Great Tour of China

February 1st - London

2010-09-05T18:57:00.002+08:00

Hi to all my family, friends and colleagues,

Wendy and I are about to embark on our Great Tour of China, driving approximately 11,000 kms through China and Tibet. Making up the crew will be Chris Cooper, who has driven extensively through Africa and South America. The Tour starts from the Great Wall, just outside Beijing, on April 28th. After four weeks of driving across central China and into Tibet to the base camp at Mount Everest, we then head back through south-western China to arrive in Hong Kong on the 28th May. The Tour is organised by the Historic Endurance Rally Organisation(HERO).

We are driving in the Toyota Landcruiser we took round South America a couple of years ago. This time we have added an extra fuel tank to give us a range of 1,000kms without re-fuelling, navigation equipment, security cage for all our spares and equipment and a second spare wheel.

We are raising money for Hope and Homes for Children. This charity is based in Wiltshire and supports thousands of abandoned children in 14 countries around the world. If you would like to learn more about their work you can look them up on the web at: http://www.hopeandhomes.org

Once the Tour has started I will be posting regular updates on this site. I hope you enjoy reading about our adventure to one of the most fascinating countries in the world.

February 28th - Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon

2010-09-05T18:47:00.002+08:00

We drove up to the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire, for the final pre-event briefing.

We met two Inca Trail participants, Alan Crisp and Terence English. Also, there were those who were doing their first HERO event, Jim Clarke, Kit Constable and Nick Barker, Simon Dedman and Eric Archer, Norman and Hazel Leighton , Ian Perkins and Roger and Sue Shuttleworth.

The car parked at the Centre.

March 3rd - Delivery to Tilbury

2010-09-05T17:47:00.002+08:00

My co-driver, Chris Cooper, drove the Landcruiser from the garage in Littlehampton, where it has been prepared for the Great Tour of China, to the container depot near Tilbury.

I drove across to Tilbury from my home in South London and met Chris at the depot. Also there, was Richard Smith with his Landcruiser. Both cars were put into one 40 feet container. Richard's car was loaded first.

Like 'two peas in a pod'!

The cars were being shipped by container ship to a port in China about 100 miles from Beijing. Once unloaded from the ship, the container would be trucked to a depot in Beijing.

The next time we would see the cars would be when we collected them in Beijing, just before the start of the Great Tour of China, at the end of April.

April 15th - Latest News

2010-08-02T18:45:00.001+08:00

The container ship delivering the cars coming from the UK and Europe has left its last port of call before arriving tomorrow at the port of Xingang. Xingang is about 100 miles from Beijing and the containers will be transported overland to Beijing for us to collect on Tuesday 27th April

April 20th - Latest News

2010-08-02T18:33:00.003+08:00

Good news, all the cars from Europe have arrived in Beijing. The cars will be unloaded and cleared through customs, ready for us to collect them in a week's time. Under Chinese importation laws for foreign cars, we will have to take off our UK licence plates and replace them with Chinese plates. Also, all the drivers are being issued with Chinese driving licences as our UK licences will not be accepted in China.

The five day weather forecast has a high of 94 F tomorrow, falling to 65 F at the weekend. So, a great deal hotter than London!

We are making our final preparations, ready for our flight at the weekend.

April 22nd - Latest News

2010-08-02T18:25:00.001+08:00

Co-driver Chris has flown out from Heathrow to Beijing, via Bangkok. He will arrive tomorrow lunchtime (23rd April). We are hoping he will be able to arrange Chinese SIM cards for our mobile phones so that we will be able to use the local mobile network, which we understand is very extensive. Originally we had intended taking a satellite phone, but the route survey teams found the mobile coverage in China to be very good, with few places outside the network. Let's hope they are right, as on the few occasions we cannot access the internet from a hotel computer, or an internet cafe, we intend using our mobiles to report back and keep this website updated.

April 24th - London

2010-08-02T18:24:00.001+08:00

Today's the day we have been looking forward to for nearly a year.

Our flight leaves this afternoon from Heathrow, arriving in Beijing tomorrow morning. Chris, our co-driver, arrived yesterday after flying on Thai Air, via Bangkok. We are luckier, having a direct flight which takes 10 hours. He says the weather is good, low seventies at the moment. Beijing traffic on the other hand will take some getting used to with big traffic jams from the airport to his hotel.

Over the last week, or so, we have bought our final bits of equipment for the trip. Amongst these items were two really compact, but very comfortable, self-inflating sleeping mattresses. They roll up to just six inches by 12 inches and, when you undo a valve, they inflate automatically to make a very comfortable mattress, making them ideal for places where the beds are poor, or even non-existent!

Haven't yet heard how the car is, though being strapped down inside a container should have protected it from any damage. Let's hope my optimism is correct!

April 25th - Beijing

2010-08-02T18:20:00.002+08:00

We have arrived!

After a very smooth and uneventful 10 hour flight we arrived in Beijing at 9.30am. We had Nick Faldo sitting next to us, on his way to the Beijing Open which is being played here in a few days time. Also on the flight were several other participants and, after collecting our bags. We were met at the airport by the girlfriend of Joshua, a young man introduced to us by friends in London. We also met up with Richard Smith and Terence and Mary English and went together in a mini-bus to The Sheraton Great Wall Hotel.

We booked in to our room on the 13th floor with good views through the mist of Beijing. The view from our hotel room looking down to the parking area where our cars will be scrutinised.

I hoped the weather omens were not bad for our tour, as within a couple of hours it had started to pour with rain. Oh, for the sunshine of an English spring! We had a very good meal with Joshua in the hotel bistro.

I met up with Mike Preston, one of the organising team, who told me that all the cars have been unloaded, checked over and engines started. With any luck we won't have the probelms with starting the car that we had in Rio!

In the hotel foyer, there was an artist who painted your name with each letter represented by an animal and Wendy bought one.

April 26th - Beijing

2010-08-02T18:19:00.002+08:00

We awoke to pouring rain and virtually no views of Beijing from our room on the 13th floor.

At breakfast we met other participants including Ahmad. Next door to the hotel was the Lufthansa Centre where there was a large supermarket. We stocked up for the start of the drive.

In the afternoon we went with Cris to find a Nokia shop to purchase Chinese SIM cards. We bought the cards for a fraction of the cost back in the UK. A good start to the tour! We took a taxi back to the hotel to get ready for a pre-event briefing in the hotel and then a dinner organised by HERO.

We all went down to the briefing room for the talk by John Brown. It was the usual misture of serious stuff but with a good few laughs thrown in!

Several coaches took us all to a Peking Duck restaurant. It was a pleasant evening, though the food was not as good as our local Chinese restaurant in London!

We learnt that Jim Taylor had arrived minus his Chinese girlfriend. She had been refused entry into China because of a political problem and had been sent back to Hing Kong, from where she would return to the US.

April 27th - Beijing

2010-08-02T18:18:00.013+08:00

We got up early to collect the cars. The weather has improved considerably and we went by coach to collect the cars from a local race circuit where they had been stored.

First sight of the car since it left London a few weeks ago.

The Swiss Hummer, Car No.29, belonging to Bernard Legrand.

We drove back to the hotel and had our first taste of Chinese driving. Cars, cyclists, pedestrians were everywhere and roundabouts were particularly hazardous! We got back to the hotel within an hour. It was good to see many of the participants lined up outside the hotel, and we were very pleased to see Patsy and David Mitchell, car 31. They had made a last-minute decision to join the tour and had rented a Chinese Jeep. Later I was alarmed to see Jingers lying underneath the car, already having to do repairs.

Don Griffiths and our Chinese guide and interpreter, Leefeng.

Clay Regazzoni and his Mistubishi Pajero Sport, Car No.15.

The cars lined up in the hotel car park.

In the evening we all went to dinner at The Hot Pot Restaurant located towards the centre of the city. We were presented with tables of raw food and 'liquid' in dishes and had to be shown how to cook it, like a fondue. Some of it was better than others and prawns were thrown in still alive.

The coaches took us back to the hotel and tomorrow is Day 1 of the Grand Tour.

April 28th - Day 1 - Beijing to Wutaishan

2010-08-02T18:17:00.002+08:00

We left the hotel at 7am to go the the Great Wall where the official start was taking place.

Greg Williams directing one of the cars out of the car park. Lost already!

We very quickly took a wrong turning coming out of Beijing but found our way back to the route and arrived at the Great Wall just after 8am.

The start ceremony was taking place in a square next to the Wall and there were Chinese dancers performing as we arrived. We parked the car and then walked up a very steep section of the Wall, taking many photos of the impressive scenery. We returned to the car and watched the Chinese dragon dancers accompanied by extremely loud fire-crackers.

Wendy had her first experience of a Chinese public toilet!

We drove out of the square in number order. We were No.18 and were waved away by John Brown with a Chinese flag. There was a lot of hooting and clapping and we drove down the middle of the dancers with one long dragon on either side.

Our drive south was via the Janshi expressway and we laughed when we saw several HERO cars going in the opposite direction!

It was a good drive once we got onto the country roads and our first stop was at the Qing-Tai tombs (17th - 20th century), two hundred miles south-west of Beijing. It was a very interesting and beautiful place.

We climbed up to the the tombs and Wendy then had her second experience of a Chinese toilet, even more disgusting than the first!! The local women don't bother to shut the doors!!

We drove over mountain passes with large drops and through villages where the locals waved as we went by. We were pleasantly surprised that the military and police in toll booths smiled and said bye-bye as we drove away. We stopped in Laiyuan for lunch and the Chinese guide, Ma, helped us order. The charming young waitresses tried out their English. The food was good and the Mitchells joined us and said that they had a noise coming from one of the wheels. A bad omen? Another bad loo experience for Wendy, this time even worse than the two before!!

The day's drive ended 250 miles on from the tombs. It was still light when we arrived at 7pm at our hotel, the Yinhai, Wutaishan.The hotel was a beautiful traditional Chinese building on the outside but nothing special inside.

Dinner was an experience! We sat at large round tables and the waitresses refused to serve us until every seat was taken. We waited ages for our food, which was good, and accompanied by Chinese beer. We had two power cuts during the evening.

When we went to bed at 10.30pm we learnt that the Mitchells had not arrived and Jingers was with them.

April 29th - Day 2 - Wutaishan to Pingyao

2010-08-02T18:16:00.005+08:00

We had a very odd breakfast which was not very nice at all. We left the hotel and drove up to the centre of the town going past several monks taking one step at a time and then lying prostrate on the ground. We learnt later that they take months/years to reach their destination in Tibet.

In the town we visited a temple and pagoda and were the only tourists. The white pagoda behind a brick wall with this circular hole.

We were told by the monks in the temple to kneel and bow down to the ground three times at the sound of a bell. We then had to make a 'donation' and light incense. We were taken inside to look at the Buddhas and then the bowing had to be repeated with more 'donations'!!

We returned to our hotel and then drove along a lovely road out of Wutaishan. The road rose to 6,000 feet and we encountered lots of three wheel tuk-tuks loaded with all sorts of goods. Some were hardly moving due to the colossal loads they were carrying. At one point we saw a flock of sheep above the road on the side of the hill when one of the sheep slipped and fell with a bump to the road. It seemed OK as we drove past.

The winding road to Pingyao.

