Day 18: Zhangmu- Kathmandu

That day was simple, passing the border between China and Nepal.
It took us 6 hours. Passing the border itself was simple, Chinese immigration impecable with officers in white glove. However they were searching all our baggages only to see if we had images or articles concerning the Dailey Lama. If they had found one, they could have traced it back to the person who would have given it to us and then... Happily no problem, but when you have a total of 20 cars, it takes time.
Then we entered the Nepal side, no custom, immigration without problem, but the road was very narrow and there was many trucks. Hence the delays.
Eventualy we moved on and 50 km from the city we were awaited by a Gurka's detachment (Toughest regiment of the Army) who opened the road for us and got us to the hotel. Thank you, thank you. It was madness, we only hit 2 motorcycles on the way. Other from the group did better, no one hurt and another scratch to a 2CV is only a mark of pride.

At the hotel, I went to the internet and what I had suspected all the time was right, I could access easily my blog. It was blocked by the censors in China. From then on, time permiting, I will updating it myself and add the pictures that Laureline never received.

Day 17: Shigatse - Zhangmu

We are still in Tibet. We slept in Shigatse, or I should say some slept, not me, at 3600 m altitude, I could not grasp enouh air while dozing off and I was immediately waking up out of breath. The 5 am waking up call was a deliverance.
We left in the dark at 7am for a long day. The first pass was just practice, only 4350 m. The road sides were sprinkled with small villages made of same type one storey houses. People would work on field or attending cattle (Goats or Yaks). Obviously when the animals were not grazing they were crossing the road.
Then suddenly the mountain summits appeared, it was a dream, the Everest was in front of us snow covered, shining against a blue sky, surrounded by several 8000 m plus, mountains.
The Mount Everest from the road 318

It was breathtaking but serious business was still ahead: two passes: the first one at 5020 m, Passing at 5,137 m

The pass at 5,137 meter with prayer-flags"

the next at 5,137 from which we could see again the 8,000m mountain range. It was incredible, that was the good part, the not so good was to descend a vertical drop of 2,600m
The rough beauty of the scenery made us forget the real danger of this descent. The vertical drop from the edge of the road was at least 1000m, the road was narrow. No one had seen such a valley in their life, and it was going down and down, untill everything stoped. The road was narrowed to one lane because of a collapse and we spent a couple of hours waiting.Then it moved again and we reached our hotel located in a frontier-like town build on the slopes of the road just before the Nepalese border. Essentialy money changers and brothels, but it could not spoil our incredible journey through China. These 17 days leave us a memory of scenic beauty, kindness of people and massive infrastructure development. Bye bye China, tomorrow Nepal