That certainly is where it feels like I am now, stuck in Serxu, a Tibetan town and what appears to be the mangy dog capital of the world, right over the border from Qinghai in Sichuan province. I rolled into town this morning hoping to catch onward transportation to a town further down my route, but turns out they all leave early in the morning, so since I'm not willing to fork over 600 kuai to hire a car down myself, I'm stuck in this place tonight. As I mentioned to my sister in an e-mail, the scenary is great but the accomodation is horrid. Dorm-style situations that take foreigners are actually quite rare in this part of the world (though I managed to find one tonight), meaning that I often have to pay for double rooms, which really sucks. I've found that I don't really have the stomach anymore for (as the ineffable Lonely Planet loves to say) dingy dorm rooms, odd smells and lack of running water. The monks that run the guesthouse where I'm staying, however, let me hang out in their office, drinking yak butter tea and watching stupid Chinese television. Their Chinese is way, way worse then mine, so the conversation runs out pretty quickly. I plan to stay up as late as possible until I'm nearly passing out and then crawl into my bed. Luckily cars leaving for my next stop, Ganzi, leave really early in the morning, so I can be up and out of here quick.
I do like being on the road though; if I could just keep moving without having to stop I would. The ride from Yushu this morning was beautiful, up and over a 4,700 meter pass and then bumping into a huge fesitival at a monastery about an hour from here. Tibetans from all over were coming through, many on horseback and as many in Hyundai SUVs. It was raining a bit and now is cold, and I think I can see a dusting of snow on the higher peaks around. The scenary is basically high, windswept plains that gently climb to massive peaks, rather than the jagged mountains that long-time readers will remember from when I went up the Kharakhorum Highway with Clark and Tyler. Once I got to Serxu, though, my momentum was lost as all attempts to hitch a ride out of town failed. I think from here I'm going to high-tail it down to Kangding, stopping in Ganzi overnight. Kangding is about a day's ride from Chengdu, which means comfortable foreigner-oriented hostels and hopefully some fellow travellers, where I can relax for a while and reasses plans. Though it seems a bit of a cop-out, and I'll be passing some cool sights on the way down, I still have plenty of time to hop to some other nearby places, especially if I can find some people to tag along with.
So, I'll try to post again when I reach Kangding two days from now. In the meantime, glad to know people are enjoying the tweets. I'll keep it up.
Also loved ones can rest assured that there've been no problems with altitude.
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