Lhasa
It was great being in Lhasa after china. The Tibetans had so much character and still maintained there culture and traditions, which is disappearing amongst the rest of the Chinese. It is really sad what China did to Tibet. Driving out the dhalai lama and a lot of Tibetans, sacking and destroying most of the Tibetan religious and cultural sites, offering preferential rights to Chinese living in Tibet and generally dictating to the Tibetans.
Touring
I toured around Tibet with 3 others - a cool Belgian couple and a not so cool American guy. We saw loads including going to Everest Base Camp! But when u travel in a group of 4, group politics is inevitable. But why is it always me that doesn't get along with someone. I think I'm generally a nice guy. And why is that it turns out that its mostly Americans i don't like/get on with. But hey - i was lucky this time. The rest of the group was in my corner and i made some great friends.
Spliffs and stuff
For the first time in months I managed to get a hold of some marijuana - whoopee. The local kebab vendor - Mohamed - was the provider and we aptly staring calling spliffs 'a kebab' from then on. Heres to u - Mohamed. And its amazing what u can do when u have no resources - there were no rolling papers in Tibet - but there are always rolling newspapers.
Mount Kailash - the holiest mountain in Asia
The best thing I did in Tibet was to trek around the khora (a 54km religious circuit) of Mount Kailash. This was an amazing experience. We were the only white people around, as it was off season and we did the circuit with only a few pilgrims (most of the pilgrims thought it was too cold). The scenery was amazing - to be expected when snow capped peaks are all around u.
It was truly a moving experience - we started the 3 day trek at 4900m and we walked up to 5630m. But about 200m before the pass I almost collapsed and couldn't move. Breathing was really difficult and some people had already gone back. I sat there panting trying to get my breath and almost couldn't move for fear of fainting. But after hallucinating a bit (as you do) I managed to make the last 200m - which took me 1 hour. After that it was easy.
When we were on the khora we stayed in monasteries. 1 of which was amazing - we were in a dark and smoky room filled with locals and I felt like I was a million miles from civilization - which is not far from the truth. Very cool.
Beauty of Tibet
Tibet is the most beautiful place I've been to date - the scenery is amazing. In 1 scene there was sand dunes, a frozen lake, hilly grass land and the Himalayas in the background. All of which I managed to capture in 1 shot - amazing.
Camping
Camping in Tibet is f f f fucking c c c cold and f f fucking stupid. We camped in temperatures like -25C and -15C. This was bad enough, but combined with the fact that the snow gear I had bought was either fake, crap or broken; it was lunacy. For example, I decided to buy a cheap but practical tent. This wasn't SO bad until the zip broke the first time I used it! Aaagghh! I ended up camping in a tent that was bandaged together by sellotape - hilarious! Wish i got a picture!
On the night it went down to -25C I thought my nose and feet were going to freeze off it was so fucking cold! I am a Muppet!
Toss of a coin
After 15 days in Tibet we were dropping off 2 Belgian friends of mine at the Nepalese border. I was going back though Tibet into China. But we had got on really well and they wanted me to come with them into Nepal. I was unsure.
But what do you do when you are unsure? You toss a coin, don't you. So, I did just that and found myself in Nepal - whoops.
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