My Thirty-Two Trips to Tibet (Lightning and No Man's Tents, the Most Thrilling Journey)
Throughout the afternoon, riding between the plains and mountains, sometimes into the dark clouds, sometimes back to the ground, very superhuman flying.
At 16:00 in the afternoon, I finally arrived at the old hot spring. It is a village with a small population, and Tibetan residents make up the vast majority. The houses here are already pure Tibetan architecture, which makes me understand that I have fast-entered Tibet.
Tibetan houses are special, almost all white and dark red, with neat square panes arranged regularly on the walls. If you ignore the volume and building materials, it is simply a shrunken skyscraper. I remember the first time I visited a Tibetan Buddhist temple in my hometown when I was a child, and the first thing I saw when I saw the temple building was: "Wow, how can monks live in buildings!" ”
The size of the house here, the number of floors of the windows and the cleanliness of the appearance can clearly show the social status of the owner. But whether it is a tall "building" or a low earthen house. They all have a common feature: a strong religious atmosphere. The roof of each house has towering prayer flags, hung with colorful chanting flags, fluttering in the wind, like a prayer wheel shaken by a devout Tibetan old man. Some roofs are simply decorated with prayer wheels that are magnified innumerable times, and look like a temple. This kind of prayer flag is like a forest, and the scene of flowers and greenery looks very much like the northern countryside from a distance. (In our north, many farmhouses have forest-like TV antennas on their roofs and colorful clothes.) It's just that this forest is not a forest, the TV antenna is a tool for leisure enjoyment, and these prayer flags are a sign of the pious heart.
After passing by a quaint wooden watermill by a small bridge, I reluctantly left this ancient and quiet village and prepared to rush to the next stop, the new hot spring, 40 kilometers from the Tanggula Pass, to spend the night. (Looking back on the rest of the day, I realize that the decision was wrong.) ）
Just out of the old hot spring, the wind and rain suddenly became violent and became annoying. The slope of the road under my feet is getting steeper and steeper, all uphill, while the cold wind that does not care about travelers blows in the opposite direction, hindering my progress. Due to the high altitude here, close to the permanent snow line, the temperature has dropped sharply to an unbearable level. Climbing up the hill alone in this snowy and snowy weather, hungry and cold, will be a nightmare for anyone!
However, on a short gentle slope, I actually saw several motorcycle travelers rushing north in the face of such weather, probably from Lhasa. They were all wrapped in thick down jackets and wore motorcycle full helmets, which made people envious. And I was wearing a thin military cotton vest, wearing a raincoat, riding a broken car with a yellow-green paratrooper bag, and I didn't look like a traveler, but like a local resident. They probably think so too, so when I wave to say hello, they just wave their hands and don't care.
The rest of the journey was even more desolate and lonely, with no trace of humanity to be seen everywhere. The sky was even darker, the dark clouds were incomparably thick, it was rare to see the gaps in the clouds, and occasionally a blue sky was revealed, which was also fleeting and disappeared very quickly.
I pedaled mechanically, just trying to get to the new hot springs before dark. However, the unfavorable factors of cold wind and lack of oxygen on the uphill slope make people unable to ride fast no matter how hard they try.
If you can't find a place to stay before dark, the consequences are unimaginable. The rainy night of the plateau is absolutely out of sight, the lack of material conditions makes it possible to rely on the generator to supply power at regular intervals, and residents rarely light the lights at night and fall asleep early. Therefore, on the road at night, residents and houses cannot be seen in any case. The freezing cold at night, the wolves wandering around nowhere... Shivering, he mobilized his full potential and slammed into the car.
But the heavens began to stir up trouble again. The originally quiet plateau suddenly sounded thunder. Enough charge had accumulated in the rain clouds to start thundering and lightning!
The scene that I will never forget can only be described as thrilling!
