The rooftop of the world and the land of snow. Tibet is probably the number 1 place on my most-eager-to-visit itinerary. I have seen much of their way of life in the bordering province of Yunnan and Sichuan, and wanted to see whether there is any difference in their homeland. I wanted also to experience the remoteness which Western Tibet offers, I wanted to see the Chinese/Tibetan relationship and their influence on each culture. And finally I wanted to see the stark Tibetan landscape, the snowy Himalayas and it's greatest crown - Mt Everest.

The Potala Palace, is a most impressive piece of architecture. I was mesmerized by it's size!!! Painted in white and red with tiny windows dotting it like decoration. This was where Tibet use to be govern from and home to successive Dalai Lamas until the Chinese invasion. Now it is a museum serving tourist and lacks the atmosphere which is seen in the Jokhang. Still it's been wonderful to finally get to visit this amazing structure as there was a time, a few months back when I thought my only view of this Palace would be from a sad little postcard I bought!

I also visited the Norbulingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lamas. It has been left to a pretty run-down state, but the park is peaceful to wonder around, and the zoo (despite Lonelyplanet's disapproval) was funny to watch. Like when the game keeper tried hosing down the bears... ok so not quite funny haha then. Here is when I thought Lonelyplanet got a bit one sided, it seem like everything the Chinese did was frown upon by the guidebook. I visited the excellent Tibetan museum which Lonelyplanet dismissed as propaganda. And this applies to many aspect of my trip and the sentiment was share by my fellow travelers. I can understand their disgust at the action of the government, but honestly Tibet under Chinese occupation is not as bad as they make it!

Tibetan food!

One good thing the Han Chinese and Hui Muslim bought here are their cuisine as Tibetan food is... well, the less said about it the better. But since I am a huge fan of eating I have to delve into it. Tibetans daily food is a kind of dough made with roasted-barley flour and yak butter, mixed with tea to become.... Tsampa! Tsampa taste a bit like dry milk powder at best, and I can only eat it with lots and lots of sugar. Then there is momo, small dumplings filled with meat or vegetable, steam or fried. These are slightly better but my favorite is thugpa, a noodle soup with meat and vegetable. Pretty stock standard but very eatable. My favorite is dried yak meat, it is delicious with fried rice. As for sweets the Tibetans have dried yak cheese. We tried it and could not chomp it down like Noodle did. I guess I will stick to chewing gum then! As for drinks I have had so many cups of Yak-butter tea it does not disgust me anymore. As the name implies it is made of yak butter mixed with salt, milk, soda, tea leaves and hot water churned up in a wooden tube. My hint to people drinking this is drink it FAST while it's still warm!

Ganden and Nam-Tso

I left Lhasa one early morning to visit Ganden Monastery for a Thanka (religious painting) festival. The monastery is situated at 4500m and was full of pilgrims. It was interesting to mingle with the Tibetans, and to follow them on their kora around the hill top, while watching the unveiling of the huge Thanka over the monastery.

After Ganden it was up to Nam-Tso lake at 4718m. This lake is huge, at over 70km long and 30km wide. The Nyenchen Tanglha (Tangula) range and it's 7000m snowy peaks provides a backdrop. It was here when most of the crew suffered from altitude sickness, especially this Japanese whom spent most of the time in bed breathing with the help of oxygen containers. The poor guy only arrived to Tibet 2 days ago before agreeing to coming with us! But it was good to see him out and about on the second day! Along the way back from Nam-Tso Ben and I went swimming at, what must be one of the highest hot water pool in the world - at about 4200m. Ben forgot his togs though so had to purchase some sexy looking speedos. hahahaha

From Nam-Tso, I headed north with Ben, Bill and Medi to see the horse race at Naqu. This famous race held in August, and Tibetan nomads from all over the northern plateau Changtang come to participate. It was a great time to obeserve the Tibetans. All are dressed in their finary, especially the women-folk. The race days were cold and wet, and slightly un-organized, but then we weren't particularly concern with the race, we were more interested in the people around us! Whilst there officers from the local Chinese PSB (Public Secuirty Bureau) manange to find us and made us pay extra as foreigners to watch the race. Crap! I enjoyed the race overrall, and enjoyed the singing and dancing which went and most of all, beating Bill at outdoor pool! heheh

4WD trip to Western Tibet.

