China

Carry to Camp 1

A very big day yesterday. We carried from Advance Base Camp at 5,650mts (18,500ft) to Camp 1 which is at 6,320mts (or 20,00ft). This took us 6 hours up and 3 hours down. We were all pretty tired at the…

Greetings from Beijing.

I arrived safe and well and with my bags in Beijing and made it to my hotel without problems. We had a group meeting at 6pm, so met the others in my group. Seems like a good crowd. We have…

2 more sleeps…

On August 25th I dropped Stephen off at the airport and he started his current adventure. As you can learn from his posts and the cybercasts, all is going well and according to plan. In 2 days time it’s my…

To Tingri

Ok, one more internet session before we make the 10 hours trip in the bus to the town of Tingri. And we move away from the relative luxury we have been enjoying. Our cultural liason officer claims that there are…

To Shigatse

In the morning we visited the monastery of Gyantse.  I have now seen more Buddhas than I ever imagined possible.  After the tour the troup made the short trip to Shigatse and guess what, we visited the local Zhashenlunbu Temple. Well that is…

Travel to Gyantse

Spent 9 hours on the bus travelling east away from Lhasa towards the mountains and the bustling town of Gyantse. Very beautiful scenery during the drive to get here.  We also did several hours on back country roads, barely 4wd…

Last Night in Lhasa

Had to do one more blog entry before leaving Lhasa.  Tonight we had the traditional Tibetan dinner complete with local singing and dancing.  Followed by several drinks in the “Travellers Bar”.  Our little group joined up with the Norwegian all-woman…

Lhasa – day 2

Spent the morning visiting the Drepung Monastery about 10kms from Lhasa. Very interesting as the monks were in session and doing a huge amount of praying.  In the afternoon half the team (including me) headed up the local hill. Just to stretch…

Debating Monks

Spent the afternoon visiting another monastry.  The most exciting part was watching the young monks battle it out with the older monks in the open debating.  Very animated indeed.

Potala Palace

Just spent the morning visiting the Potala Palace.  Basically the Palace was built in the 7th Century and extended in the 17th Century by the 5th Dalai Lama.  The place is huge with rooms upon rooms of Buddha’s and other…

Arrived in Lhasa (with all my bags)

You heard it right. In Lhasa with all my bags.  This is a very good thing. Lhasa is the official start of the trip, so now we are in the capable hands of our Guides. Tonight we are all taking…

Greetings from Beijing

Well, me and my bags made it safely to Beijing. Spent the day doing the tourist thing, first up was a stiff hike along the Great Wall of China then shopping in a Jade Museum and lunching in a shop. In the…