The snow-capped mountains of the plateau are usually white and sacred, which makes people feel pure and pious at its feet, and they are incomparably peaceful. However, at this time, the snowy mountains were changed by the wind and rain and became vicious. Above the snow line, the white and shining snow was peeled away by the wind and rain, revealing a craggy rock. The whole mountain became black and white, and the light was strange. If you want to compare this situation, it is like a diver suddenly seeing a huge black and white monster devouring everything in the dark deep sea! The scene was absolutely terrifying to the point where the hair stood up and the back of the back was cold.
After all, the vicious snow mountain is a static monster that can't move, but lightning is a terrible devil that keeps attacking!
In the plains, we will only see lightning strike somewhere in the distance, leaving us with only flashes of light, thin discharge routes, and roars from afar.
But in the highlands, the rain clouds are so low and the lightning is so close that we even mistakenly think that the lightning is coming at us. A huge blinding lightning bolt swept over the very low overhead and hit the mountain next to it, and the sound of the explosion struck almost at the same time as the lightning, making people understand that the landing point of this lightning was next to them! The thick lightning path resembled a giant tree, screaming and exploding among the dark clouds flying overhead.
At this time, looking at the top of the nearby snow mountain, you will see that the dark clouds that envelop the peaks are constantly splitting dazzling lightning bolts, illuminating the bottom of the clouds and the vicious snow peaks with a miserable blue fire. The only scene I've ever seen in a sci-fi or monster movie is when a dormant demon with incredible power awakens in the sky above it.
I watched in horror at these horrific sights, but did not stop, but rushed even harder. By this time I had become the soldier who jumped out of the trench with his eyes closed.
The next scene is even more terrifying!
As I raced against lightning and was thinking about how to get to the new hot spring faster, the silhouette of a road construction shed suddenly appeared on the side of the road, and I rushed to get there, but found that there was no one there! There was a kettle steaming, proving that people were leaving not long ago. But apart from the vicious snow-capped mountains, there is an empty wilderness, and there is not a single figure or vehicle in sight. Where have they all gone? The eerie atmosphere began to fill the valley, and I even felt like the protagonist of a horror movie, dazed and unaware of what terrible things were behind it...
Moving on, I suddenly saw that there were many things covered with plastic sheets on the side of the road, which may be the material for building the road. I didn't look closely and continued to ride desperately. But when I passed a plastic sheet on the side of the road, I saw a very surprising scene.
The person covered under the plastic sheet was actually a person!
Dressed in the clothes of a road builder, he lay motionless on his stomach, but his eyes kept turning to stare at the lightning above his head, and when he saw me, he was even more frightened, just kept shifting his gaze between me and the lightning, as if I were about to make intimate contact with the lightning.
It turned out that under the plastic sheet were workers hiding from the rain. But they can go back to the shed or sit under the plastic sheet, so why lie down?
Only then did I realize that I had made a dangerous mistake between life and death — the workers were protecting themselves from lightning, and I was riding high on the cart!
Through the knowledge learned in elementary school, it is known that when lightning strikes the earth, most of them look for the highest conductor (such as trees, peaks and lightning rods) as the landing point. If lightning strikes in a mountainous area, it is generally safe to stay away from the peaks and trees and go as low as possible.
But here I have taken the snowy mountains in the distance as a victim of lightning, but I have neglected that I am in a relatively flat valley, a certain distance from the peak, and I am the highest point of the valley! With the lightning density here, I haven't been hit yet is definitely lucky!
No wonder the workers were lying on their stomachs. Because no one wants to do that high point. Now, I'm riding high on the bike, standing...
What to do? Crouch down to avoid the mine or continue on the road?
Hesitate. At this extremely dangerous juncture, perhaps a wrong decision cannot be returned.
However, a gap suddenly appeared between the clouds not far ahead, and a golden light of the remnants of the sun refracted in, making me suddenly have the urge to move forward there desperately. The hot water, meals, and beds that the new hot springs will contribute will attract me like a magnet at this time, and I can't help but start rushing again. (In retrospect, this move was absolutely wrong.) Life can be used to pursue ideals, but it cannot be made unnecessarily. Adventure should also be carried out with relative certainty! ）
Who knows which target will be sought by the charge accumulated in those rain clouds?
This time, I was really facing a life-or-death situation!