Steamed bun (Baozi) for breakfast and then a walk down to get my 6am minibus to the town of Dege which is about an 8 hour drive away and closer to the Tibetan border. On the way we will pass over the Tro La Pass which sits at a comfortable 5050m and through what should be some stunning scenery. I say my goodbyes to my French amis and then set off on with my joker driver in what turns out to be a
ridiculous journey. The first port of call is a stop off at Manigango for about an hour of doing nothing, where people are supposed to have lunch, but in reality we just waiting for other vehicles so the journey can be done in a minibus pack. Next on the way up to the Tro La Pass, one of the minivans suffers a burst tyre and so we wait for about two hours
for it to be changed. There is snow on the road up here, the scenery is stunning, the mountains around seem huge, and the air is very very thin. Lastly, I thought the journey a couple of days ago was a bit hairy, but the current driver is an absolute nutter. If the previous driver thought he was driving in Colin McRae Rally 2009, this driver actually thinks he is Colin McRae and forget about small ramp jumps, now I actually think he is trying to take off. It's an amazing ride, but when I get off in Dege, my body feels like it has had a beating.Once in Dege, it takes me about an hour to find a hotel that will let me stay as most of the
m won't accept foreigners. (The one downside about travelling near the Tibet border are the constant police checkpoints on the roads and the suspicion surrounding foreign travellers.
The police also have the accommodation on lock down and only allow foreigners to stay in certain places, so they can keep tabs on their movements, In both Ganzi and Dege, apart from the people I travel with, I haven't seen another foreign tourist once.) Next I take a visit to Bakong, which is probably the most important site in the Tibetan Buddhist world, if only surpassed by the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
At Bakong, thousands of Buddhist scriptures are hand printed every day, by a diligent set of workers. It's corridors are lined with wooden printing blocks, that contain the complete history of Tibetan Buddhism and a copy of an important Hindhu Buddhist text which is the only one left in the world.
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