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 Part 2: Xiahe Wednesday 14 july. At 6:30 we get a wake-up call. But at 7 the restaurant is still closed, and the staff tells us it will not open for at least 30 minutes. So we decide to buy some bread and orangejuice in the supermarket at the station. We eat it outside on the square, were there are some chairs and tables
At 8 o'clock, our private tourbus leaves in the direction of Xiahe. It doesn't take long
before it starts raining. Yes, we know, it is the rainy saison in july. We stop at a viewpoint and there is not much to see, it is all gray.
So we drive on. As we can't enjoy the views from the bus with the gray rain outside, it doesn't take long before i am starting to doze off.
Suddenly someone screams: HO, STOP, and then there is a big bang and silence. We collided head on with another bus. After the first shock people start
helping others. Most of us only have bruises and minor wounds. Tom smashed into the seat in front of him and has a black eye and his nose is bleeding.
Tineke, who was sitting in the front is the one with the worst injuries. She smashed against the window and there is a lot of glass in her face.
Outside it is getting very crowded. Hui (a muslim minority) come to see the strange foreigners. They are very inquistive and we have to send them
outside and keep a watchful eye on our stuff. The police comes and check the damage. And after their research there is another bus coming from the
other direction to pick us up. Our bus broke its axel so it is blocking the road for some more time. But since our bus is coming from the other
direction, there is no problem for us. At the first doctorspost we stop, but they can't do anything more than clean the wounds because
they don't have any medical equipment. In Linxhe there is the only restaurant that wants to make some noodlesoup for us, the rest is closed.
Nobody is really hungry, but the warm sweet muslimtea works wonders. After all this delay we need a bathroom, but we should have choosen another
place for that. The bathroom at the back of the restaurant is a public one, but there is no caretaker and it is filthy. Even the Tibetans before
us stopped in the hallway to do their thing, the entire hallway is covered in waste. The smell was.........Before we arrive in Xiahe we make a photostop at a mosque and at the first stupa in Tibet. This stupa is directly behind the gate through which you enter the area that once was Tibet, but since long is taken by the chinese and now not even consired to be a part of the Tibetan province. Xiahe is a small town with a wide central street at which we find Hotel Snowland. The hotel is modern, at every floor there is a employee with a bunch of keys, in case you forgot yours. We are all tired and the muscles are beginning to ache, so most of us go directly to restaurant Snowland across the street. Our tibetan guide Wendikhar is there too. He wants to know with which bus we came, and is shocked when he hears about the accident. Not much later the telphone rings. It is SOS International, a dutch travelsupport agency, they want to know what exactly happened and if anybody wants to go home. Come on, we just started this trip! And we think the headache, sour muscles and black and blue spots will go away. We order some dishes for the entire group ofcourse this is the area to try the Yakmeat. After dinner everybody goes to their rooms to rest, and forget about this stressy day. 
Thursday 15 july We stayed in bed until 8:30. And after a lovely shower we go across the street for breakfast. Francoise tells us we are the first. But that can't be true, can it? Maybe they skip breakfast, it is simply not possible that everybody stayed in bed longer. After breakfast we walk into the shopping street, the mainstreet of Xiahe, to the postoffice. After posting the cards we go back to the hotel and meet Wendikhar there. He tells us about the monks who assemble at 11:30 at the monastery to pray. We decide to go and see. It is very impressive all those yellow caps at the stairs in front of the assemblyhall. We don't wait for them to come out again but go for a walk along the Kora. A 3 kilometer long route around the monastery with prayingwheels. 
You have to turn every prayingwheel to send a prayer up to the skies. Back in the hotel we make an instant noodlesoup and go on the internet to tell the buscrash story to the homefront. At 2:30 we go the monastery again for a guided tour. The monk who guides us speaks very good english and tells a lot of interesting things. Then we go slowly back to the hotel. Headache, because of the height or the crash? In the streets of Xiahe we see monks who piss, just by pulling their robe up a little. Just in the middle of the street, no bathrooms here. Tonight another diner in Snowland Friday 16 july Wake up call at 6:30, breakfast at seven in the Snowland restaurant. One hour later we are all in the new bus, in the 
direction of Langmusi. It rained a lot last night so we choose for the best road. The first part is tarmac, after that there is
dirtroad. It doesn't take long before the bus has a flat tire. The driver and guide don't manage to change the tire and we stop in the next small
village. While the tire is getting fixed we have the photo oppertunaty of the day. This village is not on the tourist route and the people think
it is great to see those strange white people. The digital cameras are a must, they want to see them selves on the screen. But the
polaroid of Lourens and Bianca is an absolute hit. Everybody wants a picture taken. An old man asks if he can get a ride, the group desides to
take him. A few kilometers further he gets out. Then we drive through green grasslands. In a small hamlet we stop for lunch in the
only restaurant. Ofcourse it is a noodlesoup. Our next stop is at the nomads. The father is the mountains with the herd and the mother is to
the market to sell cheese and butter. But our guide makes an agreement with the three children.
We can come in and have a look. The guide makes some yak butter tea to drink. And explains how to
make tsampa. It tastes good, but not more than once a week maybe. After taking some pictures we go further, leaving our presents (bread,
fruit and 50 Yuan). Now the road turns for the worst.
It is nothing more than a mudtrack on which we slide and just manage to avoid getting stuck.
Then we arrive in Langmusi, a small village with muddy streets. The hotelroom has a great view of the mountains. But that is all that is positive,
the toilet is blocked and the light is not working. And there is only warm water between 6 and 10 in the evening. Not long after we arrive it
starts to poor again. Hail, thunder and lots of rain. This will not do the muddy streets of Langmusi much good. At 7 we have dinner at Leisha‘s.
A small restaurant, just big enough for our group. We have to order breakfast for tomorrow in advance. We order some extra applepie for the
trip tomorrow. It is going to be a long one on slippery roads....
===> On to Songpan | ||||||||||||
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