Wutse Xigaze

... regain its
independence and the Dalai Lama would return as its leader.
Consequently, the Chinese threw the Panchen Lama in jail for 14 years
where he was tortured for criticizing China. He was released and
stayed pretty quiet for awhile but shortly before his death he spoke
out again against the Chinese government when he went on official
visit to Beijing. 3 days after returning from Beijing he reportedly
had a heart attack and died ...

We organised a road trip to take in Yamdrok-Tso Lake (not the famous Nam-Tso Lake, but a stunning lake all the same, viewed from the top of Kamba-la Pass at 4800m), Gyantse and Shigatse (Tibet's second largest city). This was an amazing drive through some of the most beautiful landscape and views we had ever seen. Such contrasts as mountains to one side and desertland to the other, spotted with planted ...

... with visitors bringing offerings of butter, tsampa and money, making their clockwise perambulations around the shrines. The monastery is encircled by a seemingly never-ending wall of mani wheels, and a never-ending trail of pilgrims processing around the holy route after making offerings at the monastery. Some of the really devout (or else really procrastinating) complete the circuit in a painfully slow series of ...

... out of money. I take the card off Raquel and start racing in the direction we've been shown last. Asking left and right to no avail, sweat dripping from my forehead, I pace the streets but when I reach the end of town there's still no sign of a bank. I hear laughing behind me and see Raquel and Caroline behind me in a bicycle rickshaw. Apparently they just told the guy to follow me and had a great time... Later, after having followed a kid on ...

... a group of people that meshes well with your own plans is often a matter of luck. tam and i gave up on our first attempt to leave lhasa...we wanted to go to nam tso lake, a holy lake a few hours drive from (and 1 km higher than) lhasa. the huge rise in elevation can be dangerous, but we had been in lhasa for four days and felt pretty good about the altitude. we were further buoyed by how easily we managed the potala palace stairs (of which there are a lot) on our fourth ...

... to the temple, the Kumbum was a multi-floor stupa with small temple rooms running along the circumference n every floor. Jo, Ivan and I went with our guide Samden round every temple and played 'name that buddah'! There are sooo many diff kinds it's unbelievable, but by the end we were getting alright at it. The top had cool views of the surrounding area, aswell as Buddah's eyes watching everything from above. We then got in the jeeps for ...

... at the centre saluting the fight against British imperialism (forget that the troops gave medical treatment to wounded Tibetans after the battle and didn't actually occupy the fortress, because they didn't intend to stay). Anyways, the park is all overgrown, and is full of cattle grazing and wild dogs going at it, in all senses of the expression. There was ************e in the square; I don't know if its a kind of quiet ...

... Khampa, a rugged region of Tibet where the people look particularly menacing, carry pointy knives and weave brilliant red yarn into their hair. Tenpa, however, is demure as as a man can be. He didn't appear to have any weapons or any sort and instead of yarn he wore a yellow Columbia Sportswear jacket and acid-washed jeans with complicated pockets. What's more, he didn't really do much guiding. His command of English weren't quite up to the level that the agency ...

... we stopped at the home of one of the drivers family. What a nice experience that was. It was a traditional Tibetan home. The lady of the house was of course dressed in traditional Tibetan clothing and had her baby strapped to her back. She was quite the hostess repeatedly filling our cups with tea and offering us biscuits. We then continued on the short hour and a half journey to Xigaze. We all checked into our rooms. My room is excellent and has a ...

... making him the youngest political prisoner in the world. It is not known whether he is still alive. There are books written about his plight, most notably Hostage of Beijing by Gilles Van Grasdorff. To conceal their deception, the government picked their own Panchen Lama to act in his place, but it is widely known the boy is not the real Panchen Lama. The monks in the monastery we visit in Shigatse, Ta Shi Lhun Po, pray regularly for the safe return of the real Panchen Lama ...