We stopped at Xinzhou for lunch in a small restaurant. Several other participants were already there and we were joined by Derek McConnell and Alan Crisp (Car No.7).

Here the loo was something to behold. We went through the kitchen and living quarters to a dirty yard full of rubble and flies to a slit in the ground with a low breeze block wall aound it! The flies were very unpleasand and we hoped we wouldn't get bitten!

Chris drove after lunch and we had a few tricky navigation decisions as the road book wasn't always very accurate. A beautiful avenue of trees after our lunch stop.

We arrived in Pingyao at 2.30pm after a drive of 300 kms. Our hotel, the Yung Feng Bin Guan, was two star with very basic rooms and peeling plaster, located on a large roundabout outside the city walls.

We went with Chris in a tuk-tuk to the old town going through one of the city gates. The town is the only remaining walled Han Chinese city built in the Zhou Dynasty (827-728BC) and rebuilt in the Ming period (1370AD). It was a thriving merchant town where the earliest 'Tongs' or banks were set up. Pingyao was the centre of finance for the whole of China in the Qing period.

We visited various museums and temples within the walls and walked along the ramparts overlooking the old city. Here is one of the gates into the walled city and below a street full of small shops and stalls selling all kinds of things.

One of the many old buildings inside the walls of Pingyao.

On top of the walls looking down on Pingyao.

A typical scene wherever we parked the cars, crowds quickly gathered around us.

A group of elderly Chinese men playing cards.

A group photo of happy HERO participants in the streets of Pingyao.

When we returned to the hotel we had another power cut before we went to dinner with the de Hullu family. The food wasn't bad but after being in China for over a week we are now starting to tire of Chinese food!

April 30th - Day 3 - Pingyao to Luoyang

2010-08-02T18:15:00.002+08:00

We left at 7.30am and we all were pleased to leave a pretty dire hotel. Today's drive is over 400kms. The weather was grey and gloomy. The drive was fine until we reached huge obstacles on a narrow village road. There were piles of rocks everywhere that might have been the result of landslides or road works.

We came to a halt behind many other Great Tour cars.

We lined up waiting to get through and were finally allowed to pass ahead of the trucks. After a while we reached the next obstacle - an extremely muddy section of road. The mud was at least a foot deep in places and driving through it was virtually impossible. We then came across a truck stuck in the mud blocking the road. The only way through was via a steep track down into the fields alongside the road. It was a very tricky off-road drive. At one point we went by a local farmer who would not let us through. We tried to 'bribe' him, to no avail. In the end one of the group drove past him and the rest followed. The track took us down into a river bed and then we met a local student who spoke good English and showed us the way to get back to the road. All in all, quite an experience!

Many cars got stuck in the mud and our detour added about ninety minutes to our journey. Apparently the Mitchells, who are now down to two-wheel drive, had to be towed through the mud by Simon Dedman.

We reached Gaoping for lunch, where some of the group had already arrived. Many cars were still stuck in the mud. We had a quick lunch and then Chris did the driving and Wendy navigated. We crossed the Yellow River and went through a very steep gorge with lots of sheer drops. There were many coal lorries carrying ridiculous loads. There was one parking spot for trucks that had hoses positioned to spray water on the over-heated brakes to cool them down!!

One of the coal trucks parked up at the side of the road, in the middle of the gorge, cooling down its brakes.

We arrived in Luoyang in the evening rush hour. It is a huge modern city of eight million people, a total contrast to Pingyao. We had problems, like many others, with the road book instructions to find the hotel., the four star Luoyang Grand. We were on the 14th floor overlooking the car park and our car.

We ate in the hotel and tried to order a western meal with limited success, even with Leefeng's help.

May 1st - Day 4 - Luoyang to Xi'an

2010-08-02T18:14:00.004+08:00

We left the hotel and drove a short distance to the Longmen Caves, that consist of 2,345 caves and niches with over 100,000 Buddha statutes.

It is a beautiful place by the river Yihe with a temple and other important sites on the opposite bank.We parked up and paid the entrance fee. We walked along the river looking at many of the caves with thousands of carved Buddhas in every conceivable nook and cranny. There were crowds of Chinese visiting the caves as it was the May Day holiday.

Another happy group photo, this time at the Longmen Caves.

We left the caves after an hour or so and within a short time we came up behind a long line of HERO cars parked by the side of the road. We were waved down by the police and told we could not go on as we did not have the correct permit to drive on this particular road in Henan Province.

Many of the group were pretty angry and Jim Taylor ignored the police and drove straight through! We spoke with the police and they appeared quite pleasant but would not relent.We waited about an hour and a half until Jingers and Ma arrived who then managed to get the police to allow us to continue.

We were in a very rural area of China with many houses made of mud and straw. In one area we came across beekeepers, who lived in tents, surrounded by beehives.They looked as though they came from Mongolia rather than China. We drove through many villages where tobacco leaves had been strewn across the road for threshing. It was expected that drivers would help the process by driving over the tobacco.

We stopped for fuel and were joined by Richard Smith in Car No.30.

The road went along the Yellow River which was so wide that it looked like the sea and the last stretch of road was along a fast expressway. When we reached the toll there was a big traffic jam and as we waited thousands of bees swarmed around some trucks that were laden with beehives. It was quite a sight.

We arrived in Xi'an at about 6pm, having driven 430 kms. Our five star hotel was the Shangri-La Golden Flower and our room was on the 6th floor.

The hotel was the best of the tour so far and Wendy would have been happy to stay two weeks instead of two days!! We had a great evening meal prepared by Rolf the hotel's German chef.

May 2nd - Day 5 - Xi'an (Rest Day)

2010-08-02T18:13:00.006+08:00

We woke to pouring rain and went in two coaches to see the terracotta warriors. As we went into the first vast covered pit we saw the incredible sight of row upon row of soldiers, all facing east.. Each warrior had a different facial expression and the horses also all looked different.

Around the edge of each pit were three rows of warriors facing outwards.

We spent a lot of time in the first pit before moving on to the second and third pit where we saw the huge task of further excavations taking place. The warriors were all broken and have to be reassembled. In the partially excavated pits we saw fragments of broken warriors and horses.

Some of the recently reassembled warriors and horses standing on their own outside the pits.

In the museum area there were glass cases with full sized warriors and artefacts including two bronze horse drawn carriages. The four horses pulling one of the bronze carriages.

A standing and a kneeling archer, similar to the the three quarter-sized replica we bought to be shipped back to London.

There were large crowds of locals as well as many Japanese tourists. We found the cinema and watched a fascinating portrayal of the making of the warriors and the tomb for Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the First Dynasty (Qin) circa 200 BC.

We returned to the hotel in the rain and in the afternoon we bought more provisions for the journey. In the evening we decided to eat in the hotel, as the food was so good, while the rest of the group went out to a local dumpling restaurant. We learned later on that the trip to the restaurant was not a success.

May 3rd - Day 6 - Xi'an to Lanzhou

2010-08-02T18:12:00.010+08:00

Today was the start of the rise up to the Tibetan Plateau and we needed to start taking the altitude sickness drug, Diamox. We left the hotel at 6.30am for the drive to Lanzhou some 700km further west.

It was a beautiful sunny day as we we drove on mountain passes up to 7,500ft, with snow on the mountain peaks. The roads were quite good but we saw the aftermath of two bad truck accidents. One had a lorry lying on its side at the bottom of a steep mountain road and the other down a big drop. We had an early lunch halt at a hotel in Pingliang but decided not to eat there but to sit in the car eating bacon sandwiches we had made at breakfast in Xi'an.

We were now driving on expressways, the equivalent of UK motorways. The road was elevated for many miles, a feat of engineering that was very impressive. It seems to me that most major cities are linked by these roads with the main difference to the UK motorways being that these are empty. Mile after mile can be covered without meeting another car and when you do it is often going at only 20mph. Very few Chinese vehicles travel at western speeds.

The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful with some lovely terraced hills. It was very rural but the last part of the journey into Lanzhou was on another magnificent Chinese expressway. As we approached Lanzhou, sited on the Yellow River, we saw how polluted it was. Our visibility was severely limited by the smog hanging over the city.

We checked into the five star Sunshine Plaza Hotel, our last good hotel for sometime. We made the most of it, showering, re-packing and even getting the sleeves on Wendy's Great Tour of China coat shortened by the hotel housekeeping, all for 10 Yuan!

We had dinner in the hotel but once again they wanted the table to be full before they served us. We made a fuss and managed to get served even though the table wasn't full. After the meal we had a drink with Maria and Antoine de Hullu. Wendy asked for a cup of tea and got hot water with fresh leaves floating in it.

May 4th - Day 7 - Lanzhou to Qinghai

2010-08-02T18:11:00.008+08:00

The road rose quickly after we left Lanzhou, with many sections of road subject to repairs. Here is a typical scene, men and women working with shovels to 'repair' the muddy road.

We went from 5,000 feet to over 10,000 feet at the beginning of the Tibetan plateau. There were magnificent mountains, covered with snow, all around us. All the roads were very good, which was quite a surprise to me as we were now so far away from the main centres of Chinese industry.

We stopped at the Ta'Er monastery, the birthplace of Tsong Khapa founder of the Yellow Hat Buddhist sect. The monastery was quite crowded with Chinese visitors.

Our cars parked at the Monastery with a monk wearing his yellow hat on the right.

Not far from our destination on the shore of Qinghai Lake, we saw an amazing modern city with a large building, which looked like an American governor's mansion. It reminded me of a Hollywood set! We could not think what it could be out there in the middle of nowhere. We learned later it was the Chinese centre for nuclear research and testing in the sixties and seventies.It was apparently called Atomic City.

Shortly after, we turned off the main route on to a beautiful road specially built for an international cycle race around the lake. Just before we came to the lake we saw our first yaks by the side of the road and then large sand dunes. The dunes seemed so out of place thousands of miles from the nearest sea, especially with the mountains covered in snow as a backdrop!

The lake is the largest salt water lake in China. It was a wonderful sight in such a bleak but beautiful place.

We arrived at the Qinghai Tent Hotel on the shore of the lake. It was a beautiful spot with the lake in front of the hotel and the snow covered mountains behind. You can see two of the Tent Hotel buildings on the right of the photo.

It was bitterly cold and there was no heating or hot water in our yurt. There were men painting decorations on the outside of the building.

Qinghai Lake in the background.

Our yurt and Wendy with the men painting the decorations on our yurt.

We went for a walk down to the lake where there was a pier and a shop. There was a strange building in the lake about 800 yards from the shore. It had large Chinese characters on the side facing us, but what they meant, I had no idea.

Prayer flags by the lake.

We needed fuel and found a gas station close by.

It was freezing as the attendant filled the car, while we stayed inside with the engine running and the heater on full blast! Filling nearly 150 litres took quite a time and I felt sorry for the poor man outside as the wind howled. I went into the tiny kiosk, which turned out to be his house, to pay. When I attempted to give him a tip he refused it, so I pushed the few yuan down his son's t-shirt, to much laughter from the boy, his father and mother!

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant which was better than expected. Wendy wouldn't eat the meat because it looked like yak, We sat with Don, Linda and Bernard and the French group. We drank tea but the French had red wine and cognac which they had brought in their car.

