We started the day with a yoga session at 7.30am. One of the guys in our group is a yoga instructor and so he takes yoga/meditation classes everyday. I didnt think Mark would actually come along, he's been whining about having to do it. ;-) But he did come along and said he felt like hed just had a stretch out ready to play soccer. I really enjo...

We took a 4 hour drive through the mountainous countryside to Lake Namtso, one of the three holy lakes in Tibet. It is very high (4718 meters) and is the highest salty lake in the world. The air is cold and extremely thin, but the scenery is really beautiful. The day before, it rained, which translated into to snow-capped peaks above a certain a...

We visited Drepund Monastery in the morning. The monastery is built in 1416 in an area about 250,000 square meters (about 62 acres) and held 7,700 monks in total, it is the largest monastery in Tibet. In the afternoon we visited Sera Monastery, The Sera Monastery was built in 1419 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The monastery is magnificent...

Had a late start and it was really blissful not having to pack our bags again first thing! Headed to the Potala, which was as impressive as I'd hoped. We saw the splendour of the rooms the Dalai Lama lived in during the winter. We also saw the rooms he used to entertain foreign politicians in. The Palace is full of Buddhas that the Dalai Lama wo...

We have arrived safely, but quite dusty and weary after the most incredible drive our last day on the 900km Friendship Highway!! The switchbacks coming down the last 5000 M pass into the Tibetan Plateau was a real rollercoaster ride. We passed probably 4 cars coming down, but many more yaks were standing at the side of the road. It took us a goo...

Je suis retourne sur Xining depuis Xiahe en bus. Je pensais que c etait un peu risque de faire ce trajet en bus le matin meme de mon depart pour Lhasa par peur de le rater meme si je devais arrive en debut d apres midi a Xining alors que mon train ne part qu a 20 h. Enfin, le difficile demarage du bus ce matin m a vraiment fait doute mais nous s...

I have now been in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, for two days now. I almost left todays entry as a blank page as this place has left me completely speechless. Its so hard to describe, but Tibet has hit me deep down, and has really touched me. The thought of leaving this place makes me sad... I truly have never been to a place like this. Its funny...

I have wanted to visit Tibet for many years, and now I am here. It is very different to my imaginings but I will get to that later. We had to leave Chengdu very very early - we left the hotel at 6am, bags packed, brekkie in hand. I felt happy to leave Chengdu when I saw the weather - it was pouring with rain, and I hoped it would be better in Lh...

This morning I woke up at around 6 because the Chinese guy sleeping across from me snored like a rhinoceros. But I was able to see the sunrise and all the people getting ready for work and setting up the market which was really cool. I decided that if I am going to be doing any trekking in higher altitudes I need some cold weather gear. So I wen...

After our adventure going to Samye we decided to have an easy day. We finalized plans for our trip to Nepal, meeting the tour agency and finalizing the itinerary. We paid for our tibetan chest and went to the bank etc. Just after dinner there was a huge fireworks display near the Potala palace in honour of the 40 year celebtrations. We watched t...