We are nearing Day Zero, the day we drive away from one house and start the move to another, so I’m posting an entry from my blog’s earliest days today. The perspective from atop the world, almost literally, does my mind good at this bittersweet time.
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Driving in countries around the world is always an adventure. From the careening traffic on the autobahn and the peripherique, to the stop-and-go progress on a Scottish Highlands road full of sheep, to the heart-attack cliffs with no guardrails in mountains the world over, there is always a story about our international brothers’ driving habits. Penjo, our driver on the Friendship Highway – the route across the Tibetan Plateau (the “Roof of the World”) from Tibet to Nepal – was no exception.
We left Lhasa early one morning for a cross-country adventure in a 4WD Mitsubishi SUV. A few hours out of Lhasa, we experienced the first of many so-called “pee breaks” which were really designed for our guide, Pasang, and our driver, Penjo, to take a smoking break. Timed passage on the road also meant that if we were going to arrive at a checkpoint too early, we had to either slow down or stop and wait until the time was OK. (This happened at every checkpoint since the law, meant to slow drivers down, really seemed to signify “drive as fast as humanly possible and then stop and wait until enough time has passed.”) Even using this finely-tuned strategy, Penjo managed to get a speeding ticket as we approached Shigatse, a hellhole (at least at that time) we discovered we should have been in no hurry to reach anyway.
Getting to our hotel and dinner in Shigatse was like a barrel race as we were stymied by street after street under construction. We drove in circles through an apocalyptic landscape, a bombed-out scene of heavy construction equipment and vehicle-swallowing holes in the powdery streets. Penjo showed some serious moxie by driving on sidewalks, down one-way streets, in front of bulldozers, and through numerous barricades. Shigatse is a dusty town by nature, and all this earth-moving and car maneuvering left a deep coat of grime on the Pajero and a sneeze-inducing mass of dust in our nostrils.
The next day, after lunch in Tingri, we turned off onto a dirt road for the next three hours. This was a true washboard road, with constant ridges and bumps, along with switchbacks, steep climbs and descents, and barely two lanes across. Penjo did not disappoint, spending large periods of time on the oncoming traffic side of the road and squealing to dustcloud-raising stops in the loose gravel, precipitously close to various drop-offs, as he attempted to pass large trucks, SUVs and, really, any moving vehicle, beast, or human on the road. Penjo finally slowed down and the air finally cleared as we crossed our third and final high pass for the day at 17,500 feet, with a view of the entire Tibetan Himalaya range, including Makalo, Lhotse, Everest, and Cho Oyu.
On our way back to Lhasa, we took a different route through a gorge along the Brahmaputra River. Penjo was at his finest today, offroading anytime the main road was closed. In Tibet, barricades indicating road closures are apparently simply something to drive around. This road was clearly closed, but Penjo decided we would take it anyway, which meant that at certain points we had to totally drive off the highway and go through pastures, fields, and people’s property. Many others had the same idea, including giant 18-wheelers! Penjo passed semis in a blur of dirt, drove through sagebrush, which we dragged along behind us until it shook loose, and swerved even more than usual.
Penjo’s driving was truly a thing to behold, with brake slamming, high speeds then incredibly slow ones, random veering, and aggressive crowding of other vehicles. Somehow we never worried too much; we decided people here drive like maniacs and have constant near accidents but never any actual accidents. At one point, Penjo almost nailed a dzo, but neither he nor the female owner of the dzo seemed the least bit perturbed as he screeched to a halt mere inches from the animal in the middle of the road.
Penjo was a soft-spoken (Tibetan language only) man who was quite mild-mannered out of the vehicle. He had a sweet, shy smile and since we are alive to tell the tale, we have only the fondest memories of him!
More posts on our Tibetan adventures:
J.D. Riso said:
An always effective way to get the circulation going. How is it that countries that have almost no traffic laws seem to have the same or less number of accidents as those of strict countries? Thanks for sharing this post from your archives. Best of luck to you on your move.
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lexklein said:
Ha – never thought of it that way, but you are so right about accidents! Moving van getting loaded here today and tomorrow, so I’m trying to distract myself on my laptop while chaos reigns around me. Hope to be back to real blogging (hell, real life!) soon.
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Alison and Don said:
OMG Lexie, that sounds both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. It reminds me of driving from Chennai to Tiruvannamalai after dark. I would crouch down in the back seat telling myself not to look.
Alison
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lexklein said:
I was strangely not that nervous about this ride even though I am typically a terrible backseat driver and Nervous Nellie. It was just my daughter and I, our guide, and the driver for a week or two, so we either chatted away or fell into comfortable silences while gazing at the most extraordinary scenery (outside the lurching vehicle!). I’m sure I had a few clenched moments, but all I remember is the exhilaration and fun.
