Back to Ganzi and on to Dege

Gregor and I eventually decide to move on after a great time hanging out in Da Tong Ma (Elise left the previous day). When we climb onto the bus to take us back to Ganzi, the floor is covered in sunflower seed shells, everyone on the bus has been spitting them on the floor (as is fairly common in China/Tibet). To pass time we bet on who will throw up first. Gregor wins easily as one of his girls is queasy from the start and is throwing up within half an hour.

I introduce the woman sitting next to me to the wonderful world of western music, giving her a sample of music from the sixties to the present day. She likes it, a lot.

When we eventually arrive back in Ganzi, we meet up with Zhouma who takes out to KTV (karaoke) as a goodbye. KTV is conveniently located upstairs from a whorehouse, and given the place’s general seediness we don’t dare to guess what else goes on here. While waiting at the whorehouse for the KTV place to open, we see one of the prostitutes that had come with a truck driver to Zhouma’s motel the day before. I wave and tell her I’ve seen her before but she doesn’t understand English. I ponder the fact that most people in Ganzi don’t have showers every day (since few, if any, houses have them) so they head to a communal shower “hot springs” in town. Do the girls in the whorehouse shower between clients? I don’t think so. There’s something to keep in mind if you decide to take a prostitute in a small town in China.

Zhouma and her BFF at KTV.

Following Ganzi, we hitchhike along to Dege. Although it is very illegal to hitchhike in China, this doesn’t prevent us from flagging down a detective on his way to see his son perform for Children’s Day (a Chinese holiday where children where new clothes, receive lots of spending money and put on performances at school for their family).

The second lift we receive is heading all the way to Dege, at a snail’s pace. We do most of the trip in first or second gear.

Just out of Manigango, we pass Yilhun Lha Lake.

We travel only slightly faster than this Canadian mountain biker we pass. Our driver is so impressed that he stops to chat with her (using Gregor as intermediary). Our driver also stops to tell us he’s having a nap and proceeds to sleep for the next 20 minutes.

Along the way, we head over Chola Mountain Pass at an altitude of 5050m. Gregor has prepared for this pass by purchasing the coloured prayer paper our driver used on the trip from Litang to Ganzi. We throw it in the air while our Tibetan driver chants.

It’s just after sunset (9pm) when we arrive in Dege and after a chat with some monks, Gregor and I are staying at a very cheap motel where it’s us and several monks who are very excited to speak with Gregor about our trip. One of the monks shows us a DVD of his brother (a famous Tibetan musician) performing some of his hits.