The higher altitude meant cooler weather and more precipitation. At night we would spread our tarp out under the trucks and curl up when the wind blew. In the morning we were often awakened by the predawn revving of engines and would rush around packing things in a cloud of exhaust.

* * * En haute altitude(5000metres et plus), il y avait plus de precipitations et la temperature descendait. La nuit on se protegeait du vent et de la neige en dormant sous les camions. On se reveillait a l'aube au rugissement des moteurs, a l'intoxication au Diesel et evidemment a la douce musique des Klaxons.

With more precipitation came flooded roads and a long series of mud pits. We were to originally spend only a day above 5000 meters but because of the poor roads, it turned into 5 days.

Helene had constant headaches and nausea. We both had trouble sleeping at night. Feeling suffocated due to the thin air our fitful sleep was constantly interrupted.

* * * Cette augmentation de precipitations causait l'inondation de notre route. De veritable lacs de boue parsemaient le paysage. On est reste bloques au dessus de 5000 metres d'altitude pendant cinq jours. J'avais un mal de tete constant (merci Aspirine), la nausee et la franche impression que j'etais pour avoir un arret cardiaque. Toutes ces nuits sans sommeil a se battre pour plus d'air commencaient a me monter a la tete. Christopher fut d'un support moral extraordinaire malgre ses propres difficultes a respirer cet air rarissime.

Sights like this became common. This poor trucker was asking everyone who passed if they happened to have the parts he needed. He had been here for the last 10 days waiting for some friends to bring him parts on their next trip.

* * * Ce pauvre homme s'est resigne a camper pres de son camion mort. Quelques morceaux manquaient. Des collegues lui rapporteront le necessaire au cours de leur prochaine cargaison...

As we neared the Tibetan border the soil turned to clay - wet clay. This is where we really got bogged down. In some places there were 3 or more mud pits with a truck stuck in each. They in turn would hold up the passage of all those behind, sometimes idling up to 40 trucks. We could sit on the hillside and watch all the activity like a 3-ring circus.

* * * Tout pres de la frontiere Tibetaine, le traffic a grandement ralenti. Le sol s'est transforme en glaise et s'amusait a pieger ces enormes mastodontes. Bientot on devait attendre en ligne aux cotes d'une quarantaine d'autres camions afin de pouvoir passer l'obstacle. On allait prendre place dans l'audience et regardait tout ce cirque se donner en spectacle.

If one of these big trucks get stuck it was a real job getting it free.

I saw countless tow cables get snapped. Around the mud pits the ground would be littered with tow hooks that had been yanked off chassis frames.

* * * Plusieurs cables d'acier ont succombe sous nos yeux a la force qui s'exercait sur eux.

Part of the trucker ethic was to let your truck do as much of the work as possible. All the easy solutions would be tried first even if they took 4 times as long as a sure fix that took physical labor.

Everyone waiting in line would convene around the bottleneck mud pit and expound their theories and philosophies of navigation and extraction.

* * * Lorsqu'un probleme surgit, toutes les solutions les plus faciles sont epuisees avand de se resigner au travail plus ardu qui est souvent requis. Toute cette "paresse" leur coute des heures de travail. Tout le monde discute le pour et le contre, un vrai debat philosophique sur les techniques a utiliser pour se sortir de ce marecage boueux.

At this altitude the truck engines had less power and humans often had to provide the extra push.

One of the trucks in our convoy had a load of 14,000 Kg of cement. Once when it got stuck we could not pull it out even with two other trucks pulling. After many attempts and completely tearing off the back end of his truck with tow cables, we finally unloaded half of the 50-Kg sacks and then reloaded it after the truck got free.

* * * A cette altitude, les moteurs etaient faibles et requerraient quelques fois la force combinee d'une trentaine d'homme et d'une femme pour se sortir de l'impasse. L'un des camions de notre convoi transportait 14,000 kg de ciment. On a du le decharger, le tirer d'affaire et le recharger. Le tout a pris plusieurs heures. Christopher a bien failli y laisser son dos, alors que je me suis contentee d'observer les "vrais hommes" a l'oeuvre.

One day we only went 30 Km in 12 hours. The next day we had only gone 5 Km after 16 hours. The truckers were muddy, cold and hadn t eaten any warm mutton soup for 48 hours. Tempers were short. There were a few shoving matches and a real fight nearly got going when a group of Chinese tried to cut in line.

I brought out a few kilos of snacks and passed them around. As night fell the last truck in our convoy was finally freed and we left the mob behind, grumbling about their prospects for the next day ahead.

* * * Les progres kilometriques etaient lents. Un jour nous avons parcouru 30km en 12 heures de travail et le jour suivant 5 km en 16 heures. Les conducteurs etaient sales, affames et avaient froids. Ils n'avaient pas eu acces a leur fameuse soupe de mouton depuis 48 heures. Les debats philosophiques commencaient a s'echauder. Un veritable bataille a failli prendre place lorsqu'un convoi Chinois a tente de passer devant les autres. Nous avions quelques kilos de nourriture a distribuer pour calmer les humeurs, mais les noix et les fruits secs ne font pas partie de la diete Uyghurs.

The next day we crossed into Tibet. The border was marked with a pole draped with prayer flags. We soon started to drop in altitude. Everyone was feeling better and the roads began to improve.

* * * Enfin, nous voila au Tibet. Un simple poteau decore de petits drapeaux de priere boudhiste marquait l'endroit. On a commence a descendre en altitude peu apres et nos corps ont commence a mieux aller.

Our trucker friends were real kids at heart. They loved to baja through the mud pits and had a gleam in their eye when the going got tough.

At times they shoved and pushed one another and were always joking about who was Number One and who had a limp penis.

* * * Nos camionneurs etaient de vrais adolescents. Ils aimaient bien le defi de la route et s'agacaient constamment concernant la longueur de leur penis. J'etais heureuse d'etre en compagnie d'un homme pour ce trajet.

As we approached Ali the roads became dry again, but perils continued.

To make up for lost time the truckers decided to drive the final few hundred kilometers through the night. Around 3 AM I gave a cheer as we passed the 1000 Km marker ?only 50 Km more to Ali. At the same moment the truck shifted and began to whine. We hoped out to find all the leaf springs on one of the rear wheels had cracked and the wheels were rubbing against the truck bed.

* * * A l'approche d'Ali, la route s'est amelioree grandement. Pour compenser toute cette perte de temps subit par nos conducteurs, ils ont decide de conduire nuit et jour jusqu'a ce qu'on atteigne notre destination. A trois heures de matin, Christopher etait heureux d'appercevoir que nous n'etions plus qu'a 50km d'Ali. Quelques instants plus tard, notre transport s'est subitement arrete. Un bris majeur ne lui permettait plus de continuer.

Another in our convoy pulled up and we loaded on with them for the last few hours. Around 6 AM we were dropped on the outskirts of Ali so that our trucker friends would not get busted by the cops.

We walked the last kilometers into town as the sun rose. Loudspeakers came on to blast sleepy residents with their daily dose of cherry wake up tunes intermixed with inspirational Chinese rhetoric.

* * * On a donc saute dans un autre camion qui nous a laisse, vers 6 heures du matin, a quelques km d'Ali, afin d'eviter de se faire arreter par la police pour avoir transporte des touristes sur cette route. On a donc marche ces derniers km au son de hauts parleurs recitants la propagande chinoise matinale habituelle.

We also have more detailed information on this part of the trip for those who are interested.