We arrived at the Chinese – Nepalese border with hordes of other tourists and once the Chinese immigration showed up it wasn’t long before we were crossing the no mans land into Nepal.
Sleeping Under a Giant
October 26, 2009 By 10 Comments
Today began with the four of us loading our rucksacks into the Landcrusier for the long journey towards Mt. Everest Base Camp.
After departing from Shigatse, Tibet’s second biggest city, we drove for approximately 4hrs until we reached Sakya Monastery. This monastery was significant due to the fact that it is the oldest monastery in Tibet and survived the Cultural Revolution. The monastery follows the Tantric sect so over the next hour we wondered around the various dark and grim chapels full of protector deities and more chanting monks.
Tibet Road Trip
October 25, 2009 By 5 Comments
On Saturday we departed Lhasa for the rest of our Tibet tour. Leaving early in the morning we drove for about 6 hours with stops along the way to take pictures. The most amazing stop was when we stopped to see Yamdrok lake. The lake and rivers in this area look like turquoise paint was poured into them, or as I said it looks like really thick blue Kool-Aid.
The Not So Forbidden City – Lhasa
October 22, 2009 By 8 Comments
After our train journey the day before, our group of four decided we would spend our morning strolling around the back alleys of the Barkhor area of Old Lhasa. The streets smelled of yak butter and incense while hordes of pilgrims shuffled along the main Kora around Jokhang Temple known as the spiritual heart of Lhasa.
Alleyways are shared with an endless number of vendors selling everything from relgious artifacts to tacky english t-shirts shouting whatever English they may know as we walked by.
Railway To The Roof Of The World
October 21, 2009 By 7 Comments
We boarded our second 24 hour train ride, this time to Lhasa! Our journey to the Himalayas had begun.
The train from Xining to Lhasa leaves in the evening so that the boring scenery passes by while you’re asleep, and when we woke up we were on the Tibetan plateau. The set-up was a cubby with 3 beds on each side. [Read more...]
Dancing Monks, Monasteries & Grasslands
October 14, 2009 By 4 Comments
After physically ripping Lianna from her warm bed yesterday morning and grabbing a quick breakfast in the Everest cafe of French Toast we ran into Ben, our travel companion on the bus from Xining to Xiahe. Ben’s plans were similar to ours for the first half of the day, so at 9:30am the three of us headed off for a tour of Lobrang Monastery lead by an English speaking monk.
Xiahe – A Land of Pilgrims
October 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment
It was up before the sun this morning as we had a bus to catch at 7:15 am for Xiahe, 6 hours from Xining. We knew from our fellow passengers that we were heading to an unusual place right from the start as many were Tibetan nomads dressed in sheep skin clothing and prayer beads.
Our 6 hour journey was full of interesting scenery, starting out as red rock cliffs then to grassy meadows with a backdrop of snow covered mountains in the distance. After plenty of passes climbed and descended, we finally entered the valley of our destination and from the bus stop checked into our accommodations, Tibetan Overseas Hotel. A larger hotel with not the warmest staff but since it had clean beds and Lianna’s favorite, a private toilet, it seemed good enough for a few nights.
Train Day
October 11, 2009 By 7 Comments
We boarded our train at 1:47 and that was to be our home for the next 24 hours while we journeyed across China from Beijing to Xining.
