CHINA PHOTO BOOK BUILDS BRIDGE OF HEALING Tom Carter's CHINA: Portrait of a People captures diversity of 33 Chinese provinces Beijing, China - As the 2008 Summer Olympics commence, all eyes are on China. But far from being the celebration envisaged by Chinese leaders, the first six months of 2008 have seen unrest in Tibet, worldwide protests aga...

A warm greeting from Lhasa! It took 48 looong hours on a train to get here, but finally we are in Tibet. We were in the same compartment with a very cool Aussie couple (Hugh and Kim) who we had previously met at the guesthouse in Beijing and helped to get the Permit to Tibet, another coincidence... The top beds took some very complicated acrobat...

As I cycled East, the day got hotter, between 8am and 12pm it was tolerable, after that the temperature rose above 35 degress, only cooling down after around 6pm. I managed to cycle around 6-8 hours a day, in temperature up to 35 degrees, at times stripped to the waste and drinking 4 litres of water to rehydrate. On my left hand side a lovely ri...

It is true when they say that the altitude may effect you more on the second day. This morning on our way to Patala Palace we all felt quite week and queezy. Emma and I weren't too bad, you just have to make sure you take your time and not to rush anything. The boys seemed to struggle a little bit more with being at high altitude and having to c...

Tibet, Tibet, Tibet what can I say. Well actually quite a lot and really all of it is good. It may not be shangri-la, however it is an amazing and I mean amazing place. If you get the chance you've got to visit Tibet. I really only got to see Lhasa and a few outlying places so I am sure I only scratched the surface of what it has to offer. Howev...

5 mei - de start van onze trek richting EBC. Vol goede moed gingen we op pad met Tashi, Ta en Ta, de horse men en zijn 2 paarden. De wagen volgeladen met voer voor de paarden en voor ons, onze tassen en de tent. De trek gaat feitelijk over de oude weg naar EBC vanuit Tingri, dat niet veel meer is dan een karrespoor. Tegenwoordig is er een andere...

Tashi dele, As soon as we stepped off the plane at Gongkar Airport, we fell in love with this country. Our first glimpse was of a stunningly beautiful landscape dotted with crystal wetlands on a valley floor surrounded by jagged desert hills (what you call a hill here is still 2-3 times bigger than anything you will see in Australia). Geographic...

Rolling into Lhasa after a surprisingly short 18 hour bus ride, the Potala greeted us in the early morning hours. We stumbled off the bus, tired, cramped, light-headed, (in emily's case: reeking of poo) and in desperate need of a bed, shower, and food. We took the 30 second cab ride to the Yak Hotel (courtesy of a decieving lonely planet map) an...

On the way back from Namtso Lake we stopped at Sera monastery on the north edge of Lhase, which is famous for the unique style of debating practiced by its monks in a tree filled, shady courtyard each afternoon. This was indeed an interesting experience as the monks in groups of 10 took turns to make their arguments by emphasising with a loud cl...

Mr Cheng Geng turned up at our guesthouse 10 minutes late but regardless we were happy to be leaving Zhongdian. We were taken to the airport (so this is the additional service we get for our 1070 yuan permit) and he saw us through check in and security. It was only a short wait before we boarded the plane and were on our way to Tibet. Thankfully...