I was trying not to get too excited about coming to Tibet as I didn't want to get disappointed. Lhasa it's self is a capital city like any Chinese city, there are still some Tibeten areas but these are very touristy. But once you get out of Lhasa it is like you imagine it to be, snow capped peaks, yaks and monks.... The one thing that I probably didn't think about too much before I cam is the poverty which is very sad, little kids who's only few words are Hello and Money is very sad indeed.
I was told that flying into Tibet was the worst thing to do because of the altitude but luckily it didn't effect me too much, I just felt exhausted and would be out of breath from climbing a flight of stairs so not much difference to usual really!! I spent the first couple of days just seeing the sights of Lhasa, the Jokhang Temple, the Norbulingka and of course the Potala Palace. After I managed to get my breath back from climbing all the hundreds of stairs up to the Potala Palace I was just about to enjoy it. It was simply stunning, and for a religon that is based around simplicity and no material goods there was an awful lot of gold!
After a few days I finally managed to leave Lhasa, me and my new traveling companion Terra ( yes she's an Aussie!) hired a jeep to take us to Nam-Tso Lake which is 195km north of Lhasa and another 1000m higher making it the highest Lake in the world. The lake was simply stunning the pictures don't convey the real beauty of it. There was a little traveller village set up next to the lake which had fixed tents for us to stay in, restaurants and shops and of course very lovely toliet facilities!!! It was really warm in the day as the sun was very strong but as soon as the sun went down it was absolutely freezing. And to make things worse there was a freak May snow storm which made it even colder...I have never been so cold in my life.. that night in the tent was the longest night ever..... We were very pleased to get back to Lhasa the following day.
I'm off to Everest Base camp in a couple of days as I make the long journey to the Nepali border. This will probably be a lot colder as it is higher so I can't wait.....
