15. June 2026, Wenchuai

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Had good sleep and as the hotel offered no breakfast and I had at least 7 hours drive ahead, I started at 8:00, filled the tank full and joined the endless stream of trucks, and busses and cars and everything between.

Average speed on those major roads is around 55 km/h. After another number of tunnels (this time better illuminated) the landscape gets flatter and suddenly you find yourself on a wide plane, 3,500 to 3,800 m high and the temperature drops to 10° and below. I changed my gear a bit late, and also tested the Parka I brought along for such stretches, however, i felt really cold when I finally arrived at the hotel. Zoigê is nothing else than a modern cross roads town on the Tibetan plateau with plenty of hotels and the overnight stop for many Tour busses, what I realised, when the hotel carpark slowly filled up with busses and exciting groups of elderly ladies flooded the lobby, lifts and the hallways.

I slowly got warm again, and dug out the warm clothes from the panniers and rearranged my gear towards riding in temperatures at 10° rather than 30°.

The hotel guided me to a nice local (Tibetan) Restaurant and the food was simply good. Topped up my cookies and juice at the next convenient store and called it a day, going to bed early in another really comfortable bed.

Lonely Rider
Me in the land of Yaks and Yurts
The high mountains are gone, instead we are high up now.
The Restaurant still had a coal oven as the only source of heating.
Children, even when they can walk, are still carried on the back to stay warm and safe in Tibet.
Tibetan Highway romantic.

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