Tibet > Roadwork or not?

At half past three, there’s a knock at the door. “Excuse me, you have to wake up.” It’s Tamdul, worried that we might oversleep. It’s only half past three… Sleepily, I put on my warm clothes, pack my luggage, and five minutes later walk to the bus. Outside, it’s quite chilly. I get on the bus to try and catch a few more minutes of sleep. At exactly four o’clock, the bus departs from the guesthouse.

Tibet - Road to Zhangmu is sometimes difficult due to construction

It’s dark outside, and near the window it’s cold. I try to sleep a little more, but it’s not easy. Just outside Tisgri, the asphalt road ends and turns into sand and stones. The bus bumps along the road. The driver focuses in the dark on the potholes and bumps. At a construction site, the driver misjudges the height of a bump, and the back of the bus comes completely off the ground. Everything flies around in the rear of the bus. Yolande gets the now-cooled contents of a thermos spilled over her when it falls. Willem hits his head on the luggage rack. Water bottles are scattered throughout the bus, and all the glass jars for lunch are broken. Although it’s quite a mess, fortunately there’s no real damage. At the front, the driver probably doesn’t realize what’s happening behind him. He drives on undisturbed through the night. Around half past seven, we pass the high pass. According to the itinerary, there should be a beautiful view here. Unfortunately, it’s still dark outside, and ice has formed on the windows. I’ve pulled my sleeping bag over me, trying to keep it between me and the window as much as possible. The critical time for the construction sites is eight o’clock. As the clock approaches eight, we anxiously watch for roadwork. It has to be correct, right? I see some trucks parked by the roadside. Carefully, we ask Tamdul if they work on Saturdays. It’s already past eight. Tamdul says the road closes at nine.

Tibet - The road from Tingri to Zhangmu runs through a steep gorge sometimes the ravine is hundreds of meters deep

A little later, we finally pass some work. We can drive past it fairly easily, and I assume we’ve reached the critical point. Tamdul warns that there’s more roadwork ahead. In the town, 33 kilometers from the border, we pass a barrier. The driver waves to the man at the gate, clearly relieved that we made it. We are now on the road to Zhangmu. If the barrier had been closed, we would have had to wait here until eight in the evening. A little further on, we stop for a toilet break and refuel. Soon outside the town, roadwork begins. The entire road is being upgraded. Now I realize that the last 33 kilometers have been under construction. The road is being widened. Retaining walls are built along the cliffs to prevent falling rocks, and bridges are being replaced. Hundreds of workers are working in small groups. Everywhere there’s activity. Tents are set up along the roadside for overnight stays. As we descend into a gorge, the landscape is much greener, but also much wetter. Several waterfalls cross the route, and the road is often muddy. Zhangmu lies over a thousand meters lower than the Tibetan Plateau. The road to Zhangmu runs through a steep gorge, along a ledge carved into the mountainside. Occasionally the bus drives through a mountain stream where a bridge is being rebuilt. In some places, the bus runs right along the edge of a ravine, hundreds of meters deep. It’s not a pleasant sight, especially since the bus shakes violently on the bumps and potholes. Not everyone enjoys this; some prefer to walk part of the route for their own safety. In terms of time, it doesn’t matter much because the bus frequently stops to let construction traffic pass. I now understand what they meant by “roadwork” and why you can’t pass after nine o’clock. Whenever the bus stops again for a truck unloading, we decide to walk. This gives us a view of the beautiful valley. Sometimes the bus passes us, sometimes we pass the bus. It’s also fun to watch the workers at their tasks. Walking, we finally reach Zhangmu, the border town between Tibet and Nepal. Long lines of trucks are parked along the roadside, likely waiting for the border or to transfer goods from Nepal to Tibet. This means all these trucks are also traveling back and forth on the road we just traversed, so our bus ride doesn’t seem so bad after all.

Tibet - The bus maneuvers through the construction on the already narrow road

The hotel is in the center. Zhangmu is really just one main road clinging to the mountain with a few hairpin turns. At the bottom is the Chinese border post, followed by a ten-kilometer stretch of no-man’s-land. Right at the bottom, midway along the bridge, is the border with Nepal. We have lunch at the hotel. In the afternoon, we walk through the town. It’s amusing to see the big difference between Tibetan and Nepalese trucks. The Nepalese trucks, called Tatas, are heavily painted and decorated into real works of art. The Tibetan trucks are dull gray, purely functional for transporting goods. In Zhangmu, goods are transferred between them. In the evening, the four of us sleep in a somewhat musty room in the hotel basement. Just before going to sleep, there’s a commotion in the neighboring room: a large spider—really large—has settled on the window frame. After Loek takes the spider outside, everyone finally goes to bed.