'Making a plan', China

Pete informed us in Linzhi that a bridge had washed away and it would take so long to fix that we would have to turn back to Lhasa. We got permission to drive the faster road (we only had permits for the more scenic mountain road) meaning it would only be a long day's drive back rather than an entire week. We then changed the plans to extend the Tibet permit, which was due to run out, and then drive to Nepal and spend some time in Kathmandu, then fly to Bangkok and get hire transport around South East Asia. If we were to completely back track through China, it would take about 2 weeks, so that wasn't an option.

Unfortunately we later found out that the Tibet permits that we needed would take 10 days to renew, so a new plan was made for us to fly from Lhasa to Chengdu. Completely cheating in the overland world, but it was the most sensible idea as we all couldn't spend another 10 days in Lhasa.

So, with airline baggage limit looming, I've thrown away as much as I can and repacked and repacked again, getting a lot of flash backs from April, and we all said 'good bye' to Calypso. Pete is staying in Lhasa to wait for the renewed permits and then driving to Kathmandu with the hope of finding someone to drive it back to the UK. He will join us in 2 weeks time somewhere in Laos.