Tibetan feel

 We have arrived in Xiahe, which has a huge Tibetan Buddhist monastery. As soon as we arrived, we set off on a walking tour of the monastery and somehow found ourselves amongst a guided group (we left upon hearing it was going to take an hour). Dinner now (no alcohol 🙄) because we are quite high — 3,000m.

Let me tell you about today, though. We started in cold drizzle; we had all bulked up, and long johns were worn. We were certainly warmer, but the drizzle turned to low cloud as we traversed several passes at 3,800m. This, along with a huge amount of mud on the road, caused visibility issues. For those with windscreen wipers, this was ameliorated by a smear every now and then. The Vauxhall and Rolls, being true to their ancientness, possess no such new-fangled options. The answer is to peer over the top of the screen or around the side — and sometimes just hope. It was scary, coursing around hairpin bends in near blindness. Just don’t tell the kids.

I don’t want to dwell on the mist, because it was only a small part of a fabulous day. The clouds parted to reveal blue sky and sunshine, and all four cars purred along, soaking up the glorious views of gorges, mountains, grassy meadows, little rivers, great big rivers, villages, and towns — moving from a strongly Muslim area (a little surprising given China’s attitude to religion) to one with a Tibetan feel. The faces changed from one valley to the next. Prayer flags and Buddhist stupas are everywhere.

It feels exciting. We are witnessing China from an open-topped car, and we are trying to absorb every moment.

Tomorrow we go higher, so early to bed for some. The no-alcohol advice has been ignored by others.