We returned to our yurt, got out our sleeping bags in the hope they would keep us warm in the night. By now it was well below freezing and getting colder.

May 5th - Day 8 - Qinghai to Golmud

2010-08-02T18:10:00.006+08:00

From Qinghai we had a 450 mile drive, mainly due west, across mountains and then the Tsai Dam desert to Golmud.

We went through some fantastic scenery with mountains on all four sides of us and rising to maybe more than 15,000 feet. It was wonderful driving. The road was more or less deserted with only a few trucks and very few private cars. We passed Lake Caka, another salt lake and not long after we saw several of the group's cars parked by the side of the road. They had stopped to take photos of a number of wild camels. We pulled up and attempted to take some pictures although the camels were quite a long way off.

We reached the scheduled lunch stop in a town called Dulun at 10am and met up with Joanna and Lifeng.

We had tea with them rather than an early lunch. The road continued with some unbelievably long straight sections that went on for over 20 miles before a bend.

We were now in the Tsai Dam desert and I stopped to collect some desert dust to add to my collection of sand and dust from the deserts we have driven through all over the world.

Wendy took over the driving and we arrived in Golmud around 2pm. Golmud had been built up on oil and is quite a prosperous place. We were surprised by the modern shops and they were even building an amusement park. This is one of the truly remote towns in the world, with Lanzhou nearly a thousand miles away to the east.

Out hotel, the Tian Long was not bad though at first we didn't have hot water but it heated up later on!The toilet didn't flush and we had to get two maids to come and flush it with a plunger!! We decided to drive to a supermarket to stock up for tomorrow's drive which is the longest of the tour, at over 860 kms. There was quite a high Muslim population and many people wore masks. We weren't sure if this was because of SARS or simply to protect themselves from the harsh conditions. Many people appeared to have burnt and very weathered faces.

We returned to the hotel and had a reasonable meal with several of the group, including Clay and Claude and Nathalie and the rest of the French. For dinner we had caramelised potatoes which were like toffee apples. It's an early start tomorrow, up at 5.15am!

May 6th - Day 9 - Golmud to Nagqu (Tibet)

2010-08-02T18:09:00.009+08:00

Once leaving Golmud the road soon joined the new Golmud to Lhasa railway line the Chinese are building. It is one of the great engineering achievements of the our time. The route of nearly 1,500 kms passes over several mountain ranges exceeding 5.000 metres, requiring hundreds of bridges and elevated sections to take the line over permafrost and unstable ground. As the road rises higher and higher the railway snakes alongside with numerous worker camps in the most inhospitable conditions imaginable.

Our first view of one of the hundreds of bridges for the railway.

When we crossed the plateau it was minus 8 degrees Celsius and this was May. You see the workers high up on the line exposed to the biting wind and you cannot fail to be impressed with what has been achieved, but at what cost?

One of the unbelievably long sections of elevated track crossing the permafrost.

We started to meet convoys of military trucks, a sign of things to come? It was obvious the Chinese are making a statement about their presence in Tibet. The lead truck always displayed a banner in Chinese. I presumed it said something along the lines, ' The Glorious Chinese People's Army. As we got closer to the Tibetan border we saw more convoys coming towards us. Here is the last truck of one convoy with its Chinese flag passing us and Bernard Legrand's Hummer.

Following the Hummer under the railway line.

After about 500kms from Golmud the line is incomplete and they are still constructing bridges.

Further south the line is in the very first stages of construction. The Chinese say the line will be finished by the time the Olympics are staged in 2008. After seeing what has been built since 2001, this target looks likely to be met.

We crossed the Yangtze River to reach the lunch halt in Tuotuohe, a pretty dire place. The food looked inedible, so we only had tea. We needed to use the toilets, which we were told were outside at the back of the restaurant. We walked to them past a big dog that was tied up and barked at us. The toilet, if you could call it that, was behind a flapping piece of old cloth and consisted of a hole in the ground. I waited for Wendy and noticed this mobile phone mast behind the toilet. What a contrast. Here in one photo is the old and the new China, just a few yards apart!

The back yard of the restaurant which was much like the restaurant itself.

We left Tuotuohe and drove on towards the border with Tibet. At one point we came to a halt in a huge traffic jam of trucks. At first we thought it was due to an accident. We waited for ages trying to see what was going on and then one of our cars pushed past the stationary trucks and everyone followed. It became clear that most of the trucks had simply broken down trying to get over the pass which was nearly 17,000 feet high.We all felt pretty rough from the fumes being belched out by the trucks as they struggled to get over the pass.

We crossed into Tibet ,which was only identifiable by a banner and prayer flags across the road but no check point or any security. The remainder of the drive to Nagqu was relatively easy and we arrived in this small Tibetan town at around 6pm. Our hotel, the Nagqu, was two star but reasonable and had central heating!

Wendy was very tired and went to bed and then had an attack of vertigo. Greg Williams and Mike Johnson came to see her and gave her an injection and some pills.

May 5th - Golmud - Impressions of China

2010-08-02T18:09:00.006+08:00

Here are some of the impressions of China I have gained since we started our tour in Beijing nearly a week ago.

I will start with the Chinese people. I have never been in a country where the people have been so overtly friendly. They come up to you in the street and say the only word in English they know, 'hello'. HERO have provided us with a handout in Chinese which describes the tour and who we all are. This helps in communicating with the Chinese and 'breaking the ice'.It makes no difference if they are well-off or poor, which the majority seem to be, in the way they greet us as friends. It has been a wonderful experience.

Next, the driving in China. There appear to be few rules. Cars come at you from all directions, even down the wrong side of dual carriageways. Roundabouts and traffic lights are often ignored. It sounds like chaos but once you have got used to the lack of any order, it becomes great fun. I think it must be like it was when cars first appeared in the UK a hundred years ago.

Finally, the impression of construction taking place everywhere is hard to take in. There must be more cranes in China than the rest of the world put together. Every town has huge developments, with skyscrapers, shopping centres, factories and huge housing projects under construction. Even towns in rural China, far from the major cities, have modern centres that would not be out of place in Europe.

May 7th - Day 10 - Nagqu to Shigatse

2010-08-02T18:08:00.007+08:00

Greg came and examined Wendy in the morning and said that we should go in convoy with him and Jingers and he would then check Wendy again at lunchtime. If he felt she was not fit enough to go on to Everest we would have to divert to Lhasa and wait for the tour there.

We left Nagqu at 9am, two hours after the rest of the group, with Greg and Jingers following us. We met up with them again at the lunch stop and Greg checked Wendy over and agreed we could continue to Shigatse, which was very good news for us all.

Parked up at the lunch halt in the small town of Yangbajain.

Two small Tibetan children outside the restaurant.

It was quite a good meal consisting of rice, pork and beans with ginger. After the meal we were told the toilets were on the other side of the road. Wendy was taken there by a waitress and when she went into the ladies part, to her horror, she discovered no private cubicles but two Tibetan ladies squatting in the room!

Being led to the toilets.

We left Yangbajain and soon turned right off the Lhasa road and on to the road to Shigatse. We went past a large geo-thermal power generating station with warm water pools. The road then wound up the most incredible mountain pass, Mount Xuegula, taking us to the highest point of the tour at 5,430 metres (17,819 feet). John Brown was at the top of the pass and asked Wendy how she was.

The summit of Mount Xuegula pass.

I regret not getting out of the car at the summit of the pass and climbing the extra 182 feet to go over 18,000 feet. Will I ever get that chance again?

At the next mountain pass we encountered a broken down pig lorry right in the middle of the road. There was very little room to get through and the big drop to the right was quite worrying. I hit my nearside wing mirror on the lorry as I squeezed through. We lived to tell the tale!

It was a breath taking drive to the north-west of Lhasa, all along rough gravel roads with huge mountains and beautiful valleys where the Tibetans cultivate their crops using yaks to plough the stony ground.Their houses are distinctive for the wonderful colours painted on the arches over the doors and the prayer flags fluttering in the wind. As we descended towards the central valley in Tibet we saw our first trees in many days.

We reached a river where we had to take a ferry. The ferry could only take four cars at a time. We waited for some time before we crossed and, on the other side, we met our new Tibetan guide, Joe.

Crossing the river on the ferry.

Driving off the ferry.

The roads had been very rough with washboard and several dry river crossings so the final section to Shigatse on smooth tarmac, was very welcome.

Approaching Shigatse with the Tashilunpo Monastery on the right.

We arrived at the Shandong Hotel and surprisingly, even though we were the last to leave in the morning, there were still others who had not yet checked in.

It was beautifully warm and sunny. The temperature had gone from minus 8 to plus 21 degrees Celsius. The hotel was better than its 3 star rating, though there was no heating and it was cold at night. We and the car were covered in dust, so we got the car washed and then had showers which we appreciated as we had not had hot water for quite a while.

We had a reasonable dinner in the hotel, but then discovered that Joe had lost the permits for our stay in Tibet, including the visit to Everest. Wendy thought she was destined never to get to Everest. We all hoped it would be resolved, especially for Joe as his job was on the line.

Tomorrow is a rest day, giving us time to sort out the cars and visit the Tashilunpo Monastery that is the traditional home of the Panchen Lama.

May 8th - Day 11 - Shigatse (Rest Day)

2010-08-02T18:07:00.006+08:00

We had a decent breakfast at 8am, quite a luxury after the last few days. We met Mike Preston and Anthony from the advance car for the first time on the event.

Being a rest day it was an opportunity for many of the participants to get their cars worked on after days of very hard driving on Chinese and Tibetan roads. Here Jingers works on one of the Land Rovers. Not sure who is under the Jeep Cherokee.

I, on the other hand took the car with Chris to a local garage to sort out one of the front shock absorbers that was leaking badly. The garage was pretty basic and we all laughed when we saw one of the mechanics peeing into the inspection pit. Chris wasn't too keen to go down into it to look at the car from the underneath!

While we were at the garage the lost documents that we needed to travel in Tibet were found in one of the cars. Wendy went with the de Hullus into town. Wendy visited the market and bought prayer flags and a bell used by monks for praying. They went into the old town residential area which was quite picturesque with painted lintels above the front doors. At the top of a hill was a fortress that had been wrecked by Mao supporters in the Cultural Revolution.It was very hot and because Victor wasn't feeling well they all made their way back to the hotel.

We all met up and took our car to the Tashilunpo Monastery because it was so hot. We took John and Joanna with us. The Monastery is a great complex of buildings, many housing enormous Buddhas. We visited one temple with a 27 metres high Buddha but we were most impressed by the temple containing the tomb of the 4th Panchen Lama with 85 kilos of gold and masses of jewels. We bought silk scarves from the monks for one yuan.

The Tashilunpo Monastery

Whilst we were walking round the Monastery we saw John Brown showing the monks the scars from his heart by-pass operation. They seemed most impressed.

The Monastery has 600 monks and was built in 1447. It used to have 4,000 monks.As we were leaving one of the group, Paul Fockens from the Netherlands,asked for a lift back to the hotel as he had just been bitten by a three legged dog. We rang Greg to warn him as we were all concerned about rabies.

We left the Monastery after about three hours and returned to the hotel where we had a good dinner with the Browns, Lifeng, Mike Preston, Greg, Mike Johnson and Ma. Mike Preston told us about the next few days driving and Joe stood up and spoke to us all and was given a Great Tour of China t-shirt.

