London to Sydney Motorcycle Adventure Episode 4 Continental Drift

National Highway Road G219 winds its way through the Himalayan plateau and would take us to Mount Everest Base Camp. In recent years China has invested heavily in road building but the Himalayas are a challenge to tame and recent heavy flooding had destroyed road works and we were in for some challenging times. We're about 100km out of Yiching and we've just reached the foothills of the Himalayas. I think we're at about 2,400m and we're climbing. I think that'll be the last of 2,400m. I think for the rest of the 10 days we'll be at 3,000m, 3,500m plus. Anyway, look forward to the view. This looks spectacular. But G219 had more surprises for us. From our maps we had anticipated altitudes of 3,000m plus however we quickly found ourselves well in excess of 4,000m. Breathing became strained and even opening a packet of chips became a challenge. So we're at 4,200m and this is what happens to a packet of crisps. And now we've got to open them. Now I don't know how to do that, I think. What do you reckon, put a hole in? Nah, just pull them apart. But opening a packet of chips were the least of our worries. On this day, G219 climbed up to a pass at 5,000m or 18,000ft in the old money. At these altitudes, wrestling bikes quickly becomes exhausting. About 4,800m, we're doing it pretty tough. Fighting lack of oxygen and having to contend with trucks throwing up the dust like this. You can't see. It's very tough. This is getting really challenging now. This is tough going. We're at 5,000m or just under 5,000m. This race is tough. John's got through now. There's a bit of breathing to be done. Late that night, we arrived in our accommodation, basically an outpost in the middle of nowhere. And in the morning, John Pullen reflected on our previous day's riding. What can I say about yesterday? It was fairly challenging, very challenging in fact. We were at altitudes up to 5,000m, so oxygen levels were quite deprived. And the state of the roads are horrendous. That's not quite the case. A lot of Road G219 is newly formed tar. China is putting in a huge effort to get this road sealed. And once that is complete, the magic of the adventure of this road will be lost. But for us, we would have to earn our entry into Tibet. I've got a feeling this road's going to get rough now. I noticed a 20km sign. Every time I've seen that, life has got pretty tough. Anyway, let's see what the day holds for us. It wasn't long before we found ourselves weaving between trucks, and we knew something was wrong. We discovered that a dam had burst, and washed away the road and a semi was stuck fast. That would be our first challenge for the day. By the time John Pullen took on the crossing, there was a large audience of truck drivers. Our next challenge for the day would be my favourite Aussie dessert, bulldust, or fesh fesh as Darren and the two Johns called it. Riding through bulldust at the best of times is tiring, but taking it on at 4500 to 5000m is just exhausting. But as we reached Tibet, the road conditions improved. Time for some lunch before meeting up with some Tibetan yak herders. Hey, I love that. Colour and music are critical to Tibetan life. The bikes are brightly decorated, and each colour has a purpose, be it to bring good luck, to keep the rider safe, or to scare evil away. Throughout the countryside, prayer flags are found on mountain passes, on bridges, at the foothills of mountains, and anywhere the local community choose that is important to them. The flags promote peace, compassion, strength and wisdom, but they are not prayers to gods. Tibetans believe the prayers will be blown by the wind to spread goodwill and compassion to all. This is the turn off to Mount Everest, and base camp is just 100km down this road. And hopefully if all the cards fall in our place tomorrow, we'll be visiting Mount Everest base camp. But nothing is for certain, and let's just cross our fingers to see how we go tomorrow. But the following morning brought disappointment. We learnt that two Americans had protested at Everest base camp, and local authorities had closed access to all foreigners. The closest we would come to Mount Everest on the Chinese side would be at the township of Old Tingri. There is Everest. A highlight of the trip had been denied us, but life goes on, and we set our sights on the city of Kathmandu in Nepal. The Friendship Highway winds its way down off the Himalayan plateau, dropping from over 5000m into a stunning gorge that would eventually lead to Kathmandu. The transition from a desert-like environment to lush vegetation was dramatic. We were now under the effects of the monsoon. But our greatest adjustment was getting used to the busy traffic and tons of people. The Hotel Tamil would be our base as we prepared the bikes for air transport to Bangkok, Thailand. The bikes were measured for crating, and then we had some time on our hands