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Green Global Trek said:
Lexie, my heart is beating fast… from the description of the start and stop hair raising driving, especially the parts on the edge of precipices!
We have had our own death defying drives such as one in a night bus in Peru which careened at the speed of lightning around curves and swerves. Strangely, all the locals were sleeping peacefully while us two gringos, were clinging onto the railings for dear life and seriously considering getting off in the middle of nowhere. Days later we read how large a number of these buses do actually wind up at the bottom of the ravine!!
Good luck for your move, hope things go smoothly.
Peta
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lexklein said:
I’m sure all of us travelers have had those hair-raising moments in foreign vehicles on scary roads! Interestingly, I also remember moments of terror in Peru – in our case, on the road to the Maras salt flats. I swear we were less than an inch from toppling over a cliff after a sudden braking. The Tibet ride was not always comfortable, but for some reason I don’t remember true fear on this one; even while it was going on, we were more astonished than scared!
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leggypeggy said:
Hope the drive to your new home isn’t quite so event-filled. Great story.
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lexklein said:
Haha – big laugh on that one! And no, since I will be driving, that ride should be fairly tame!
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restlessjo said:
Lovely opener! Good luck with the move 🙂
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lexklein said:
Thanks! (For both thoughts) Soon this craziness will be all over …
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Liesbet said:
Hurrah for 4WD vehicles, right? I vividly remember trips by local buses in Southeast Asia and how you get used to the danger, speed and swerving, because that is just how it is. The behavior to get to the check points reminds of more recent times, well, compared to my backpacking adventures, but already almost ten (!) years ago, when we were sailing down the Intracoastal Waterway on our boat. The bridges opened on the hour and/or the half hour and other cruisers would just rush and motor as fast as possible, overtaking others to then just wait idly, engines running and wasting even more diesel, until the bridge opened. We always wondered why they didn’t pace themselves more. With GPS, it is easy to predict when one is about to arrive…
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lexklein said:
Human nature, right? Hurry, hurry, hurry … wait. The whole timed passage thing in Tibet cracked me up; we were constantly told to go pee to kill time! And yes, there truly is a whole different appetite for dangerous driving in some parts of the world!
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wrightsolution said:
Ha ha! Brings back memories and I never actually made it to Tibet! Great post.
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lexklein said:
Thanks! I’m sure the drivers in Nepal had their crazy moments as well!
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Mabel Kwong said:
That sounded like quite the driver you had there, like driving was an adventure in itself apart from exploring the destination 😂 It is amazing how drivers don’t hesitate to go over pastures and sidewalks, and that bush sounded very persistent. I would have loved to join along on this ride. It sounds like everyone is intent on driving fast even with traffic and so many vehicles around. Malaysia is also notorious for havoc driving like this. But not to the extent vehicles go on footpaths.
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lexklein said:
The day we plowed through fields with other huge trucks really was the pinnacle of craziness! I think I even videotaped some of it because it was so absurd. Add to that the fact that our guide loved to sing Celine Dion songs out loud in the car in his little Tibetan accent, and you can imagine how surreal this little jaunt was!
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Mabel Kwong said:
It does sound every bit crazy and chaotic. And it didn’t even seem near the slightest bit organised chaos. Your driver must have come across every kind of scenario on the road and nothing on the road surprises him anymore 😀
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tperders said:
Wow what a post! You’re a braver lady than me. Hope the move goes well.
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lexklein said:
Thanks, but c’mon – you deal with urban chaos every day!
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tperders said:
Ha true, but it’s so congested it can only move at speeds of 15mph or less!
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Curt Mekemson said:
Ah, Lexie, it sounds like a new definition of insanity. But isn’t it amazing how quickly it can be defined as the norm. “Oh well, here we go through another farmer’s pasture.” Good luck in your move. And I completely understand the ‘bittersweet’ of leaving one place behind and moving to a new one. Even when I have stayed in one place for only a day, I always stop and thank it. –Curt
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lexklein said:
You are quite right – by the third time we peeled off the road to do some dirt driving, it was old hat! Thanks for your wise words on moving; I am really struggling with this one – leaving the house where we raised our kids and really established a life. But onward we go!
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Curt Mekemson said:
Passages…
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Sue Slaght said:
I wish you a far less nerve wracking drive as you move!
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lexklein said:
Thanks, Sue – it’ll be a mere 18-19 hours on paved roads, with no major mountain ranges, few large bovines on the road, and careful me as the driver, so we’re all good!
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Sue Slaght said:
Well it stills sounds like quite the trek but you have lots of experience! Best of luck and safe travels.
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Lydia McConnell said:
Great photos! I always love reading about your adventures.