We learned that Paul is OK but Victor is on a drip. We hope he is well enough to travel to New Tingri tomorrow.

May 9th - Day 12 - Shigatse to New Tingri (Qomolangma)

2010-08-02T18:06:00.008+08:00

Wendy had a very bad night and couldn't sleep, possibly due to the altitude, but she felt OK in the morning. Victor de Hullu was better and well enough to travel.

We left Shigatse at 9.15 driving through barren mountainous landscapes. The road was very rough with clouds of dust being thrown up by all the cars.

We went over more high mountain passes and now we saw sheep and goats rather than yaks. One section of road was not dissimilar to Glencoe in Scotland.

We climbed to the the top of yet another 5,000 metres pass, this time the Gyatsola-la Pass at 5,220 metres. At the top is a sign showing the entry to Qomolangma National Nature Preserve. We snapped this photo after we had driven under the sign.

We continued on the rough gravel road until we saw in the distance snow capped mountains, our first views of the Himalayas. We stopped to take photos and then realised that the highest mountain in the distance was Everest, about 100 miles away.

We were filthy from all the dust being thrown up and now the car had a cracked windscreen, which was getting longer as we drove. We stopped to photograph some yaks but the farmer didn't seem very pleased so we quickly drove on. Also, there were children by the side of the road with rocks in their hands. Fearing the worst, we didn't stop but then realised they were trying to sell us fossils.

The last part of the journey into New Tingri was on a rough track as the road was being upgraded. We saw more boys with rocks and stopped. They showed us fossil ammonites and we bought one for 5 yuan. We arrived soon after at the Qomolangma Hotel, which was not as bad as we feared it might be.

New Tingri is a small town in the middle of nowhere and the starting point for trekkers and mountaineers going to the Himalayas and Everest. We met up with many of the group in the car park outside the hotel and enjoyed the warm sunshine.

Tomorrow is the highlight of the Great Tour of China, the visit to Everest Base Camp. Few people get the opportunity to drive there and we feel very fortunate.

May 10th - Day 13 - New Tingri - Everest - New Tingri

2010-08-02T18:05:00.003+08:00

We were up at 4.40am after another very cold night with no heating. We were leaving early to make sure we could see the sun dawning on Everest, which we were told was a sight not to be missed. At breakfast we learned that Mark and Olpha had arrived last night at 9pm after an incident with a Tibetan boy who ran into the side of their car. They must go back to see the police when we return to Shigatse tomorrow.

We left in the pitch black and navigating was hard with cold hands, lack of light and operating the Brantz. Chris used the clicker from the back seat and Wendy used a torch to navigate. The rough stony road, with long sections of washboard, entered an area of Tibet which is on the border with Nepal and we had to show our passports and special permits to drive to Everest, at a checkpoint. It was still dark with sunrise in over an hour, just after 7am.

We were now in 'no man's land' and we saw the first sign of the dawn light. We came to the beginning of the Pang La pass which rose to 5,120 metres. When we reached the top we all stopped and got out of the cars to wait for the sun to rise. What a view it was. In the pre-dawn, to the south of us, we could see stretching from east to west, the magnificent Himalayan mountain range.

Everest towered above the other mountains with a wonderful looking cloud being blow away from its peak by the jet-stream winds. It was a sight none of us will ever forget, even though we were all freezing in the very cold air. In fact Wendy's camera failed owing to the cold.

As the sun rose above the horizon, the first rays caught the summit of Everest; a magical moment.

We stayed at the summit of Pang-La for about half an hour and then continued on towards Everest Base Camp which was still 50 miles away. We made sure we left 'ahead of the pack' to avoid the terrible dust problems when following other cars. It was a bone-shattering drive, with washboard sections being particularly bad. About 5 miles from Base Camp we drove past the Rongphu Monastery, the highest monastery in the world. We drove in to Base Camp just after 9am. Base Camp is at an elevation of 5,020 metres, nearly 400 metres lower than the highest pass we crossed on the road from Nagqu to Shigatse.

Base camp consists of shacks and tents. There were a few yaks which are used to haul mountaineering equipment. Looking up the valley, Everest towers above you. It is a fantastic sight, such an impressive mountain.

It was a moment to remember and we all took photos of each other standing in front of the mountain.

We climbed up a small hill (moraine) made up of rocks deposited by the retreating glacier and in the valley below us were tents of mountaineers waiting to attempt the ascent of Everest. The short climb was quite difficult at such a high altitude and some of the group decided it was too much. When I got to the top and took this photo I was breathing hard in the thin air.

We stayed about an hour and then started the 70 mile drive back to New Tingri. On the way we stopped again at the summit of Pang La pass to take our last photos of the Himalayas and Everest. This time in daylight which shows what an incredibly beautiful sight the mountain range is contrasting with the dry desert conditions of the surrounding plateau.

Passing one of the small Tibetan villages on the way back to New Tingri. I wondered how anyone could live in such a harsh and forbidding place as this.

We arrived back in New Tingri in the early afternoon and everyone agreed it was, with doubt, the highlight of the tour and all the hard times getting there had been worth it.

The car, by now, was unbelievably dirty and dust was everywhere, so we decided to get it washed. We found some men washing cars in a river so we drove down into the water and they threw buckets of water over the car! It was the Tibetan version of an automatic car wash.

We had a great meal in the hotel when, once again the French provided the wine. Ahmad, a keen cook, went into the hotel kitchen and cooked rice for the whole group. The best rice, by far, of the whole tour!

Tomorrow we head back to Shigatse for a night and then it is on to the capital of Tibet, Lhasa.

May 11th - Day 14 - New Tingri to Shigatse

2010-08-02T18:04:00.011+08:00

We have just learned that several roads are blocked on the road from Shigatse to Lhasa and we will have to make detours through mountain rivers to get to the capital. Let's hope we make it!

The Qomolangma Hotel has been much better than we expected and apart from the cold rooms and no electricity from 1pm to 5pm, the staff were pleasant and the food very good. We left New Tingri for the 230 kms drive back to Shigatse and the Shandong Hotel. The drive was better than before and we reached Shigatse in four and a half hours. The weather was very good with lovely warm sunshine.

A policeman controlling the traffic as we returned to Shigatse.

We discovered that the Mitchells were not so fortunate as us because their car keeps breaking down. They had been towed most of the way by Jingers and Greg.. Olpha and Mark have reported to the police in Shigatse and the matter is now closed, thank goodness.

We wanted to post some cards and with the help of the front desk clerk we found the post office. In the evening we went out for dinner with Terence, Mary, Mark and Olpha. The restaurant was next door to the police station! We had a private dining booth with good food and red wine.

When we got back to the hotel they were still working on the Mitchell's Jeep. We both wondered if it would make it to Hong Kong. It is up early for the drive to Lhasa because of the detours through the mountains.

May 12th - Day 15 - Shigatse to Lhasa

2010-08-02T18:03:00.006+08:00

We left Shigatse at 7am because of the detours due to road works on the main road. It was a good tarmac road with little traffic except for a few farm vehicles and the ever-present three-wheeled motorised carts and an occasional truck. After about 50 miles the road changed to smooth gravel but with an unbelievable amount of dust. It was impossible to drive within 400yards of another car without being totally blinded by clouds of dense dust. Overtaking of slow moving trucks and farm vehicles was always a problem as you needed a fair bit of luck to have the road wide enough for two vehicles as well as straight enough to be able to see that there was nothing coming towards you.

We rose up on our first mountain pass to about 4,500 metres and passed by a wonderful lake, Yamdrok, with a ruined monastery on a small island . Apparently, it was here, many centuries ago, that one of the early Panchen Lamas came to spend five years in solitary meditation and enlightenment.We then came up behind the Mitchells, who had left at 5am, going very slowly and the engine was making a terrible noise. We stopped and asked them if they needed any help but they said they would carry on and hopefully get to Lhasa. I wasn't so sure but they insisted we continue.

We then came to a modern hydro-electric scheme. It was a reminder of how much Tibet is a contrast between the 21st century and the middle ages. The road became progressively worse, with potholes, road works and detours through river beds. We reached a beautiful huge lake at an elevation of 4,500 metres, one of the holiest in Tibet. The road works went on for 25 miles with workers waving and smiling at us as we drove past. At one point, by the lake, we hit a large rock. The car crashed down on to it as we attempted to negotiate the road works. We stopped and looked underneath the engine and saw that the sump guard had been dented quite severely. Without the guard protecting the sump it would have been smashed and that would have been the end of our rally!!

We continued on along the shore of the lake and came to a small village with a large trawler moored in the harbour. I was always told that Lake Titicaca was the highest navigable lake in the world. Well, here was a large boat on a lake more than three thousand feet higher! We stopped and took pictures and then moved on over another high mountain pass.

Wendy saw a very large bird but was not sure what it was. Possibly a vulture or an eagle? The descent from the pass was down some very tight hairpin bends with steep unguarded drops. Great driving but we were all pretty tired by now and wanted to reach Lhasa as soon as possible.

We finally reached the valley and the main road to Lhasa about 2pm and drove the final few miles on a good tarmac road. The valley was very green and reminded me of rural southern France or Italy, such a contrast to the terrain we had just crossed and quite unlike my expectations of Tibet.

The traffic built up as we approached Lhasa and included many military vehicles driving in convoys. We found the Lhasa Hotel and discovered we were the second car to arrive after Tiffy.

We checked in and were all given silk scarves. Later, as more cars arrived, there was music and dancers dressed up as yaks to welcome them to Lhasa.

Four Tibetan girls in traditional dress lined up outside the hotel to welcome the cars as they arrived after another gruelling day.

We had a late lunch in the hotel, in the Yak Cafe, which was quite good and then Richard Smith and I took our cars to a local car wash. I was surprised how efficient the car wash operation was and at the end was delighted how clean, inside and out, the car now was. I am getting pretty tired of driving a car full of dust!!

The cars being washed and valeted.

We returned to the hotel and then in the early evening we drove into Lhasa to see the Potala Palace. On the way, we went past two huge golden yaks on a roundabout. When we stopped in the square below the Palace, we were immediately set upon by women trying to sell us things. We bought a plastic prayer wheel to get rid of them! The Potala Palace was very impressive as you looked up at it from the square.

We walked round the square which had a typical communist type monument.

Near to the monument was this old MIG jet fighter that children were climbing over. Was this all that was left of the Tibetan air force??

We had a mediocre dinner in the hotel and started to worry about the Mitchells who had not arrived, though we knew Jingers and Greg were still out, so hopefully they were following them all the way to the hotel.

May 13th - Day 16 - Lhasa (Rest day)

2010-08-02T18:02:00.010+08:00

We had breakfast in the hotel and I took this photo of our guide Joe, who has been so friendly and helpful on our drive through Tibet.

I went outside to see all the cars parked up in the car park and there was the Mitchells' Jeep still hitched up to Jinger's Mitubishi. A sorry sight and almost certainly the end of the road for the Jeep.

Buses had been arranged by HERO to take us into the centre of Lhasa and the Potala Palace and we left the hotel at about 9.30am.

We had a hot walk up a steep hill to the entrance and had to wait for ages at the top in the sun because the entrance tickets to the Palace had been left on the bus by Joe, our Tibetan guide.

