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Date:
April 26, 2003
Here I am in Shigatse, Tibet. The second largest city. I am having a
bit of difficulty typing because my fingers
are frostbit and my heart
is working extra hard to deliver oxygen to my extremities.
Okay so it si only five percent of the way but the air is half as thick
as sea level and the oxygen level about 40 percent, in short if you
were suddenly teleported to Everest Base Camp you would die.
Tibet has been beautiful, but harsh and primitive. It reminds me of
Bolivia with the wind and rain erroded hills of all different colors.
It is another high altitude desert. Mt. Everest was as difficult a ride
as you would think, but an incredible notch on the seatpost.
I will reach Lhasa soon and although I have the option to continue
overland through China to Laos and then Thailand I had already made
plans to meet one of my best friends, Pete in Thailand. I am anxious
to leave the Third World. I will invest my kilometers in a country
that is personally more rewarding. I was going to call the trip
short but I am only 11,000 km from my goal of cycling the circumference
of the world. I know it is just a number, but what the hell. I've
got nowhere else to be.
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