To the Tibetan Plateau

No we didn't go to Tibet, but we are very close. Andrew recommended that we go see the Tibetan plateau. So far all of his recommendations had been really good so at 6AM after a fitful night of trying to stay warm, we bought our tickets to Zoige. Andrew got up to see us off, telling us that he had rats in his room all night. Yikes!! Our phrase book actually does have a phrase for that but we haven't had to use it yet. He walked us to the bus station--I think he was worried we would get on the wrong bus (so far though no one lets this happen, the bus drivers kick us off). I think the Chinese wondered what the white guy fluent in Chinese was doing see the two Americans off to the bus.

Anyway we were hoping our bus ride would be nice and warm and smoke free. Neither of these were true, but it was rat free. We were the only white kids and the rest of the bus was filled with Tibetans. Initially the road to Zoige was pavement and I thought I could quit worrying about the bus ride where we would gain 1000 ft. Quickly though the road deteriorated and we were on a road under construction that was no better than most logging roads. There was rebar sticking through and concrete so high that dirt ramps were built for the bus. On one side of course there was a cliff face. I reasoned that at least the bad road slowed the bus driver up. I also rationalized that this bus must have as many gears as a logging truck so we shouldn't get stuck in the ruts. I doubt this is true but at the time it seemed to add up in my mind. We started seriously gained elevation as I could see the swith backs below us. Some of the pitches on the road were so steep that as we churned up over big rocks in slow gear, I really wondered if we would make it. Finally it seemed things had leveled off and we were on the plateau. It was beautiful, looking somewhat reminiscent of the Beartooths but with much less water.

I saw a small town and though perhaps we were about to get a bathroom break. The bus ride from Chengdu they stopped frequently to wash the bus (yes complete wash job with soap and all) and hose down the brakes mulitple times. The bathroom break was much needed after this bumpy ride but instead as we got closer I could see that it was a road block. A bus (big big bus) was stuck in the middle of the road. Because the road was under construction where the road junction was, there were berms blocking the path around the bus so the only way around this situation was to move the stuck bus. About ten men were standing around looking at the bus and one had a shovel. He was trying but not too ambitiously to dig the bus out. Apparently there was only one shovel. The back driver's side wheel was buried up to the bus frame. The back wheel was only a little better off. I wondered how long the bus had been like this.

Our bus driver shut the bus down and we got our and surveyed the scene. There was another bus behind us and then one bus coming from the opposite direction. It was an interesting scene as we watched a sleek black car go around the bus. Then another vehicle get pushed through. Fifteen minutes later a kind person told us a few english words that indicated we were switching buses. The bus going to Songpan was also blocked so the occupants of the Songpan bound bus got on our bus and we got on there bus. Then the bus drivers turned the buses around and we were on our way. We arrived at Zoige, figured out that we could catch a bus to Longmusi, our final destination, that day. So we found a smoky tea house and waited til our next departure. As luck would have it, our smoky tea house was next to firecracker central and so we had to endure round after round of firecrackers. I wondered if it was some sort of holiday.