There was much moaning and groaning but it gave us all the opportunity to take group photos standing on the steps. The views over the city were great.

Because the bus had gone we all had to buy tickets and finally went inside. We decided to tour on our own looking at the many different temples and rooms. There were a lot of statues encrusted with jewels. Wendy liked the murals and painted doors and columns. We came across a group of multinational clowns accompanying the famous Patch Adams as featured in the film. They were there 'to bring happiness to the people of China and Tibet'. We went out onto the roof, part of which was being renovated, because of the damage from the cultural revolution

Views from the Potala Palace of the city and the square with the Monument and the MIG fighter.

One of the temples in the Palace.

We walked back down through the Palace and picked up the coaches back to the hotel. We drove past the two golden yaks again and this time I managed to film them.

One of the countdown traffic lights - what a great idea. Just seven seconds to go before the green. It reminded me of the countdown lights we saw on the Inca Trail in 2001 in Brazil, which were reminiscent of the Formula 1 starting lights.

When we got back to the hotel we had lunch in the Yak cafe with the Mitchells. We don't know how they stay so cheerful and, as I have already hinted, we had our misgivings about their car being repaired. If necessary, we offered to take them in our car and for Chris to go with Tiffy and the boys.

Wendy took a taxi with Chris and James Belbin to Barkhor Market and saw the Jokhang temple. You have to walk clockwise round the outside of the temple. She bought a small Buddha and some gifts to take back to the UK.

In the evening HERO had laid on buses to take us to a restaurant, the Mad Yak, which is a tourist- type Tibetan restaurant. The food wasn't great and the meal was accompanied by music and Tibetan dancing which was curtailed by a power cut. We returned to the hotel to say our goodbyes to Mary English, the two French couples and Linda from the States who are leaving the tour in the morning.

Tomorrow we start the drive through the wild and remote areas of eastern Tibet. HERO say that this is where the adventure really begins.

May 13th - Day 16 - A story of true HEROES!

2010-08-02T18:01:00.002+08:00

I must relate the story of two of our competitors David and Patsy Mitchell from New Zealand. They rented a Chinese car in Beijing to do the tour. Unfortunately the Jeep Cherokee they rented has been a disaster from the very beginning with numerous faults and breakdowns. The one thing about the Mitchells is their determination to continue even when the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against them. Yesterday they set off two hours before the rest of us as the car could only do a maximum of 30 mph and often stalled when trying to climb the mountain passes. After about three hours from Shigatse the Jeep finally gave up the ghost but not the Mitchells! The sweeper car with Jingers Riley and our doctor Greg Williams, towed them for sixteen hours over the most atrocious roads imaginable. When I heard how far they needed to be towed I thought it was an impossible task. They had to negotiate a 5,000 metres pass in the dark, with the Jeep having no power steering or brakes! They had to ford numerous streams which had been no easy task for me in my Landcruiser. They arrived in Lhasa at 1.30am after over 21 hours of driving. A Herculean effort by all concerned.

May 14th - Day 17 - Lhasa to Ba Yi

2010-08-02T18:00:00.005+08:00

Since yesterday, events have moved on regarding the Mitchells. Their rented Jeep is being repaired in a Lhasa garage and rather than wait for it to be ready, they have joined us as our passengers. Chris, our co-driver, has teamed up with Richards Smith's Landcruiser, until David and Patsy get their car back.The aim is for their Jeep to be driven to meet them at one of the next stops along the route. It remains to be seen if this can be achieved.

The weather continues to amaze us, with temperatures in the low 70's. The weather for eastern Tibet is changeable and the forecast was for rain, our first since leaving Xi'an.

The road out of Lhasa took us down below 12,000 feet for the first time in ten days and many participants were no longer taking Diamox, the drug used to combat altitude sickness.

The road to Ba Yi followed a river more or less all the way. We headed east down the valley with towering snow-peaked mountains all around us. Once again, we had to negotiate a mountain pass taking us over 16,000 feet, but now the vegetation changed . All our time in Tibet had been in very dry and arid high areas of the country with few, or no, trees at all. Now we saw conifers on the side of the mountains and the scenery became very reminiscent of the high Alps.

Our lunch stop, after 175 miles, was in the town of Gongbu Jiangda.

Don Griffiths was parked outside the restaurant that HERO had suggested we use in the road book.

Across the street from where we parked were some Tibetans squatting on the pavement sorting, what looked like root vegetables. I asked Don if he knew what they were doing but he didn't. We never found out what the produce was.

We were very interested to see that the small villages and towns had numerous new buildings and homes. The whole area we had just travelled through seemed relatively prosperous.

We left after a short stop and continued the marvellous drive alongside the river, through stunning scenery.

The Tibetan people continued to amaze us with their friendliness and willingness to attempt to communicate. As we were passing one of the many fields that lined the roads, we saw a farmer ploughing his field with two yaks.

We stopped and I went up to him with my camera and indicated I wanted to take some photos. To ensure I did not offend him, I offered him 5 Yuan (30p). He simply refused to take the money, smiling all the time. I took my photos and thanked him profusely, again offering the money. Once more he said no. It was a wonderful moment and typical of the Tibetan people we have met. We can't wait to return here again.

The almost total absence of traffic on the tarmac road meant we could make the 250 mile journey in under six hours and we arrived at the Linzhi Hotel in Ba Yi in the early afternoon. We picked up a brochure in the hotel and were interested to see that they claim Ba Yi, at 2,900 metres, is the lowest city in Tibet!

I took this photo of the hotel and noticed later that Clay Reggazoni is in the picture.

Wendy and I walked into the town and found an Internet cafe, so I was able to do my daily posting. When I finished we walked back to the hotel in the rain.

It was going to be a very early start in the morning for our drive to Bomi, about 230 kms to the east, because of roadworks. The road will be closed from 7am. We were told the road will be much tougher.

May 15th - Day 18 - Ba Yi to Bomi

2010-08-02T17:59:00.007+08:00

We had breakfast at 5.15am, went back to the room but there was no power! It was totally dark and we couldn't see to pack our things. We called the hotel porter to sort it out but his attempts resulted in fusing the entire wing of the hotel! The power then came on and we packed and left just after 6am. It was still dark. We climbed our first mountain pass but couldn't see much in the dark and missed a 2,500 years old cypress tree mentioned in the road book. We were now moving through much more rugged and wild country and the road, no longer tarmac, was gravel with potholes and rocks strewn across it in many places.

Further on there was some wonderful wide open countryside with villages and fields, very much like the Alps.

We came up behind Paul Fockens in his Landcruiser as we passed a Tibetan herding his cattle along the road.

We entered the Grand Canyon national reserve. The road now degenerated into a muddy track running by a ravine with a raging river far below us. Numerous sections of road were being worked on and we had to negotiate diversions and temporary tunnels where rock blasting was taking place.

It was fantastic driving, especially when you had to ford the many streams that cascaded down the hillside and then across the road. Here is Clay going through one the streams.

At one point we came up behind this truck parked by the side of the road with what looked like smoke pouring out of the sides. As we passed it I thought it was on fire, but it might have been steam from the engine.

At many points on the road there were extremely rickety looking bridges that we had to cross. It was always a nervous moment!

We came across this amazing waterfall on the other side of the river. It had to be at least 500 feet in height, possibly much more. It fell down a narrow groove in the rock all the way to the river. I have never seen such a 'compact' waterfall before. It was an incredible sight. Unfortunately, the photo does not show it as well as the video I took..

The track continued on, with the river always below us, until we came to a single track suspension bridge that crossed the river. You could see the old bridge in front. I would not have wanted to have gone across that!

Crossing the bridge. On the other side there was a guard post with a sentry who stood to attention as we passed.

The weather improved as we drove on to Bomi and on several occasions we parked to take photos of the unbelievably beautiful scenery. Here are Wendy and David taking photos.

By now we were approaching Bomi and our overnight stop at the Traffic Hotel. We drove into the town to the hotel and checked in.

The main street in Bomi with a view of one of the very high mountains that surround the town on all sides.

When we got up to our room we couldn't believe how dreadful it was. The hotel was used by truck drivers and the conditions were horrendous. Wendy went to buy some things and while she was out I learned that there was a new hotel nearby. The hotel had opened three days before and there was one room remaining. It was our lucky day.!!

Dinner had been laid on at the Traffic Hotel, so we went back there. The meal was served in separate rooms, each for about ten people. We joined Lifeng, Ma, Tony, Jean-Philippe, Bernard, Kit and his co-driver Nick. The food wasn't bad, made better by the Great Wall red wine. However, Wendy had the "fish", as she preferred not to take any chances on the meat, but had a discussion with Li Feng on whether it was actually fish or chicken. Wendy was positive it was fish and so was horrified to be asked by one of the participants at breakfast the following morning if she avoided the chicken as it was off!

May 16th - Day 19 - Bomi to Basu

2010-08-02T17:58:00.007+08:00

We left Bomi for the 200 mile drive to another small eastern Tibet town, Basu. We caught up with Jill and Mike Taylor, Car No.10, in their green Landcruiser with its two spare wheels mounted on the rear of the car.

This was the third day of driving through eastern Tibet and the scenery continued to amaze us all. The mountains are so beautiful with snow covering the peaks and dense pine forests on the lower slopes.

The road, at first tarmac, soon became a track only wide enough for one vehicle as it snaked alongside a fast flowing river. At times we were hundreds of feet above the river in a wonderful gorge with dense vegetation on the mountain sides. Traffic was almost non-existent, save for the odd truck making a very hazardous journey on a road that had numerous blind bends and terrifying unguarded drops to the river below.

The road was being upgraded and workers, under the direction of the Army, were building walls to stop the river washing away the road as well as rocks from falling down from above. We were forced to stop when we saw the Shuttleworths' Toyota Hilux, Car No. 21, towing a truck that had become stuck in a landslip that covered the road. Several trucks and two coaches were also stationary in the mud and rocks that had been swept down from above.

After a few minutes, one of the coaches managed to move and created a space for our cars to get through. We watched as first Mark and Olpha drove past us and then Terence English in his Toyota.

The coach remained firmly stuck and the Tibetan passengers all started to get out in the middle of the road. We left them wondering how long it would be before a truck pulled them clear of the landslide.

We came upon one set of roadworks after another. It made for slow but interesting driving especially when you watched the workers using machinery that was either very old or totally inadequate for the work, such as this tiny dumper truck that had just off-loaded stone onto the road.

Frequently we came up behind a queue of our cars stuck at roadworks. Here we are behind Terence English with the de Hullus in front of him.

It was incredible driving as one moment we were down in a deep valley and the next we had climbed up above the snow line and we were driving past vast areas of snow. In one such section we came across a lone horseman riding by the side of the road. Where he was going to, or where he had come from, we had no idea.We hadn't passed any communities for ages.

We arrived at our hotel in the town of Basu late in the afternoon. Our hotel, the Quanxiang, was fairly modern with chalet-style rooms. We were next door to Clay and his co-drivers. Poor John and Joanna Brown had a room that had no toilet, so we gave John our portable toilet bottle!

We had a fairly basic, typical Tibetan meal, in the hotel restaurant.

