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Tibet Travel Blogs

Background: For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.

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By Stephan and Klaudia
June 11th 2005

44) The Friendship Highway from Kathmandu to Lhasa Asia » China » Tibet » Friendship Highway

Our travel bus for the 5 day trip to Lhasa
This bus had a serious engine problem from the first day on. Indeed in did not survive and collapsed on the next day

Day 1 We had to get up fairly early that day and walk to the meeting point close to the travel agency where we had bought the package. As we were ahead of the scheduled time, we were obliged to wait for about 20 min, in addition to that it started to rain (once again) and it was not easy to find shelter. When a representative of the travel agency arrived, we were told that we had to walk a further short distance to the bus. Klaudia absolutely did not want to get wet, so she decided to take a bicycle [View Full Entry]

By 2SoreThumbs
May 9th 2005

Tibet Asia » China » Tibet

Barkhor Square
Prostrating pilgrims, hypnotic chants and a cloud of insense makes the Barkhor seem a world away from China.

Landing in Tibet was a revelation. Blue skies, crisp air and no pollution. Just lovely. We hired a taxi and headed for Lhasa (a one and a half hour drive). There is so much to relate about Tibet but, I must begin with a diversion...toilets. Tibet is famous for having some of the worst toilets in the world and this was cause for quite a bit of trepidation on my part. And let's just say I was....INITIATED, along with Sarah, on that very first day. Because Lhasa is at an elevation of 13,000 feet, Sarah and I had been taking altitude [View Full Entry]

By kit_t
April 22nd 2005

Wow look at all the Yaks Asia » China » Tibet

Isolated monk carrying a bottle of pepsi
What the? What happened to living in isolation and rejecting the temptations of this world. Some of the monks even had Nike shoes on.

Day 4 in Tibet and it was another day of monasteries. However, this time, we were going to visit a really remote monastery, so the highlight was the views and spectacular scenery. We had to travel for about 2 hours to get to Ganden Monastery, which is located at the very top of a big mountain. On the way we saw some awesome sights, like a lake that was so still and so crystal clear that you could see a perfect reflection of the adjacent mountain. We also got to see farmers ploughing their fields with yaks. Yaks are really weird [View Full Entry]

By kit_t
April 21st 2005

Please, no more temples! Asia » China » Tibet

Deprung Monastery
One of the major monasteries in Tibet. Lots of monks all wearing expensive shoes.

There are only two reasons to come to Tibet: to trek and to see all the temples and monasteries. If you've read our previous blogs you should know that trekking is not our forte and so we were stuck with option two. Today we headed off to see the Deprung Monastery - one of the older monasteries in Tibet, and the Jokhang Temple - in the city centre and one of the major pilgram destinations. Deprung Monastery is on the outskirts of Lhasa near the mountainside. Before the 'Cultural Revolution', over 10,000 monks used to live there. Now it houses 700. [View Full Entry]

By kit_t
April 20th 2005

Snooping around the Dalai Lamas house Asia » China » Tibet

Home of the Dalai Lama
Or at least it used to be. This is Potala Palace, most famous icon of Tibet and apparently China too.

Thanks to the incredibly strict regulations of the Chinese government, the only way we could visit Tibet was by a guided tour. Today was day 1 of the 3 day tour and we would get to see two major attractions: Potala Palace, the home of the Dalai Lama, and Sera Monastery, hang-out of lots of monks. Potala Palace is an impressive 1000-room white and red building built on the side of one of the mountains in the middle of Lhasa. I think after the great wall, its the next most recognised image of China. The day started up with a very [View Full Entry]

By kit_t
April 19th 2005

Gawking at Everest Asia » China » Tibet

Everest itself
We think this is everest. Even if its not, its one of the ones around here.

Ever seen the top of the tallest mountain in the world? Well neither have we but we got a good view of the side today. Today we flew to Tibet and the biggest highlight of this flight was flying past the famous Himalayas and in particular Mt Everest. Due to Kitty's paranoia at not being able to get a good window seat on our flight, we arrived at the airport 3 hours before departure. Surely we'd beat the crowds that morning right? Wrong. How incredibly wrong we were. Everybody wanted to see the stupid mountain and so we joined the thronging [View Full Entry]

By LNinasia
February 4th 2005

everest Asia » China » Tibet

where the trek starts
we hitched to this spot on the road and started walking

Test page...trying to figure this out and move into the 21st century. I spent Aug of 2004 in Tibet on holiday from my teaching job in Guangzhou. Currently sitting in Bangkok...with a fast computer...and have some time to kill, so I'm looking to get computer savy and start uploading photos as I travel thru Thailand and Vietnam as well as chat a bit about this past year teaching and playing in China. Here I go... [View Full Entry]

By aspiringnomad
November 15th 2004

Karma police, arrest this man Asia » China » Tibet

Everest!!!
The mother of them all!!

Pushing open the door, the darkness and thick acrid smoke combine to create an eerie mystical atmosphere. I pick my way through the narrow room past men wearing red tassels in their hair and long sleeved sheep skin coats, complete with twelve inch blades by their side. Others wear cowboy hats, baseball caps or balaclavas. The women have dark plaited hair, an eclectic array of necklaces, bracelets and thick multi-coloured rug-like dresses with bells jangling from their waist’s. I take my place at the end of the room, furthest away from the yak-shit powered stove. It’s crowded, warm, [View Full Entry]

By davinci1490
January 1st 1970

Lhasa Asia » China » Tibet » Lhasa

Lhasa farm land
Taken from the plane... early in the morning

This is the day I am leaving Lhasa. My 2 weeks stay in Tibet has come to the end. In the morning, a taxi driver came to pick me up, we left before dawn. In the street you can already see Tibetans walk towards Jokhang Temple holding pray wheel in hand. The city is so quiet. Unlike other cities in China, which is when traffic begin. Taxi is driving so fast towards the airport and soon I can see a little bit sunlight coming out behind mountains. It's a sad day for me. Even though I have only stayed in Tibet [View Full Entry]

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