Without doubt Tibet showed me sights I will never forget. Of course the main contribution is the Himilayas. The snow top mountains were one thing, but the vast desert and deep blue lakes were something else.

Lhasa and as a city was surrounded by mountains. The buildings were no more than four stories high, the older city was beautiful and had been there for hundreds of years. Most of the houses were built with courtyards and families would do the socialising, washing, cooking etc. in the middle. Very community focused. Even the newer chinese constructions were kept low rising. Surrounding the inner/old city of Lhasa was alot of new constructions, offices, apartments and theme parks? Apparently Chinese government try to encourage more chinese citizens to move to Tibet.  One incentive that they had was the opportunity to have more than one child if you moved to Tibet, however this has recently gone up to two accross China now. Another incentive is employment so there seemed alot of new offices and factories around and new apartment blocks. It felt stifling to me but theres nothing locals can do but accept the situation and keep strong to thier buddhist faith.

We left Lhasa and headed to Gyantse.  Although our tour was extremly structured we were directed to some amazing spots. Each organised spot was a great photo opportunity, but due to regular tourist visits each spot had the same souvenir stalls, strange dogs with hair cuts as if they were lions and young girls doing coordinated dances. Of course they charged you for everything, taking pictures and even toilet breaks which was just a hole in some concrete which alot of people seemed to have missed?! Too be fair to them though, tourism is a business afterall and some people will pay.

Our itinerary stated we would see Yamadroke lake en route, but none of were prepared for the beauty just sat around the corner. It was probably one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. Simply breathtaking.

Just seeing this view made me make decisions within my life. I never though just  seeing such beauty would influence life choices but it did. Inspirational I suppose, it was just so magical, thoughts came to me which felt right. Amazing. I think the blue of the water was a big factor of it’s beauty, that and the sheer size of the water mass with the snow tops in the background.

We then went down besides the lake I sat for about 30 mins. I did more contemplation and washed some of the souvenirs in the water. The lake is holy and many Tibetans complete pilgramages to the water. If felt right to bless things for my loved ones in the clear blue water. It just seemed special to me.

We went on to see a resevouir along our route which seemed equally blue for something man made. As always there were hundreds of prayer flags drapped accross anything higher than 6ft which I just love. 

The next thing I need to share with you is the white peaks of the Himilayas (which I’ve found out is just the nepalese for mountain, unsure which was named first?!).

Each of the views were lierally postcard beauty. 

At this point, we were heading towards Everest base camp (EBC). We were getting higher and higher and the tempurature was dropping. I ended up having to buy new clothes just to keep me from shivering everyday. To be honest I didn’t mind, I didn’t want the cold to distract me from where I was and the experience I was having.

We reached Ronbuk about 7pm, just before sunset. Here was our guest lodge which was nothing more than dorms without heating. It was -10 in the sunlight so pretty damn cold at night. Some of the group suffered from the altitude (5,200mtrs) and had really bad colds but our moods were high as we could see the top of the world infront of us. There is also the highest monastery in the world up there but only 7 monks are live there in such conditions. Winter was comming so we missed the 100 or so tents that house the usual climbers and tourists but we managed to all find beds and kept many layers on while we  slept.

The next morning we walk to walk the final stretch to EBC. It felt like a cheat being driven pretty much the whole way but frankly I don’t care. What an amazing view. It really is the most amazing mountain in the world.

We all stood taking as many pictures as we could. Taking as much advantage of our opportunity as we could. We had all made it and it was worth every moment of each of our lives to be there. Simply amazing.

We then started our desent. All of us on the biggest buzz. 

As we drove towards the border we encountered some more amazing sights. Firstly we saw hundreds of Tibetans drive cattle along the countryside. This image I think looks quite eerie but we all filled our cameras with the images.

We drove for a few hours until our road seems to cut straight through the middle of the high passes. We were all taken back by seeing even more beauty. I’ll let the images explain.

The last night was perfect. We went out and ate some of the best chinese food any of us had eaten then headed to a local bar/club finishing the night with a dance off with some of the locals. Of course we were all tired, hadn’t washed for a few days but nothing  really mattered all that much. We all just felt really lucky to the experiences.

The last few hours to the border brought us waterfalls and lush valleys. We needed to wait to go through the border for a short while and took some more images. 

As we waited to cross over, we watched the chinese militants and police take formal pictures on the peace bridge, making it seem not so peaceful and we got our visa’s taken off us. No proof we were ever in Tibet.It was like they were making the final point they were in control. Bringing us back to the reality of thier oppresion to one of he most beautiful countries in the world. 

Tibet was over but some new friendships had begun. Unfortunately my bag was stollen that night with some valuables. My new friends however did everything they could to support me and I felt loved. An amazing experience with some amazing new friends. 7 days I will never forget.

Much Love, C.