of border or being stopped by officials asking to see our papers? We had to remind ourselves that entering Eastern Tibet was now a permitless process and all the checkpoints on our maps and guidebooks were recently abandoned. We celebrated our unbeknownst entry into the TAR Tibetan Autonomous Region by spending the day in the small dusty city of Markham. Winding down from its weekend market the city was brimming with the splendor of the traditional Khampas population: goldenskinned women with their long striped dresses and colorful plaits and largesized men with lengthy braided hair woven with red Chamdo tassels and a solid jade hoop. We were greeted by dozens of redcheeked runnynosed children dancing around us. My European traveling companions were constantly surrounded by a crowd of curious adults who took turns running their fingers along the thick blonde leg hairs then letting out a collective fascinated murmur.
Traveling through Eastern Tibet can be compared with experiencing the four seasons in just a matter of days. While we started with clear skies and venerable forests the next morning took us into icy tundra. Ascending 99 bends into the Hengduan Range the mountains seemed to freeze over before our eyes. At 5008 meters we reached the highest altitude of our trip.
At the bleak Dongdola pass we encountered a settlement of nomadic shepherds drokpas living in black tents while herds of emaciated yakcows grazed the surrounding frozen pastures. These gentle people of an inhospitable land were dressed in simple handwoven attire but they were extravagantly accessorized in coral turquoise and silver jewelry. These shepherds had seen few white faces in their lifetime. One drokpa family had yet to see a digital camera and they were mesmerized by the sight of their own images on the LCD screen.
At Pomda a noisepolluted junction of logging trucks and tractors we met a bunch of international backpackers and hardcore cyclists sitting at the literal crossroads that connects the northern route of the busy SichuanTibet highway with the lesstraveled southern roads. From there our journey took us through and down into verdant terraced hamlets and patchwork plots of land fed by snow springs over the Salween River to the unbelievably mintblue twin lakes of Rawoktso. Dodging Khams morning traffic of goats lamb and yakcows yes crossbred we pressed on along the boulderstrewn road of the Sundzom Valley past the Parlung Tsangpo white water rapids and old avalanches of frozen snow to Tongmei where we encountered our first real obstacle.
Rumors had been circulating amongst the backpackers wed been meeting on the road about a downed bridge at the Brahmaputra and Parlung Tsangpo convergence which would prevent anyone from continuing on to Lhasa. It turned out the bridge was fine but a landslide on the other side had literally wiped the road off the sheermountain face. Anyone wanting to continue on had to either nimbly navigate a narrow footpath or wait a week or longer.
So it was here that we said goodbye to our Land Cruiser and crossed the bridge to meet another driver. The organizer of our trip told us via cellphone from his cozy office in Kunming that the new driver would be waiting just a short walk from the landslide. It turned out to be an arduous fourhour hike up a treacherous mountain path above the Rongchu gorge in the dark of night under the pouring rain of Tibets monsoon season. We braved the muddy slopes deftly crossing washouts and literally dodging falling rocks from above before finally arriving at a construction workers tent made from a giant nylon bag. The Israeli and British backpackers decided to stay while my companions and I trekked onward in search of our new driver.
With our new vehicle and driver we headed onwards toward Lhasa. Passing vivid fields of yellow youcai flowers we arrived at the famous Draksumtso an azure lake and lush Alpine forest which would have been breathtaking had it not been for the sea of baseball capwearing tour groups the isolated beauty of Eastern Tibet was behind us.
About the writer: TOM CARTER is the author of ‘CHINA: Portrait of a People’ a definitive 600page book of photography due out winter 2007 from Hong Kong publisher Blacksmith Books.
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