to see this amazing city. And the best way to do that was by rickshaw. This old bloke talked me into this. He said he had good English, he was fast, and we're going downhill. So everything's good. He said, on the way up, you're on your own. Yeah, he said, you're a fat Aussie. I'm not taking you up the hills, I'm only taking you down the hills. That's all I'm going to do. And I said, I think that's fair. Little English, little Nepali, I'm talking this way. Okay. Beautiful clothing, yeah. He's got a whistle. Thanks, Darren. That's your Aussie pyjamas. Aussie pyjamas, okay. Whoa, look at this. Amazing. This is amazing. What is it? This is a nice one, this is a Buddhist temple. Kathmandu, this is a big one, this is a Buddhist temple, this one. This is Kathmandu, this whole, many, many poison. Many coming, this is poison, many hungry. Many coming, this is Buddhist people. This is putting, this is rice. Continental drift, yeah. Continental drift, that's us. I'm feeling sorry for our rickshaw bloke. It's a bit of a flat, I'm a bit fat, and I don't want him to be blowing a poo-poo valve, peddling us along. If there ever was a set of stairs not to fall down, these could be the ones. We departed from our rickshaw driver, far more enlightened about life in Kathmandu. And believe me, he was far better value than the 250 US dollars we were about to pay for a three-second glimpse of Mount Everest from the air. And there she is, not quite the way we had expected, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Next job, pack those bikes and fly to Bangkok and continue our ride down the Malay Peninsula before our final challenge, the deserts of Australia. They do this bike packing really fast. I mean, we just got here and already my bike's in bits, sitting on top of a pallet with the front wheel off, and Darren's is just about ready to go. Yeah, it's nice to be starting the second phase of the trip. It's a quite unique experience for us. Never done this before. The battery terminals have got to be covered up. The battery's disconnected. I'm in a state of disbelief at the moment. I can't really believe my bike's been packed to go to Bangkok, and I'm going to pull it very shortly. It's so quick to go with that. There it is, Darren. They've put my bike in a box. We had our final meal with the two Johns, who had been great riding companions through China. But now, Darren and I were on our own, and with our bikes, we flew to Bangkok. You can see the red on my face now. It's been a tough time getting these bikes back together, but it all went smoothly. And I think we're going to stay in Bangkok tonight, and then we'll go early in the morning and head south down the Malay Peninsula. The roads through Thailand and Malaysia were some of the best we had ridden on for months. But there were hidden dangers that only became apparent after a near miss. We're blasting down the Malay Peninsula after arriving in Bangkok. The roads are excellent, but there's a few tricks to the trade. There's a temptation on corners like these to go really fast. But the reality is the drivers think that you're not on the lane. They want you, and the law in Thailand is for you to be on the left-hand side of that white line. So they'll overtake and head straight at you. The other challenge was the heat and humidity. And if I saw cool water, I'd jump into a bike and all. The monsoon made life unpleasant, and we quickly headed south to avoid the rain. The monsoon from Thailand is following us south. I think we've got a wet couple of days all the way to Singapore. But monsoon weather patterns are tricky, and we frequently found morning sun, and that was fine by us. Our next stop was to visit some of Darren's relatives, although he denied this. But I knew there was some similarity there. Seriously, though, Malaysia is putting a heap of effort into ensuring the endangered orangutan is protected, and this island was an ideal environment to ensure their safety. Orphan babies are nurtured until they can fend for themselves, and it is safe for them to enter the rough and tumble of the island's orangutan community. We arrived in Singapore with the realisation that we had spent three months on the same landmass. We had ridden east through Europe and on to the Mighty Stans, those huge flat grasslands, then into the Himalayas, and finally down the Malay Peninsula. Whilst the milestone had been reached, Darren and I weren't in the mood for celebration. We've made it. Malaysia, done. All over. The bikes were taken to the port where Darren said his goodbyes. We would fly to Darwin, Australia, and meet up with them in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, though, we had fallen behind schedule, and we arrived in Darwin a month later than we had hoped. The deserts would be a challenge in the rising heat as the summer season approached. But the greatest challenge that immediately faced us was getting the bikes released from Darwin Port.