When you travel, it’s the people that make a place special. Tibet is no exception. We found the culture, traditional clothing and devotion to religion fascinating. Of all the places we have been to around the world, it was the Tibetan people who touched us the most. The language barrier prevented us from talking with [...]

Sera Monastery sits on the outskirts of Lhasa. At one time it had a population of over 5000 monks, but now houses only a few hundred. The Chinese government has imposed restrictions that limit the number of monks allowed at each monastery in Tibet. Sera survived the cultural revolution with light damage, but most of [...]

Nam Tso  is an important pilgrimage site. It is one of three lakes considered to be holy and sacred by the Tibetan people. This huge body of pale blue water is back dropped by mountains with hints of purple tones. It’s a surreal setting that looks like something you would see in a water colour [...]

Tibetans are deeply religious people. Buddhism permeates every facet of their lives. Traditionally the people were in three different segments of society. The nomads, the farmers and the monks and nuns. All of them leading very different lives, but all sharing the same deep faith in Buddhism. This was a land where little change occurred [...]

The Most Challenging Railway Ever Built The thoughts and process for planning this railway have been in the making for five decades. It has been very controversial because of the extreme conditions of the land on which it is built on. It also crosses areas with some of the most delicate ecosystems on earth. Great [...]

We’re Staying In Lhatse Again Our driver had supposedly fixed the tire or replaced it, we’re not sure. We were now on the return trip from Everest and starting to head back towards Lhasa.  We had hoped to make it all the way to the larger town of Shigatse today so that we didn’t have [...]

An Early Start From The Small Town Of Lhatse We were all up by the ugly hour of 6am and on the road by 6:30. The road closes and does not let any more traffic through after 7am so they can do construction. It seems to be the theme of China, construction is everywhere. We [...]

Our First Of What Would Be Many Flat Tires We had noticed upon arrival in Gyantse that the front passenger tire had a big bulge in it. We pointed it out to the driver and he motioned that he would change it. He does not speak English, so communicating on the trip has been challenging. [...]

Beautiful Yamdrok Tso Our trip to Everest Base Camp and back was done in a 4 wheel drive, most trips around Tibet require one. We joined up with another couple from Germany to share costs of the vehicle, driver and permits required. We booked our trip with the company associated with the Snowland Hotel.  It’s [...]

Arriving In Lhasa We took a one and a half hour flight from Zhongdian to Lhasa. We saw some great scenery from the plane. There was one huge mountain sticking up well above the clouds. We think it was Namche Barwa mountain at about 7756 meters high. We started to descend and could see small [...]