Day 52 Tuesday 24 October Zhongdian to Dechin Yunnan, China

Shopping expedition to buy some warm gear, Columbia jackets marked US$380 for Y380 (Aus $60). Then to explore a nearby Tibetan monastery, restored after destruction by Red Guards. It has 600 monks living in the village nestled around it. Very impressive with frescos depicting Monkey Magic, Tripitaka and co. Monks chanting with a young boy blowing on a conche shell and one hitting a gong at key intervals. These were of the Yellow Hat sect, (the Dali lama’s) with dark claret robes.
Set off for Dechin, which we thought would be a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive of 180km, started fine but soon we were climbing up to 4,000m surrounded by soaring snow covered peaks and then plunging down into the Yangze gorge before climbing again on a zig-zagging dirt road clinging to the precipitous mountain side to a pass at 4230m where it was -2 deg with snow in the shadows. The scenery was suberb if you dared look, the navigator has his eyes shut most of the time as the road awful, mostly single lane with trucks and buses, unsealed and with no barriers or edge markings, falling away 1000m down to the valleys. Scariest drive so far.

It was almost dark by the time we reached Dechin but we’d been recommended to go on to Fei Li Sei 10km further on along an equally daunting mountain side by a NZ guy we met running an art gallery in Zhongdian. We stopped at the first place we found, the guest house belonging to the monastery, with basic, small rooms with shared bathroom. We sat in a separate little wooden kitchen building while the Tibetan proprietor and her husband cooked up a delicious meal of yak meat, rosti potatoes and wild mushrooms which we ate huddled round the wood stove. Interesting to see how they make do with very limited utensils, no running water or appliances and yet are able to summon up a very tasty meal at very short notice. Unfortunately no margaritas.

Weather 3, Mainly sunny
Distance today 212km
Distance from start 11,217km
Scary Road Index: High