I'm in a Stupa over Tibet

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Ni Hao everyone,
a quick catch up to show you some of the many (500+) photos I've taken of Tibet!

So far the journey has been a bit exhausting as we have travelled huge distances in a very short time. In a Tibetan walnut shell it has been:

London-Shanghai (lovely BA delays nearly spoiled the whole thing)
Shanghai airport - Shanghai on the lovely, lovely Maglev (430kmph!)
Shanghai - Lhasa on the new Qinghai railway (2717miles and highest point 5700m) Top Tip - take your own loo roll!
Lhasa - Nyningchi (near the border with India, 350km)
Lhasa - Shigastse (half way to Everest, 250km)
And now back to Beijing via Chengdu, it's been a long trip!

There is just too much to write about what we have seen, so I've summerised it in my Tibet Top Ten:

1) Everything in Tibet is 'Holy' (or as our guide would say 'holly'). Holy trees, holy rocks, holy mountains, holy lakes etc. You name it, it's holy.

2) Yaks are everywhere, literally everywhere. They are well used though, yak's meat (good Karma), yak's butter tea (bad Karma), yak's hair, yak's leather, yak's bone. They don't waste a thing.

3) It's high, very high. Lhasa is about 3700m, we went over some passes about 5700m. The altitude affected me a bit, at the highest point walking around was like being drunk.

4) Animals roam free. Must be the best free range in the world. Yaks, donkeys, cows, sheep, goat and pigs are everywhere. If you are planning a journey in Tibet, make sure to choose the 'least animals on road' option on your GPS.

5)Temples and monks smell of yak's butter, it's not pleasant.

6)The scenery is absolutely STUNNING, and it just goes on forever, the place is huge.

7) Pilgrims do the craziest things. They prostrate themselves along the road all the way to Lhasa. It takes them months.

8) Overtaking on the roads in Tibet requires exhaustive use of the horn, quite useful on those twisty mountain roads.

9)Yak's poo is everywhere. As they use it for fuel, it's stuck all over their houses to dry.

10) There are lots and lots of Buddhas, millions of them. And King Songsangambo (sp?) and Lamas and the like. My favorite is Shakyoumoney Buddha, well it sounded something like that.

Well, time to go out and look at something in Beijing
Zai Jian!

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Photos

Stupa stoopa
This is a 7100m or so peak, it's beautiful

Mmm Maglev
It's so cool and fast at 430kmh!

Jouney to the West
Only 49 hours on a train, a small commute

Best view from the best bed in the world
I can't think of a better place to while away the hours

Top of the world Ma, top of the world
The view of the highest part of the train journey, Tanggulshan. It's about 5700m, they pipe in Oxygen on the train at this point

Potola Palace
I think the previous resident has left now

Passed out by the beauty
Another pass at a high altitude, it's a cheap way to feel drunk

Rollin' rollin' rollin'
Check out those prayer wheels

Shigatse monestry
It's another 'holly' site

Castle I'd like to own
They look rather like something out of a film the way they rise out of the plane

Shigatse castle
fancy

Yellow hat monks
curiously, when we went in to the room where they were chanting 5 mins later, it smelt of roast lamb. It was all a bit surreal

Holy lake somethin or other
We drove 6 hours on a bumpy road to see this, I wasn't feeling very holy at this point

Comments

[Woody]

Looks good...
ok with the altitude then?

[Kat Chang]

Photos
They are abasolutley AMAZING. I bet you're trying to refrain from posting them all! Really stunning - or is it your knack for taking brilliant photos? Kat

[Tim]

Yakety yak
Glad you made it to the roof of the world. Assume you are not going to bring back any of those yak balls like last time for your colleagues who have been putting in the hard yards. Talking of which, good tip about the Prostrating Pilgrims for my next trek - I have time on my hands. Since you've been away you've missed Strictly Come Dancing and the Snooker Grand Prix. Gutted. Safe travels. T

[jim]

Amazing photos.. U've really captured the scenaries and sites beautifully..