While we were eating, crowds of Tibetans, adults and children, had gathered outside to look at the cars. Some of the children peered through the window to look at us. I felt as though I was an exhibit!!

We went outside and we all joined in playing football with them and taking photos. Ahmad got out his Polaroid and took photos and gave them to the children.

It was a great moment to see their happy smiling faces. They were all very happy until the local police told them they couldn't play with us. It was rather sad. What harm were we doing?

One of the group commandeered a three wheel bicycle and cycled round the car park with Olpha on the handlebars and another member of the group in the trailer . There was a disco in the hotel with a karaoke, but we couldn't recognise any of the songs! We found a couple with sub-titles and Wendy and Greg had a go. A great way to end the evening.

May 17th - Day 20 - Basu to Mankang

2010-08-02T17:57:00.006+08:00

This was the fourth day of wonderful driving on our way out of Tibet and back into China. We will never forget the incredible sights of eastern Tibet. The whole area is very sparsely populated and the Tibetans living here are mainly subsistence farmers. We really felt as though we were exploring an unknown land.

We were getting ready to leave when we heard that the road was going to be closed at 7am. We rushed to pack our things and left the hotel at just after 7am.

Leaving Basu we went through an arid region with the very rough road running down the deep rocky gorge of the Mujiang River. The road was very narrow with huge overhanging rock faces and on several occasions we had to pull over to the side of the track to let trucks squeeze past us with their wheels close to the edge of the drop into the river. It was quite an experience.

We then started a two hour climb over the most spectacular gravel pass of the Great Tour. Climbing to 15,252 feet we negotiated, we think, 48 hairpin bends. As John Brown said in the Road Book it was much more impressive than the Stelvio Pass in the Alps.

Looking back down at some of the hairpin bends of the pass.

Rising up we came across numerous roadworks and we came to a halt several times as we waited for trucks to off load materials onto the road. Here we are behind Richard Smith in one of the road work sections.

The road works went on for quite a time and then, near the summit, we met a huge convoy of army trucks coming in the opposite direction. The convoy had possibly 100 trucks, it went on for ever!. We passed the end of the convoy just after we had driven over the summit. We stopped and took this photo of the tail-end going over the summit ridge.

We were very fortunate to have got past the road works before the trucks came through. The cars behind us were in for a long wait if they were caught in the roadworks with the convoy. We parked up and took this photo looking down from the summit at a ridge of snow capped mountains in the far distance. What a view!

We reached the outskirts of a town and all the cars were stopped at another set of road works. While we waited to be allowed through a Tibetan approached us and asked us for pictures of the Dalai Lama.

As we got closer to Mankang we came to a section of tarmac road, which was a great relief after all the gravel, but then we came up behind many of the group cars parked up at anther set of roadworks. This time it was because they were laying tarmac down.

Jim Taylor with us all, out of our cars, waiting to be allowed through.

Once through these roadworks we had to climb another pass, this time to a very dry high plateau with snow covered mountains. It really very beautiful. We met up with Bernard Legrand and his Hummer at the summit. He was struggling with a loss of power due to the altitude.

Once past the high valley we came to a section of road with incredible views down to the Mekong River thousands of feet below us. You could see the road on the far side of the mountain going into the distance down a series of hairpin bends.

As we were driving down to wards the river we saw our second eagle, this time I managed to video it but the still from the video is rather blurred. It was one of the few opportunities to photo wildlife on our journey through Tibet.

As we reached the Mekong River bridge we saw Jim Taylor driving in the opposite direction! We stopped and asked him what the problem was, he had no brakes!! They were trying to sort the car out.

We finally reached Mankang late in the afternoon, after eleven hours. As we drove through the centre of the town it looked as though it had been hit by an earthquake, with tumbled down buildings all around us. We never found out if this was the case, though we did hear that the area had been hit by an earthquake some years before. Our hotel, the New Hotel, looked alright from the outside but was a disaster inside!

Water was pouring through the building from a burst pipe in the roof. In our room you had to use an umbrella when you went to the toilet! Others were even worse off, especially the Browns, who had to say in an annexe with no sanitation at all. We had an 'interesting' meal in a restaurant next to the hotel. Some of the food was quite good but there was a soup that contained the heads and feet of chickens and Wendy had something she thought was fish but Lifeng said was chicken!

We returned to the hotel that was now in darkness because of a power cut. We went to our room using torches and found that we had no water, so we washed with mineral water. We used our sleeping bags as the beds looked so bad. We were woken in the middle of the night when the power came back on and switched all the lights on in the room! We felt very hot and discovered that the beds had electric blankets which had come on with the power. We couldn't wait to leave this god-forsaken place. It was by far the worst place we had stayed in on the tour.

May 18th - Day 21 - Mankang to Deqen ((China)

2010-08-02T17:56:00.009+08:00

Our last few hours in Tibet but we couldn't wait to get away from Mankang. We were allowed to leave early and drove away at 7.45am. The weather was overcast and rainy as we drove out of this awful place. We had to get to Yinjiang, about 90 kms away by 12 noon for a two hour window when traffic was allowed through roadworks. The road was closed for the remainder of the day.

We climbed up to another mountain pass of just under 14,000 feet. As we climbed, the rain turned to snow and all the trees had a light covering of snow. The mist hung over the mountains restricting the view. It was quite a change from the clear skies we had seen on all the mountain passes of the past few days.

Once over the top, the scene changed once again and we were in a much drier region with great views of the barren hills, but with splashes of green where the hillsides had been irrigated.

On one section of mountain pass we could see Richard Smith's Landcruiser on the far side of the mountain, several miles away. I videoed him driving down the long straight road and took this photo from the video.

We reached the section before Yangjiang at 10.30am, and hour and a half early, so we had to wait. There were large roadworks going on. It appeared they were building a railway. We stopped with many others of the group and eventually, Lifeng managed to arrange that the road would be opened early to allow us all through. Whilst we were waiting, I left a piece of bread on the back seat, with the back door open, and a goat took advantage of the opportunity and helped itself! We fed it all the food we no longer wanted.

From left to right: Chris Cooper, myself, Alan Crisp and Richard Smith waiting at the control point.

The road was finally clear of roadworks and we continued down the Mekong River valley. It was a rough and dusty road through magnificent scenery.

We crossed the border back into China at the Tibet/Yunnan Border Archway. One final pass of over 11,000 feet near Mt. Meli and then we drove the final 20kms into Deqen and our hotel, the Rainbow Hotel.

We checked in and walked up the street to the market where we tried to keep away from the caged live chickens that were on sale because of the Bird Flu scare. Some of the women traders in the market.

The main street in Deqen.

As we left Tibet, I am sure everyone was sad to say goodbye to the Tibetans. They have an unbelievably hard life coping with the rigours of the high altitude but wherever we went, they were smiling and friendly. It's another place I want to return to.

The road conditions since we left Lhasa have taken their toll on the cars. Suspensions, shock absorbers, brakes and engines have all suffered, but the resourcefulness of the drivers and HERO has meant that everyone has been able to continue the Tour.

Tomorrow we drive about 300 miles to the major tourist city of Lijiang, with its canals and city walls. It is a popular place for backpackers and trekkers heading into Tibet.

May 19th - Day 22 - Deqen to Lijiang

2010-08-02T17:54:00.007+08:00

At breakfast we said goodbye to our Tibetan guide Joe. We were sorry to see him go as he was always friendly and very willing to help us all.

It was an early start from Deqen and very soon we were encountering quite heavy snow. The road quickly became covered with snow and driving was quite difficult.

Parked by the side of the road to take some photos.

As we dropped down, the snow stopped and we returned to lush green countryside. We caught up with Car 22 with Kurt and Alvaro, both from Mexico, and, in front of them, Clay. For several miles we drove in convoy filming the Mexicans trying to overtake Clay, who wouldn't let them pass. It was great fun to watch, especially when Clay had a puncture and was forced to stop!! The Mexicans pulled up behind him and helped him to change his wheel. What comradeship.

We were entering the area known as Shangri-La, made famous in the novel "Lost Horizon" by the British author, James Hilton.

We pulled off the road to have a picnic lunch. The Mitchells were with us for their last day as passengers. They will be picking up a new car this evening in Lijiang. The Jeep has had it! The views over the terraced fields far below were wonderful and while we enjoyed our picnic, Clay drove past, back on the road again after his puncture.

Some way further on we reached the beginning of Tiger Leaping Gorge. This was one of the highlights of the tour. The mighty Yangtse River has carved an incredible gorge through the mountains.

The entrance to the gorge and you can just make out the road on the right-hand side.

The road we took clung to the steep sides of the gorge with drops of hundreds of feet to the river below. At one point, a huge boulder had fallen down on to the road and there was only just room for us to squeeze past it. My wheels were right on the edge of the drop and thank goodness I couldn't see just how close I was!

We met Ahmad and Kenny Croucher driving in the opposite direction in the middle of the gorge. He had decided to take an 'easier' route and came to the gorge from the other end.

Our brakes were starting to judder quite badly because the discs were warped as a result of the heavy braking over so many mountain passes.. I was thinking I would have to get them looked at when we got to a large city with a Toyota dealer who had the parts and could do the repairs.

The remainder of the journey to Lijiang was uneventful and our hotel, the Guangfang Hotel, was the first western standard hotel we have stayed in since Xi'an, two weeks ago. After checking in, I arranged for a cold bottle of Canyon Road Chardonnay to be sent up to our room. It was time to toast the success of the trip so far with a decent bottle of wine!

We had a good western buffet in the hotel - a very welcome change from the mediocre Chinese food we have had for the past three weeks.

May 20th - Day 23 - Lijiang to Dali

2010-08-02T17:52:00.006+08:00

Our hotel in Lijiang, the five star Guangfang Hotel, where we were on the 16th floor overlooking the car park and our cars.

With the brakes getting progressively worse, I had spoken with HERO about getting my brakes repaired and also to Richard Smith. With their help, we located a Toyota dealer in Kunming who would do the work.

We had a good breakfast in the hotel and then took a taxi into the old town, which is a World Heritage Site. The town is a maze of narrow streets with canals teeming with fish.

There was this giant waterwheel situated in the centre of the old town.

We met the Shuttleworths with Karen Perry relaxing by one of the canals.

As we walked the streets, we saw many dressed in the blue clothes of the Naxi people. In one of the doorways was this lovely old lady selling noodles from her wok.

A typical street trader carrying his vegetables.

One of the many narrow streets of the old town.

We took a taxi back to the hotel for a snack lunch and then left Lijiang at 1pm for our drive to Dali, about four hours away. It was a pleasant drive, during which we passed this earth dam with giant Chinese characters on it.

The area around Dali is famous for its marble and all along the road there were marble producing places. We reached Dali in the early afternoon. As we approached the town, we saw the three giant pagodas for which Dali is famous. They made a very impressive sight. This is the main entrance to the pagodas with the central pagoda in the background.

We drove to our hotel, the four star Asia Star.

Inside the main reception area of the hotel was this giant oil painting totally covering one of the walls.

The Mitchells had their new car ready for them at the hotel, though they would have to be accompanied by a Chinese driver.

We took a taxi to the old town. It was very busy with Chinese tourists. We saw these five girls in traditional dress who charged a few Yuan for their photo.

