Tibet Part 2 - Stupefied in Tibet

Our first day on the road really packed a tough Tibetan punch. We stopped by the picturesque Yamdrok-tso lake, which provided a perfect Yak photo opportunity.

We then visited the Gyantse monastery, which contains the largest stupa in the world.

Finally, we made our way to Shigatse, the second biggest town in Tibet, where a festival was taking place, drawing the entire population onto the streets.

The following day we looked around the massive monastery in Shigatse, my favourite of the monasteries we visited, mainly because it contains the largest Buddha in the world.

Tibet could certainly rival Australia in the 'big attractions' tour stakes (big pineapple vs big stupa; big banana vs big Buddha). It seemed appropriate, then, that we would head towards, yes, the highest mountain in the world!

And what a site to be seen! We arrived at our tent camp (altitude 5200m) to rain and cloud. When it stopped raining, we walked the 4 kms feeling drunk and short of breath to the Everest Base Camp and look out point (altitude 5230m). Here we are at the top, with Everest behind the clouds in the background.

I started to worry that the clouds wouldn't clear, because I had trampled on some prayer flags when we first arrived at the lookout. But fortunately Bhutie sang a nice Tibetan song, and the two American girls we were travelling with sang some Shania Twain, and the clouds started to part. By the time we got back to our camp we had a clear view of the mountain. The following morning, the view was even better.

We left Everest on a high, and took an 'interesting' unsurfaced road towards our final Tibetan stopover, a town near the Nepal border. At one point the car stuck on rocks next to a river, and we had to push it to get it back to the path. At other points, we didn't want to look out the window because of the sheer drop down. It was a relief when we arrived at our lunch spot that day, though it is possible that there were more wild dogs in the town than humans. In the afternoon, as we descended to around 2000m, the landscape changed to one of trees, waterfalls and clouds. The border town was spectacularly perched on the side of a lush mountain. I expect I will remember it most, however, for the time we spent in the town's bar, drinking with Chinese communist officials who were there from Lhasa.

The next morning we were taken by Bhutie to the border and said a fond farewell to Tibet and China.