The Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra)

Mountains & Monasteries - mile 9135

---

June 9th 2010
We're on yet another diversion. This time its not due to roadworks its of our own making. Our ultimate target is Beijing so we should be heading north-east but instead we are riding south on a gravel road with 100 or so switchbacks that take us up, very steeply, from 4300m to 5200m and back again. Why? To see Mount Everest up close from Base Camp. It's worth every inch of the 134 mile round ... read more

Asia » China » Tibet » Everest

---

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. A... ... read more