Kham Archives - Wander Cyclist | A Bicycle Adventure in Asia

24 Jan 2012

Sticky Post By WanderCyclist Posted in Amdo, Kham, Kham Tibet, Photos, Tibet With No Comments Permalink

Self Portrait from August 2011, Amdo/Kham Tibet

Sticky Post By WanderCyclist On January 24, 2012 With No Comments

The moment, I knew, it was going to be a very long and cold winter. Watching snow flurries fall to the ground during the first week of August, as we ride from the Tibetans we had spent the night with.

Sunrise near Amnematchen (Amdo/Kham Tibet). One of the most beautiful mornings so far.

The evening before, sleeping with the nomads, we had been shoved in a corner together. I was in the worst pain of my life from my stomach problems and got no sleep, Brandon told me he didn’t sleep at all either.

When getting ready for bed, the Tibetan girl and I were giggling with each other for about an hour. There was a language barrier and we would just communicate with laughter and giggles. We were watching each other, curious of the other. One of us would do something, and catch the eyes of the other, and we would both burst out in laughter. Old cranky pants that I was sharing my “personal space” with was probably confirming in his head that I’d lost my mind.

That girl was absolutely beautiful and I have about 3 dozen photos of her. I can still hear her laughter and giggles, while adding a white powder/flour to her traditional Tibetan hat. What I would do to visit her again…………………..well, it’s not that far away?

10 Jan 2012

Sticky Post By WanderCyclist Posted in Kham Tibet, Photos of Eleanor, Sichuan With No Comments Permalink

Tibetan Hostesses, Kham (NW.Sichuan) Summer 2011

Sticky Post By WanderCyclist On January 10, 2012 With No Comments

The girl on the left could speak fairly good English. She met Brandon and I at the restaurant her brother cousin owned. The two older girls in the photo are sisters. Their family had lived in these Tibetan mountains for generations. When we walked up to the temple, as they bought Brandon and I each a beer, she explained how the city had grown since her childhood.

There were about 2 dozen small Tibetan homes now, and a large area of homes and a dormitory for the monks.

These girls were half Tibetan half Han. Their mother, Han, had passed away near her birth.

The house we are in here is new, because her father had sold the older and bigger home. Since his daughters were growing up, and one in college.

I slept in her bed and Brandon got the floor. In the morning he gets up first and runs back into the room and tells me to get my lazy a$$ up because it’s 11am! “Oh sh*t!? REALLY???!!”

“No, it’s 9:30”.

Even though we left early in the day, we didn’t make a lot of progress because we kept getting stopped for tea and tsampa. We weren’t riding road or tarmac either. The road eventually broke into a cow path through some of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen in my life. This route continued for a couple of days and over a pass.

I’ll never forget when we got out of the mountain valley and finally hit tarmac, a Tibetan invites us in for some frozen Yak meat. Yes…raw frozen Yak…Brandon and I especially enjoyed the cookies.