Hitchhiking through Eastern Tibet

Leaving Lhasa turned out to be a little more complicated than I had anticipated. I was eager to spend more time visiting some lesser travelled areas in Tibet en route to China proper and South East Asia. Eastern Tibet (Kham) seemed the obvious choice, but the only legal way to visit the area was by an expensive organized tour. Unable to find fellow travellers to share costs, I decided to take my chances and hitch-hike alone.

Kham is known as "The Switzerland of China", home to lush pine and deciduous forests on the lower slopes of beautiful valleys, snow-capped peaks often visible above or in the distance. A couple of days start off a with long walks through the beautiful mountain scenery whilst awaiting passing traffic willing to pick up a western tourist. Luckily, the first week of May is a holiday in China and I manage to obtain a ride with holiday makers most days.

Stopping at police check-posts, I'm a little nervous, but most times I pass without much ado. One morning early as I'm leaving Nyingtri, I walk past a check-post with my packs, greet the policeman in my very best Chinese "Knee How!", and am completely ignored. The only time I have any contact with the authorities is in Markham, the last town before leaving the Tibet Autonomous Region. The manager of the hotel I stay at insists I "register" with the police. After spending an hour at the station watching the policemen mistreat a drunk Tibetan guy, an English speaker is found to tell me I should leave town the next day, as I had planned to do in any case.

All in all it takes me only 5 days, over several 5000m passes, to reach Deqin, in Yunnan province, with spectacular views of the Meili Snow Mountain range. From here I'm back on public transport. The driver who took me to Deqin kindly offers me food and lodging at his home for the night. The following day I head onwards through Shangri La to the town of Zhongdian and Tiger Leaping Gorge.