7 days in Tibet, like the move, sans Brad Pitt

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Tibet, the roof of the world.  This place wasn't even on my destination wish-list, but after visiting i realized it should have been.

The Jokhang temple circuit can only be described as a circus.  Hawkers are everywhere peddling anything from (hardly)authentic tibetan wares, to yak cheese, to knock off jackets and climbing equipment.  2 out of every 5th child will run up and ask you for money wearing dirty clothes and faces.  Add the confusion of thousands of pilgrims doing their obligatory circumnavigation of the temple.  Most were walking, the more devout would take 2 steps, jump and slide forward on their bellies with hands outstretched (wearing protective gear of course), pull their legs forward till they were in a bowing position, sit up, say a little prayer, stand up and then repeat the exhausting procedure.  Add everything together and you get a picture of the craziness of the Barkhor sector.

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The Potala palace is another story in and of itself.  Built over 400 years ago as the Dali Lama's residence, the palace contains over 9000 rooms.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Andrew Topher and I rented a Toyota Land Cruiser, complete with driver, for a four day stint around Lhasa and Everest Base Camp.  The first day we drove up a mountain pass to get a view of a random lake, then continued on to a town called Gyantse, our driver making sure to stop at all the major tourist (trap) attractions along the way.  It has a mediocre temple compound, and a much more interesting castle/fortress.  We spent a couple of hours just exploring the nooks, crannies and dark passageways of this complex.  The next day we drove to New Tingri via Shigatse and the national park entrance.  The next morning we got another taste of Chinese bureaucracy when we were forced to pay the 405 yuan vehicle entrance fee, and the 65 yuan per person permit fee.  At least we had been mentally prepared.  That day we drove to Rongbuk monastery and from there Everest Base Camp (EBC) is only a flat, 8km hike away.  8 kilometers is an extremely difficult hike at 16,000 feet.  We discovered this too late (on the way back) and had to send for our driver to pick us up.  We had had quite enough of the altitude and cold by this time, so we all decided that the next day we would drive back to Lhasa.  The second morning after the EBC hike we were already back on the train bound for Beijing.

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Train Video Log 1

EBC Video Log 2