After Naqu I return to Lhasa to organize my trip out to Western Tibet. I wanted to see the sights and the only ways to do this was either hitch my way around, or organize a group and hire a 4WD to show us around. I opt for the later as it is technically illigal to hitch as you cannot organize a permit, and that with a 4WD we can travel far and fast. I found 3 willing companions, Seiko and Yuko from Japan and Kristin from Australia. So it was a quick stop at the supermarket to stock up on food, for us that includes boxes of instant noodles <shivers>, can vegetable, can meat, sweets and bottled water. Our driver and guide are both Tibetan. Our excellent driver is Noodle. A tall, athletic and a serious kind'a guy. Our guide is Tashi. He is Mr Smiley and is a bit of a clown, always trying to crack jokes - in Tibetan and Mandarin! They, like the rest of the Tibetans love their ciggys, which they puff away at each rest stop.

The trip began with a visit to Yamdrok-Tso lake, a beautiful turqoise lake. Before stopping over at the the town of Gyantse. This town is home of the Kumbum, the biggest chorten in Tibet. It rises up to 35m with 4 main symmetrical floors surmounted by a gold dome. What impress me most are the 4 sets of eyes gazing out in 4 directions, watching... The best view was up on Gyantse fort, built on a hill overlooking the old Tibetan town and the new Chinese town. Some Chinese propaganda was seen on this hill as they depict the Tibetan's struggle against the British troops back in 1904. The troops advance through Gyantse into Lhasa from Sikkim.

After lunch we drove on to Tibet's second largest city, Shigatse. Shigatse is also home of the Tashilhunpo Monastery, which contains the seat of the Panchen Lama. The Panchen Lama's lineage are very important as it is second only to the Dalai Lamas themselves. We got to visit the tombs of past Panchan lamas, some encrusted in gold plated chorten studed with precious jewels.

Little monks at
Sakya Monastery

Mt Kailash!

After lots more driving over bumpy ground we finally arrive at the base of Mt Kailash. The most revered mountain to the Tibetans, at 6714m, is not the tallest mountain in this region, but with it's hulking shape (some describe it as an ancient axe) and it's permanent snow capped peak, it is the most dominating mountain here. Besides the Buddhist faithful, MT Kailash is also worshiped by other religions. They include the Hindus, Jains of India and the ancient Bön religion. Many worshipers visit MT Kailash to perform a kora - to walk the circuit around the mountain, all 52km of it. For me this was a 2 days walk, and it is the highlight of my trip in Tibet. The walk took us up alpine valleys linked by a lofty pass, the Dröma-la (5630m), before dropping into the green turf and many streams on the other side. Along the trek we met other pilgrims too, from Tibetans nomads and their yak herds to the faithful of both religion. The more devoted pilgrims prostrate the entire way. They do this by lying down at full length with their arms stretched over their heads, then standing up, placing their feet where their hands ended up and repeat the process... Unbelievable!

Mt Kailash

After the exhausting kora at Kailash we visited Lake Manasarova, to soak up at the hot spring of Ganga-chu. It was a well deserved break, and a chance to scrub out the dirt which had accumulated from the last week! We also visit the nearby Chiu Monastery for a magical view of this holy lake. Chiu Monastery is well known as it enshrines a cave said to have been used by Guru Rinpoche at the end of his life.

Mt Everest!!!

After Western Tibet, it was time to head south, into the midst of the Himalayas. Our destination: Mt Everest! At 8848m it is the highest mountain in the world. We visited Everest Base Camp, at 5200m I was surprised to find the facilities up here to be proper and organized. With tea tents set up along the road, and various expedition camps setup in their little corners. We heard of an expedition of two crazy Americans who's plan was to scale the Mountain, and snowboard their way down! I wonder whether they made it. We had a clear view on the drive up to the camp, but the cloud cover came over by the afternoon. We spent the night keeping warm in the tea tents, chilling with other travelers and playing cards. I got up early the next morning to watch the sunrise. It was truely a sensational morning, without a cloud in sight I watch the first rays of light setting upon MT Everest. It wasn't long before the whole of it's Eastern side was uncovered. This was followed later by whispers of snow drifting of it's peak no doubt from the strong wind. Word cannot describe the peaceful scene as I was up on a little hill all alone, digesting this magnificent sight all to myself.

Mt Everest

"Tashi dele" to...

Konichiwa to Yuko and Seiko (Jap)! G'day to Kirstin (Aus), Ben Weller (England), Bill Connors (USA) and Mechtild 'Medi' Hartmann(Ger), Harunori 'DJ Haru' Nakamura (Jap), Randy Quan (Can), Yan Zheng (Hangzhou), Wang Yum Feng (Beijing), Yusuke Nakamura (Jap), Adelaide Chen (USA), Keisuke 'Sony' Yamaguchi (Jap), and finally Tashi and Noodle - my driver and guide to Western Tibet!