Mission impossible - yes we survived China!

So the second half of our China experience just ended like China begun! Lots of troubles, only troubles and if we have to describe the last two weeks in a few words, we would say: problems, mechanical garages (lots of them), and many people who don´t know.

We were really looking forward to visiting some Tibetan areas again because the culture and the food were really great. So we headed to Litang, a little village that was located at 4200m. Really nice, typical Tibetan and cold. So when we arrived there, we went to a hostel with, of course, unheated rooms. The next day, some sight-seeing was planned, but Rosy wasn't interested at all. We couldn't start the engine, and the best and cleverest way would have been to just leave her in the sun for a few hours and come back later. But we didn't. And this was the biggest mistake we could have made, and with this mistake, the whole shit began. Some local people put hot water over the engine and by doing this, they destroyed the immobilizer (wegfahrsperre). We went to two different garages, and of course, they couldn't fix it; they even made it worse. They broke the gear (zahnrad) of the fuel pump. So after two days of trying to fix it, we had to take a truck, put Rosy on the truck, and go back to Chengdu. We really hoped they could fix it there because it was a really big Volkswagen garage. So we stayed in Chengdu for a few days to fix Rosy, but again, they had absolutely no plan. Bernhard managed to make the car work again by bypassing the immobilizer, but then the staff didn't regulate the conveyor beginning (Förderbeginn), so after 200 km, one of our glow plugs was thrown out. We had to get two different trucks, one to take us down the highway and the second one to take us to the garage. Again, of course, a Volkswagen garage, but again, they had no idea what was going on. Some of the mechanics came by car from Chengdu (200 km - one way) and tried to fix it, but at midnight, they gave up! Nearby the Volkswagen garage, there was another garage to repair some big trucks, and the guys there were really good and tried everything. The first time we really had the feeling that the mechanics knew what they were doing. But they also didn't know about the conveyor beginning, but at least they managed to get the car working, even if it was just for 20 km. So after this breakdown, we again had to get two trucks, one for the highway and the second one that brought us (Rosy and Bernhard) to the border. So no place for me; I had to go back to Chengdu with the guide, stay there for a lovely three days, share a room with 3 other Chinese people, and fly to Laos. So after this hell of a ride, we need holidays!!! Thanks China for this great experience; I think we will not meet again!

Thanks to Hugo, Emeline, Harti, Christoph, Cami, and Brigitte for their pictures.