Crawling along the pavement, near to the girls, was a beggar. He was suffering with a terrible abdominal tumour - a truly dreadful sight.

We walked around and bought one or two small items. The city is walled and there are several gates leading in and out of the centre. Each gate had typical Chinese tiered roofing.

We couldn't stay too long as we had to take another taxi to return to the Three Pagodas Citadel, built in the 9th and 10th centuries. The central pagoda was built first with the other two about 100 years later. We climbed a vast flight of steps up to the pagodas.

The buildings have been destroyed by earthquakes and re-built. In the last temple, there was a huge golden Buddha. Unfortunately it was very dark in the temple, so the photo we took is not very clear.

The view over the temple complex, with incense being burnt.

When we came to leave, we couldn't find a taxi and had to wait for a very run-down tuk-tuk to take us the few miles back to the hotel. It had great difficulty climbing the slightest of hills and when we came to the hotel, we abandoned it at the bottom of the hotel drive as we didn't think it would get up it!

May 21st - Day 24 - Dali to Kunming

2010-08-02T17:50:00.005+08:00

We left Dali at 8am as we needed to get to Kunming early to give the Toyota garage time to fix the brakes. To start with, there was a good expressway which was quite quick, even though it was misty in places, but then we had to take ordinary roads which were the normal potholed variety. When we drove through some of the villages, the farmers had strewn wheat across the road so the cars would act as threshing machines as they drove over it.

We were now in a vast rice growing region and paddy fields stretched out on either side of the road. Water buffalo were being used to plough the rice fields. It was such a contrast to the mountains and deserts of western China and Tibet that we had been driving through for nearly three weeks. The vegetation was beautifully green and very lush. We drove past mile after mile of paddy fields with farmers working knee-deep in water, either planting rice or ploughing behind a pair of water buffalo. A wonderful sight.

The traffic became very heavy as we got to Kunming, but the road book helped us find our hotel, the massive Kai Wah Plaza International. We were booked into a room on the 28th floor.

Wendy immediately sent our dirty clothes to the laundry. I went with Chris to find the Toyota dealer, which wasn't too far from the hotel. It was a very modern facility with a long row of vehicle hoists, each with its own mechanic. They were very helpful and I was sure they would be able to sort the brakes out. We took a taxi back to the hotel where we had a light meal.

We went back to the garage and collected the car. They had skimmed all four discs and fitted new brake pads. They charged me £40!!! We took photos of us all outside the dealership and then drove back to the hotel. What a difference there was driving the car now the brakes had been fixed. All the judder and shaking from the warped discs had gone. It was a pleasure to drive the car again!

The head technician at the dealership.

We had a meal in the hotel with many of the group before we went to bed about 11pm.

May 22nd - Day 25 - Kunming (Rest Day)

2010-08-02T17:48:00.002+08:00

We had a leisurely morning sorting out our clothes and cases etc. We had a good breakfast in the hotel with Jingers and Lifeng. About midday, we went for a walk locally. We were pursued by three small children, begging. One boy was very hard to shake off! We walked to a large clothes market which had lots of cheap shoes on display.

We went back to the hotel and had a light lunch. The Browns weren't happy because Joanna didn't get the food she had ordered. After a great fuss, they eventually got a free meal!!

We then took a taxi to go and see the Expo 99 Gardens in northern Kunming. The place is used for weddings and we saw lots of brides having their photos taken in front of the wonderful flower displays.

Just inside the gardens, there was an extraordinary display of flowers constructed as a sailing ship. Even the sails had flowers growing over them.

There were some amazing sculptures, very futuristic in design.

Each nation had its own garden and we saw the British display, which was pretty feeble. The display board describing the garden in both English and Chinese.

A girl in traditional dress outside one of the South-East Asia gardens.

Golf carts were used to ferry visitors around the huge site.

We saw only two other non-Chinese at the Expo. One elderly man, an English professor from Beijing, came up to talk to us and was very friendly.

After spending an hour or so at the Expo, we got a taxi back to the hotel. We all went up to the 30th floor to Bernard's goodbye party. Wendy went to one of the shops and bought a bone china vase for 80 Yuan. We then went back to our hotel room to pack for the drive tomorrow to Huangguoshu Falls, a popular tourist spot for the Chinese.

May 23rd - Day 26 - Kunming to Huangguoshu Falls

2010-08-02T17:46:00.003+08:00

We left Kunming early as, according to the road book, it was an eleven hour drive. We took the expressway out of Kunming, but then we were back to roadworks and, with the rain falling, there was a lot of mud which was quite slippery. About 85 kms from Kunming, we came to the petrified forest in Shilin. The stone trees were pretty amazing standing like giant statues and with the two buffalo in the foreground made a very striking photo.

We moved on and came to our first set of bad roadworks, with terrible mud. We weren't held up too long but with so much road construction going on, we wondered how long the journey to the Falls would take.

We were driving through one town when a taxi decided to do a right turn, from the centre lane, and collided with us. There was more damage to my front wing than to the taxi , but we parted amicably, as it wasn't worth the bother of trying to claim off him.

We then came to the most horrendous roadworks by the side of a river. There was an enormous jam of trucks, and we were obviously going nowhere for a long time. After a while, someone in the group saw that there was a construction track just above the road where we were stuck. So, we all did some 'off-roading' through deep mud and rocks.

We then came to a halt when the track dropped back down to the road where all the trucks were stuck. I got out of the car and walked some way forward to see what was going on. I saw that a lorry, loaded with pigs, had got stuck and was blocking the road. The driver was attempting to drive it out, but with no luck. The pigs were making a real racket as the lorry lurched backwards and forwards trying to get out of the mud. After quite a time, a bulldozer came along and they hitched the truck to it and pulled it clear. It was not before time as, in the heat, it seemed to me that the pigs were on the point of dying!

I walked back to the car and the jam started to move. After three hours, we finally cleared the roadworks and came to a marvellous new road that ran through some wonderful mountain scenery. It was a joy to be free of the mud!

The road was a great piece of civil engineering with long sections elevated as it ran through the mountains. Bridges and tunnels added to the feeling that we were on one of the great roads in China. We reached Huangguoshu just before 8pm, four hours later than we had expected. Our views of the waterfall would have to wait until tomorrow. It had been quite a day, taking over 12 hours.

Our hotel, the Huangguoshu Falls Hotel was OK, though our room was a long way from the reception. We had problems getting drinks and we had to buy beer from the night club next door as the hotel had none!

May 23rd - Day 27 - Huangguoshu Falls to Kaili

2010-08-02T17:44:00.006+08:00

We had a pretty mediocre breakfast in the hotel and checked out around 9am. I took some photos of the group in the car park at the front of the hotel before we went in search of the Falls.

Clay and Mike Johnson.

The de Hullus: Victor, Maria and Antoine in front of their Landrover Defender.

We decided to take a tuk-tuk to the Steep Slope Falls, which were above the main falls. It was quite a long way, especially as the tuk-tuk went so slowly. It was very hot but well worth it when we finally reached the falls, which were stunning. They reminded me of traditional Chinese paintings of waterfalls.

We met John Brown, Mike Johnson and Ma by the waterfall and bought some delicious peaches from a vendor by the side of the road. We took the tuk-tuk back to the main falls where we took this photo of our driver and his tuk-tuk

It was a short walk to the viewpoint opposite the main falls. It was a great vantage point to see the water cascading over the edge and down to the river below.

We then walked quite a long way through a large garden of Bonsai trees to the entrance to the main falls.

The escalators taking us down to the river were the longest we had ever seen.

There was a lovely walk through dense woods to a rickety suspension bridge that took you across the river to the track that led to the falls and the path that went behind them.

To get to the falls we had to walk up hundreds of stone steps. The view of the falls was amazing with the spray creating clouds of mist and making us wet.

We walked behind the falls and watched the water cascading down. It was a great experience. We reached the end of the path and took a taxi back to the hotel for signing-out at 11am.

We left the hotel and had an easy drive, with much of the driving through terraced paddy fields with farmers working everywhere. It was very interesting with many different things to look at. One moment it would be a farmer behind two buffalo ploughing a field, next a group of workers bent over planting rice, then a clapped-out farm vehicle pulling an incredible load at one or two miles an hour along the road.

We reached the lunch halt where we had a very good meal. I took the opportunity to get the car washed while we were eating. We sat with Mike and Jill, Vivien and David.

We left the restaurant and took a good fast expressway through impressive hills. It was very warm, about 30 degrees Celsius. A typical street scene driving through one of the many Chinese towns on the route.

We reached out hotel in Kaili, The Grand Dragon, in the early evening.

The cars parked in front of the Grand Dragon Hotel.

We had dinner with Vivien, David, Hazel and Norman, the Mitchells, Terence and Peter. We drank Dynasty red wine and then went up to the bar and Western restaurant on the 19th floor to meet up with the de Hullus, Richard and the two James's. We had good views over the city lights. We had an early start for the drive to Guilin the next day.

May 25th - Day 28 - Kaili to Guilin

2010-08-02T17:42:00.005+08:00

We left at 6.30am for the long drive to Guilin, some 560 kms away. As we drove through the countryside we saw children walking to school and farm workers carrying ploughs on their shoulders. There were water buffalo walking in the middle of the road on their way to the rice fields. The sight of thousands of workers in the fields as we drove through mile after mile of paddy fields was an impressive sight and one that has not changed for centuries.

Around lunchtime we had to divert off the main road on to a track just wide enough for a car in order to avoid a blocked road. We drove 85 kms through the hills on terrible dusty roads to get past the blockage. We rejoined the main road alongside a large river which had been dammed further downstream, creating a reservoir. Unfortunately, the 'main road' was even rougher than the previous one and the roadbook was not at all clear. We had to look for a dam and it was another 50kms before we could be sure we were on the right road. Chris did well navigating in very difficult conditions. The temperature was 36 degrees C and we were hot, hungry and fed-up with the terrible roads. This section was known from then on as 'Mike Preston's Dam' as he was the one writing the amendments!

Arriving in the region around Guilin, Guangxi Province, we saw for the first time the famous 'eggbox' hills which surround the city.

We reached Guilin in the early evening and checked into our hotel, the Lijiang Waterfall Hotel. It had been 12 hours, without a lunch stop, since we had left Kaili, much of it driving on the most awful roads imaginable. We had a buffet meal and then went out to see the night market. When we got back to the hotel there were still members of the group arriving! We both felt it a shame that we weren't staying for two nights in this well-known Chinese tourist centre.

May 26th - Day 29 - Guilin to Zhaoqing

2010-08-02T17:40:00.003+08:00

In the morning, before we left the hotel, I took this photo looking down on Guilin.

We had breakfast and then left the hotel around 9.30am. We drove around Guilin for a short time, taking some photos and then took the road to Zhaoqing.

The modern city of Guilin.

The drive was good, going through more of the 'eggbox' hills and rivers with fishermen in small boats. This is the area where they use cormorants to fish. It was very pretty scenery.

We saw two bad accidents. The first was a minibus that had overturned and the second a motorcyclist. It was very hot and we stopped briefly at the lunch halt and had rice and tea with the de Hullus and the Perkins.

We continued on through increasingly built-up areas to our final destination in Zhaoqing, the Star Lake Hotel.

