“Test Drive in Tibet”

Ganzi (Garzê) in Sichuan is a rough-around-the-edges frontier town.   The streets are a happy mess of market stalls, makeshift hotpot stands and haphazard groups of people, a jumble of the afore-mentioned monks, young men in scruffy suits with their arms slung over each other’s shoulders, and local girls with their hair in long gleaming braids.
 

I and my friends are stopping here on a driving journey from Chengdu in Sichuan to Lhasa, and I, as the least experienced driver in the group, have been charged with driving as much as possible over the twelve days it will take us.  Today that has meant negotiating several 4,000 metre passes and driving along lovely mountain streams engorged with melt water, through a region that was formerly troubled by bandits, past holy lakes, and finally down a lovely broad valley lit by the setting sun, before driving into downtown Ganzi.
I should perhaps explain that when I say that I don’t have much driving experience, I really mean it.  I’ve driven about 3,000 kilometres in my life, and now I’m chauffeuring my boss Peter (a former racing car driver) and Mr Liu (a professional driver) across the eastern half of the Tibetan Plateau.  We’ve also got a guide, Xiao Li, with us, who is fast becoming my favourite of the three – as a non-driver, he’s the only passenger who can’t backseat drive.

Co-drivers aside, my efforts are helped significantly by the emptiness of the roads, and by the quality of the car – a new Landcruiser.  The madness of China’s city traffic is mercifully restrained to major cities, and the main road hazards we have to contend with are (in this order): piglets, yaks and pilgrims.  Pigs and yaks roam freely throughout the countryside, and piglets in particular seem prone to last-minute dashes cross the road.  Tibetan pilgrims, who prostrate themselves along the road from their homes all the way to Lhasa – some 2,000 kilometres away, seem to lurk on the far side of bends and on several occasions we round a corner only to find five or six very dusty people lying face down in a line along the road. Not exactly what my previous driving experiences had prepared me for, but novel nonetheless.

In Ganzi we’re staying at the promisingly named ‘Golden Yak Hotel’, which proves to be basic, but clean and staffed entirely by rosy-cheeked Tibetan girls, who think nothing of dashing up and down the stairs carrying guests’ luggage.  Ganzi is at 3,300 metres, which makes climbing the three flights of stairs to our simple rooms a more breathtaking experience than one might expect.

The next day sees us exploring Ganzi and the countryside nearby - we’re looking for interesting things to do on our next trip.  Our first stop, Ganzi monastery, is a large modern monastery set up on a hill above the town.  The monastery buildings are a confusion of picturesque mud brick buildings. While exploring the temple, Xiao Li, Peter and I stumble across a small group of monks drumming and chanting.  The sound is mesmerising, and we listen, entranced, until a rather spherical monk wearing John Lennon-style glasses beckons us into the room, where we sit a while longer as the monks chant on, peeking at us as they pray.

Behind the monastery is a much smaller Buddhist convent, which seems deserted at first.  We nose around until we discover that the nuns are busy working at rebuilding a wall.  An enthusiastic nun sees me taking photos and, nudging me to ensure she has my attention, leaps astride a folorn looking donkey that had the mischance to be standing nearby.  This is the cue for a hilarious half hour spent taking photos of the sisters posing with anything that comes to hand – donkeys, flowerpots and children of mysterious providence.

Later, after a delicious lunch of dumplings, we head off into the countryside on foot.  We cross the roaring Yalong River by a rickety wooden bridge festooned with prayer flags, and amble along roads running through barley fields at the foot of the jagged Trola Range.  A Tibetan family picnicking on the grass asks us to join them, but we wave and walk on until sweaty and dusty we roll back into Ganzi where we refresh ourselves with a cold beer.

On the road to Dege (Dêgê) the next day we all agree that Ganzi is the perfect gateway to the rest of the Tibetan region of western Sichuan and Tibet beyond.  The town sets the tone for the rest of our journey to Lhasa – good roads, friendly people, excellent food, and best of all, mile upon mile of some of the most extraordinary scenery on the planet.  Later, as I drive along the Yalong River to Yilhun-La Tso, a stunning turquoise holy lake fed by glaciers, and then over the incredible Mt Trola pass, even the backseat drivers fall silent with amazement.

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