Tibet

After wussing out on a 24+ hour bus journey across the border to Nepal from Varanassi in India we took a flight into Kathmandu. It did take us a full two days though, even flying, as our first scheduled flight could not land due to bad weather and we had to be flown back to Varanassi, India where we were put up in a 5 star hotel for the night! A slightly better standard of accomodation than we had been used to! Once in Kathmandu we then set about the mission to orgainse our road trip into Tibet.


The Chinese have such strict regulations on independant travel to Tibet that that make things down right difficult! We were incredibly lucky to meet up with a couple who were keen to do the exact itinerary we were hoping to organise. Meet Suz and Dave! Suz is a New Zealander who has been living in Melbourne and Dave is Aussie born and bred.






Our next mission was to find ourselves a guide and a land cruiser to take us across the Tibetian Plateau over 7 days. Meet Drongdup, our guide and our driver whose name sounded very much the same as our guide but I am not sure of the spelling!

And so we set off crossing the Nepali border into Tibet, climbing all the way. The scenery as we passed through the mountainous plateau was spectacular. We came across Tibetian farmers tending their fields with yaks! Prayer flags strewn across mountain tops. Earth colours reverberating against brilliantly blue skies and snowy capped Himalayas.

The Tibetian people really do live up to their reputation as being some of the most friendly on earth. The Dalai Lama has recently been quoted as saying that only 20% of the population in Tibet are Tibetians. Since the Chinese invasion in 1959 the Han Chinese have been moving there in droves. The new sky railway from Bejing to Lhasa which opened only recently brought in approximately 30,000 Chinese in the first 2 weeks of operation. The people of Tibet are becoming a minority in their own country. Communist China restrict what media they have access to, what music they listen to, how many people practice religion and the ultimate free thinking of the country. After nearly 50 years there will be no going back but the Chinese are making it incredibly difficult for Tibet to move forward.

The Tibetians do however boast access to the highest mountain in the world, something which the Chinese are desperately trying to reinforce to the world is now theirs. In our land cruiser in 3 days travel we climbed to over 5000m to stay at Everest Base Camp. There we were blessed with 2 amazingly clear days and gorgeous sights of this beast of a mountain.







After a sleepless night for all of us at such a high altitude we began to wind our way down to Lhasa. Passing through Shigatse and Gyanste we found the Tibetian old towns much more charming that the stark new Chinese developments. Again the people were welcoming and charming in the inquisitive way.

Heading into Lhasa, we had enjoyed our road trip immensly. Within Lhasa we found the juxtaposition of a city being built rapidly with western shops and facilities for an ever growing Chinese population and the never ending trail of Tibetians on their pilgrimage to some of the most famous Buddhist sites in the world. As ever I was facinated by the people and tried to capture their absolute devotion to their religion.

We found destinct similarities in people's appearance to that of the Bolivians and Peruvians in South America. The high altitude living which wears the face and skin, cracking and reddening the cheeks is the same from continent to continent.

The Potala Palace in Lhasa where the Dalia Lama ruled until he was forced into exile was amazing but deserted. Tibet has suffered a huge injustice to it's people and traditions by the Chinese. Tibet will sadly it seems never have the opportunity to return to it's free state. Let's hope there is hope for it to be allowed to retain it's customs, religions and traditions without fear of repression. .. Next we head back to Nepal for some trekking before heading to Bhutan! Stay tuned. K