We had a meal at the top of the hotel, on the 29th floor, in the revolving restaurant, La Ronda. It had great views over the city. We sat with Terence, Peter, Jan and Wilfred.

After the meal, we went to the Karaoke Bar on the 4th floor. It was very funny with Chinese singing badly. Laura sang three songs. She had a good voice. We went back to our room to prepare our luggage so that we can leave the car in the docks at Shenzhen: the final day of the Tour!!

May 27th - Day 30 - Zhaoqing to Shenzhen (The Finish)

2010-08-02T17:38:00.006+08:00

We left the hotel at about 8.15am for the 250 kms drive to Shenzhen. Wendy drove and I navigated, or tried to! It was mostly expressway with some roadworks we were not expecting, but fairly straightforward driving. The traffic was much busier than we had been used to.

I saw the Hummer coming up behind us and took this photo of it reflected in the wing mirror of the Landcruiser.

We arrived in Shenzhen at noon and drove to 'Spendid China', a sort of theme park, where the finishing ceremony was being held. We had finally made it! The end of a truly fantastic drive through China and Tibet.

We were waved over the line by John Brown, with Wendy holding our mascot, Micky.

Cars lining up to be waved over the finish line by JB. It was a great opportunity for him to kiss all the girls!!

HERO had laid on quite a ceremony with dancers on stilts and a precision drum band. There were speeches in Chinese and English and then the drummers and the stilt dancers performed.

It was an opportunity for a group photo....

...and a chance to say thanks and to celebrate with many of our friends, some old and some new, from the tour.

Before long, we had to leave to take the cars to the docks. Only drivers went with the cars, the rest went by coach direct to the border into Hong Kong. It was a short drive to the depot where the cars would be loaded into containers. It took a bit of time to organise everything, but in the end we were ready to go by coach to the border.

I was very surprised that the border from China into Hong Kong is like any border between two countries. We had to go through two sets of customs and health immigration officials. We all had to stand in front of a machine that read our temperature. It was over a 100 degrees F in the customs hall, so what good the machine did, I could only guess! It was a nightmare going through the two sets of customs lugging all our bags with us. It took nearly two hours to get through into Hong Kong where our coach was waiting for us. We loaded our luggage back on to the coach and we drove for about forty minutes to the Harbour Plaza hotel overlooking the harbour. Wendy was already there, having had a similar bad experience coming through customs in the stifling heat. Our room, on the ninth floor, had a stunning view over the water. We were in heaven!!

HERO had laid on a finishing dinner at a fish restaurant on Lamma Island in the bay. We took a boat across to the island which took about 40 minutes. It became quite rough from time to time and it was hard to walk around the boat. There was one big crash and a glass of beer was smashed, with beer thrown all over Peter Milne. We reached the Rainbow restaurant, which had been booked with the help of Terry and David, who live in Hong Kong. They were joined by their wives and families. We met Terry's daughter, who is a 747 pilot. Also at the meal were people from the HERO office and the Browns' daughter, Alex. We sat with the usual crowd, including the de Hullus, and had a wonderful meal. It was mostly seafood, including lobster and prawns, and we had Champagne and good white wine - properly chilled! We all received prizes of plates and personal Chinese stamps. Everyone was in high spirits and very sad that the tour was finishing. There were shouts of 'Where will the next one be, John?' It was a fitting end to a memorable trip.

May 28th - HongKong

2010-08-02T17:36:00.008+08:00

This morning, we had our last breakfast courtesy of HERO. We said goodbye to several of the group, including the Perkins, David and Vivien and Mike Preston. We really were at the end of the Tour.

Inside the Harbour Plaza, the buffet and breakfast area.

The Harbour Plaza Hotel

The grand entrance to the hotel.

We went to some local shops and arranged to get Wendy's photos developed. Near to the hotel there was this interesting boat-shaped building.

Looking across to Hong Kong Island from the Harbour Plaza Hotel.

We then took a taxi to Nathan Road where I looked at video cameras.

We returned to the hotel and had a light lunch at the bar next door, The Pit Stop. We saw Tom and Rosalie Gatsonides and said goodbye to them. We then went back to Nathan Road to buy some presents for the grandchildren.

We returned to the hotel for an early evening swim in the pool on the 21st floor. The attendant told us to get out of the pool as there was a storm coming. Wendy went indoors to change and I decided to watch the storm across the harbour. I could see the rain coming towards the hotel and, as I was leaning on the railing watching the sky get darker, there was a flash of lightning and I was thrown backwards from the rail. I had been struck by lightning!! It was quite a 'shock'!!

We went down to our room where it was so dark outside we couldn't see a thing! We then went to the bar and had a drink with Pat and Don, Malcolm, the Browns, Tiffy and the boys. We ate in the Harbour Grill, an exquisite restaurant, and had a wonderful meal.

May 29th - Hong Kong

2010-08-02T17:34:00.004+08:00

We got the remainder of Wendy's film developed and then took a taxi to the Star Ferry. We crossed to Central and Wendy looked for the Redder Building and Shanghai Tang. I wandered off while Wendy did some shopping. We took the ferry back to Kowloon and walked to the Peninsular Hotel and met up with James Belbin and Simon. We had drinks and lunch there.

More shopping in the afternoon and then we returned to the hotel and met Alan Crisp for a farewell drink. He wasn't well, possibly dehydration, so we met up with the de Hullus, the Mitchells, Derek and Jan. There were more goodbyes and then we had a meal at an Italian restaurant, Sabatini's in the Royal Garden Hotel, with Chris and the de Hullus. It was a very grand, over-the-top hotel! The food was very good, but none of us could eat it all - our stomachs have certainly shrunk.

We went back to our hotel and said goodbye to the de Hullus who were leaving in the morning. It was all very sad.

May 30th - Hong Kong

2010-08-02T17:33:00.002+08:00

I did my final posting on the Internet from the hotel after breakfast. We saw Kurt and Alvaro and said goodbye to them. We then went up to the pool and met the Mitchells. We had a lovely swim.

By the edge of the pool was this amusing sign, especially so when you consider this was a five star hotel, but then maybe it was directed at British tourists and their distasteful habits!!

We had a late lunch in the Pit Stop and talked for ages with the Browns and some others.

At about 5.30pm, we went to the Night Market with Chris and Alex Brown. We bought a few things and then returned to the hotel where we said goodbye to Ahmad, Reza, Simon and Eric and the Germans. We ate with the Mitchells in the hotel buffet. We then learned that Richard was back in England! He had left the Mandarin Oriental yesterday without telling anyone!

There was a wedding going on in our hotel and, also, some pop star or group was staying here, with lots of screaming fans outside. It turned out they were staying on our floor. We said goodbye to Chris, who is going early in the morning. He was a great person to have in the car and could always be relied upon to get the car out of trouble.

May 31st - Hong Kong

2010-08-02T17:32:00.008+08:00

Our final day!! We were leaving in the evening, but we got up early to say goodbye to all the Browns, Don and Pat, Greg, Ursula and Jezza. We had breakfast with Fred Nelan who was leaving an hour later for the States.

I saw this junk in the harbour and realised it was the equivalent of a dustcart. The two men on the junk were scooping rubbish out of the water.

Sitting on the Harbour Plaza terrace in a pensive mood, at the end of the event.

We went back to our room to start the 'great pack'! At tea-time, we said goodbye to David and Patsy, as well as Jingers. The end of a long and often tiring event for Jingers, but a very successful one.

We brought our bags down to catch the 8pm bus to the airport. Sue and Roger Shuttleworth and the Bustelos were with us. Our BA flight left at just before midnight for the overnight flight to Heathrow. Our Great Tour of China adventure had come to an end.

June 1st - London

2010-08-02T17:02:00.005+08:00

After a thirteen hour flight from Hong Kong, we arrived back in London at 5am.

To end my postings to The Great Tour of China blog, I would like to summarise my main impressions of the Tour, as well as give credit to all those who have helped to make the trip so enjoyable and memorable.

Well, what have I learnt about China and Tibet after driving more than 10,000kms from Beijing to Everest and then to Hong Kong? I can sum up my thoughts in four distinct categories: the people, the scenery, the contrasts, and, on a very personal note, the driving.

The Chinese People

For a nation that has little contact with westerners, it has been wonderful to experience the unrestrained friendliness of everyone we met. From the very young to the very old, in both towns and rural areas that we drove through, people have waved and smiled as we have gone by. Not once have we felt that our presence was an intrusion. On the high Tibetan plateau, where conditions are unbelievably harsh, the people would always smile and make us welcome. What a contrast to the way of life in the West!

I hope that as China opens its borders to increased tourism and economic contact, the ordinary Chinese do not lose this warmth of character and hospitality.

The Scenery

China has everything! Towering mountains, lush tropical countryside, high deserts and wilderness on a vast scale. The sights we have seen will remain with us for a lifetime. I feel privileged to have experienced it before the 'march of progress' changes it forever. Eastern Tibet with its magnificent mountains, fast flowing rivers and the deepest gorges imaginable will change when the roads are all upgraded. The Tibetan high plateau will never be the same when the railway is completed and eight trains a day make their way to and from Lhasa. That being said, the sheer size of the country ensures that much will remain unaltered and future travellers will be able to enjoy the magnificent scenery.

The Contrasts

China is a country of contrasts: the old and the new; the communist state living alongside the Buddhist religion, which appears to be thriving, not only in Tibet, but also in China; the rich and the poor; the towns and the countryside. Everywhere we went, we saw these contrasts. The satellite dishes in the middle of the Tibetan village. The driver pedalling his three-wheeled taxi, common all over China, and at the same time talking on his mobile phone!

China is going through a revolution of unimaginable proportions. I can only hope that some of the old China manages to survive this change.

The Driving

I do not know how any of us will be able to enjoy driving in the West again after having experienced the freedom of driving without many rules! I say this slightly 'tongue in cheek', because of course there are rules, but few drivers appear to abide by them. At first I thought this would lead to, at best, chaos and at worst, to real danger on the road. I was wrong. There were some bad accidents mainly with trucks, but the ordinary car drivers were remarkably adept at avoiding accidents. In towns, the way all types of vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians avoided each other gave the impression there was some sort of computer- controlled guidance system at work. The Chinese appear to have mastered how to move the maximum number of people around in a crowded space with the minimum level of regulation and rules. We definitely have something to learn from them.

All three of us in Car 18 have enjoyed ourselves immensely. This would not have been possible without the help of all those who organised and ran the event.

We would like to thank John and Joanna Brown, Don Griffiths, 'Jingers' Riley, Greg Williams, Mike Johnson, Mike Preston and the team at HERO's office, Mark, Jez and Ursula. Then there are the Chinese and Tibetan tour guides, Lifeng, Tony, Ma and of course Joe from Lhasa.

The event would not have been such a success if the participants had not 'bonded' so well. The evening meals, generally on tables of ten, ensured that everyone mixed and each night, stories were exchanged on the day's drive. We all became good friends and there was a great deal of sadness when some left at Lhasa and when the Tour ended in Hong Kong.

At the final party in Hong Kong, the question was shouted out, "When and where will the next event be?" I, for one, can't wait.

Finally, a great big thank you to all those who have made a donation to Hope and Homes for Children. Without support, Hope and Homes would not be able to continue its work with some of the most underprivileged children in the world.