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lexklein said:
Thanks a lot!
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badfish said:
Last time I drove cross country in the US (from one home to a new home), it was winter, my motorhome died, and a real-life angel (a guy who less than me about fixing engines) stopped and miraculously fixed the problem. Like I say: an angel sent to help. Good luck. Keep truckin. By the time I got to Nepal, I was not in the mood to travel cross all that mountainy stuff in a 4X4!
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lexklein said:
Sorry to ignore you for so long! Arrived in Houston Wednesday and have been digging my way out of a pile of giant boxes ever since! No crazy roads or drivers or accidents or problems at all on my multi-state drive here, thank god.
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AndysWorldJourneys said:
I’ve been a few places where the driving is INSANE. And I have to say – the belief that everyone drives that way so it’s probably fine is not true! I have been lucky I’d say but when you look at the accident rate in some places, you realise that accidents DO happen. Still, as travellers we often dont know what it will be like until you’ve paid and are on the way. And heck, driving off a mountain in the Himalayas? Now THAT’S a way to go!
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lexklein said:
You’re right, Andy – I always comfort myself by saying Oh c’mon, lots of people do x or y and they survived … but there are indeed lots of accidents in some places, and it’s a dice roll sometimes when you step into a moving vehicle!
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Jane Lurie said:
Crazy story, Lex! Glad you came through unscathed. When you mentioned washboard roads, it reminded me of a time driving on Kangaroo Island in Australia. We were slowly bumping along on the ridges, torturously so. When we got to the lighthouse, the keeper said, NO, go as fast as you can…turns out you can fly right over them and barely feel them! 😆 Good luck with your move and your next chapter!
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lexklein said:
Ahaaa – next time, I will urge my driver onward, quickly! Thanks for your wishes; what I am really looking forward to is getting back to my poor neglected blog (and reading others’ posts)!
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lisadorenfest said:
Bittersweet to be closing the current chapter of your life, but great to have memories like this to keep you smiling. And think of the adventure that awaits. Health permitting (both The Captain’s and Amandla’s) we may make our way to Tibet before we leave SE Asia n 2018. Your story and images have certainly motivated me. And if we do make our way there, I hope we have the good fortune to find a driver as capable as Penjo! What a wild ride.
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lexklein said:
I really, really hope you can make it that far inland at some point during your sail! It is one of the most fascinating and magnetic places I’ve ever been, and you’d have a field day photographing the beautiful people!
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rommel said:
I’ve been to some nail-biting driving experiences such as slippery road due to snow, as well as close to the edge tight roads and crazy driving in Europe and Asia. Stories like this make US driving seems very sissy-like. Oops 😀
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lexklein said:
Haha – I would say driving in the U.S. is a little more controlled, but I’ve seen my fair share of scary snowy passes in the Rocky Mountains, slippery S-turns in the Appalachians, and some nutball drivers on the freeways!
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gallivance.net said:
Lexie, this brings to mind my 2 years in Sudan, where I did my own driving. It was Keystone Cops all the way, but there were amazingly few accidents. And one night with a few Sudanese moonshines under my belt, an old oilfield hand explained it thusly: “For hundreds of years the locals have been riding camels, and there’s no way you can make two camels deliberately run into each other, so maybe it’s the same with cars.” It made sense at the time. 😉 ~James
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lexklein said:
Hmmm, trying to work out that analogy between colliding camels and crashing cars, but without the moonshine I am struggling! 🙂 For some reason, I am very chill when it comes to riding in all sorts of dangerous vehicles and landscapes overseas, but I am a complete nag and nervous passenger here at home. I am always the driver; I trust no one. But on vacation, I seem to throw caution to the wind!
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Shelley @Travel-Stained said:
Finally a chance to get caught up on my reading! 🙂 Penjo sounds like he drives just like Agri (except Agri is anything but mild-mannered), but it seems like that’s the only way to get to where you want to go way up there. It must’ve been so amazing to get out of all that dust and into that fresh air with a view of those clear mountains!
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lexklein said:
Judging just by your photos of Agri, I simply cannot imagine he is anything but mild-mannered! Maybe that’s because he always looks so gentle and playful with Naia and is not pictured behind the wheel of a vehicle. Penjo definitely did get the job done, and those views were worth the lurching and teetering in the end!
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thesilence2017 said:
Marvelous! 🙂
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lexklein said:
Thanks! It was a crazy but fun ride!
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dumplingjourney said:
Crazy ride! I never knew speeding tickets were a thing in China.
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lexklein said:
I’m not sure about the rest of China, but on Tibet’s Friendship Highway, they are definitely a thing! A strange thing – given that odd timing system – but a thing for sure.
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