In the morning, our hitchhiking attempt proves fruitful and we are picked up by a bus heading to the nearby monastery to take the monks to Shangri-La.
The bus stops en-route at a Tibetan shrine and the bus driver and monk hop out to start a fire while we watch.
We enter Gaden Dhondup Ling Monastery and are greeted by one hundred monks chanting and praying, those not in chant are curious to say hello and smile at us.
After we leave the monastery, the fifth car that passes offers us a lift all the way to Deqin, and we are incredibly grateful for it. Along the way, we pass some amazing scenery (while rising from an altitude of 2000m to 4300m) .
We take a photo at the top, 4292m. There are a lot of discarded oxygen canisters here, not everyone can handle the altitude as well.
When we arrive to Deqin, we ask the pair (whose names we don’t know, so we’ll use Jake for the taller one and Baz for the shorter one, the driver) if we can hitch a ride all the way to Lhasa, since it’s a four day journey and the car is incredibly comfortable.
They are more than happy to take us there, so we decide to give Deqin a miss, since we may not have such luck next time.
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4day! I hope you offered to pay for gas.
We offered to pay for gas, food and hotels.