6 Days through Tibet

Our jeep tour through Tibet was wonderful - we spent 6 days travelling by Landcruiser along the Friendship Highway from Lhasa to the border of Nepal with Jabu, our guide from Shigatse Travels, and our driver (who we're not sure what his name actually is - whoops!) Four years ago, just after we had met in Nepal, Edwin bicycled this route in reverse - from Kathmandu to Lhasa, and then continued into Eastern Tibet and beyond. It was interesting for him to see the changes that had occurred, both in the towns along the way, and to the road linking them. The Chinese government is pouring millions into infrastructure in Tibet, and what was a dirt road four years ago, is now a beautifully paved highway with proper on and off ramps for much of the way to the border. The towns (especially Shigatse, now the second largest city in Tibet) are growing, and while the Tibetan quarters in these towns have not changed too much, the Chinese areas in the towns are rapidly expanding and developing.

During our 6 days, we had incredible views of Everest, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, and Makalu. The Tibetan Plateau itself is amazing too, with rolling hills in hues of light to dark brown, green and purple. For the whole tour, we were at altitudes between 3,800m and 5,200m. Days were quite warm and sunny, but the nights were freezing, and we woke a couple of mornings to see our breath inside of our non-heated rooms. Rivers and lakes along the way were mostly frozen, with shale-like slabs of ice piled up along the shores. The sky was a beautiful sapphire colour. At each of the four 5,000m passes that we went through, thousands of prayer flags and thangkas flew in the wind, sending prayers to heaven and granting luck to travellers passing through.

At each of the towns we stayed at, we would visit the local monastery, and saw some wonderful sights - a colourful mandala made of the finest sand at Shigatse monastery, thousand year old original scriptures at Sakya monastery, and the stupa at Gyantse, which contains 108 rooms, each holding a different representation of Buddha. While in Shigatse, we went to a Tibetan variety show called a Nangma. There were many different performances, from traditional Tibetan songs, to performances with cowgirl dressed backup dancers. All were loud and included dry ice effects and light show.

On our fourth and fifth days, we left the Friendship Highway, to travel up the 100km road to Everest Base Camp. This road is amazing - dirt and gravel switchbacks that lead to Rombok Monastery, which at 5,000m is the highest permanently habitated settlement in the world. Eight kilometers more put us at the currently deserted Everest Base Camp, elevation 5,200m. In about one more month, expedition teams will arrive, to camp at the foot of Everest (or Qomolangma to the Tibetan people), 28kms from the summit as the crow flies (if a bird could actually survive at that altitude). We were very lucky to have exceptionally clear views of the north face - we could pick out the routes the climbers might take, and could also make out the infamous "yellow band", a layer of sedimentary sandstone just below the death zone. We had a look around Base Camp and picked up a couple of old tent pegs as souvenirs.

The sixth day began with a 5-hour drive with our tour from Tingri to the border of Nepal, (then a 4 hour wait), followed by a 4 hour bus ride to Kathmandu. Known as the "longest downhill road in the world", we went through our last 5,000m pass, and then slowly descended to 200m along the Bhote Khosi River in Nepal, and back up to 1,400m at Kathmandu. As soon as we passed over the Himalayas, the scenery changed dramatically. On the Tibetan side, there was little snow, and the dry cold conditions meant crops were just being sown now. On the other side of the Himalayas, we hit lots of snow, and we were fortunate the road was actually open, as it had been closed for several days only 2 days prior to our arrival.

Arriving in Kathmandu was almost like a homecoming for us - the familiar smell of incense, the predominance of Indian looking faces, the potholes and dog poo on the roads, and the chaos of rickshaws, bicycles, cars and motorcycles fighting for every square inch of road with horns blaring. We had pizza and burritos for dinner, which provided a nice change from the rice with every meal that we had experienced through China, and ate with a fork and knife instead of chopsticks. The local people we meet are equally impressed that we have been to Nepal many times before, and that this is where we met four years ago, and that we are now married.

Location: Kathmandu, Nepal