It had been a long day on the road when we finally arrived in Shigatse, the second largest city of Tibet, just in time for one of the included meals on our tour. We were booked in for a Tibetan style hotpot and a cultural performance as entertainment. There was a huge variety of vegetables and meat in the hotpots, and it was all delicious. Probably worth mentioning that by this point I had already given up on my idealistic vegetarian lifestyle. I was finding it far too difficult to avoid eating meat in Tibet / China, it seems that vegetarianism is very uncommon here, and combined with the language barrier and confusing menus it seemed impossible. I had gone over a month without eating any meat, and it felt good, so I will definitely revisit it again once we are finished travelling. This meal was also the first time Alice had drunk alcohol in 3 months, thanks to the included beers! The friendly waitresses were very interested in us (note from Alice - especially interested in Josh) and spent lots of time smiling at us and hanging out around our table. At the end of the night while we were enjoying the cultural performances, one of the waitresses told me to come with her, and when I asked her “Where am I going?” she responded “No English, just go!”. So I found myself standing on the stage with three Tibetan musicians who were rapidly strumming their instruments while singing and dancing. In front of a packed Tibetan restaurant I struggled to keep up with the fast paced dance, while the crowd cheered at, laughed at, and filmed me. 

The next morning we woke up bright and early to go and walk Kora around the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery which we were scheduled to be visiting at 8:30am with the rest of the tour group. This monastery is historically and culturally important in Tibet, founded in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama, it is the traditional monastic seat of the Panchen Lama.

Kora is the meditative act of walking clockwise around a sacred site, such as a monastery, stupa, or even a mountain, often accompanied by mantras such as the auspicious Om Mani Padme Hum, and the spinning of prayer wheels. The clockwise movement mirrors the sun's path and the movement of stars across the Tibetan sky (symbolising harmony with the cosmos) and the circular path represents the cycle of rebirth (samsara) and the path to breaking free from it. The belief is that each circuit done with the intention of helping others erases collective karmic debt, and purifies the soul. Kora is practiced daily by Tibetan Buddhists usually early in the morning and in the evenings. It was a really beautiful experience to join such a peaceful and meditative Tibetan tradition at such an important (and beautiful) monastery.

We met the rest of the group at the entrance and started our tour of the monastery. It was a really beautiful place, but very busy with lots of Chinese tour groups visiting. We were on a timer as there was a lot planned for the day, so after a quick tour we were back on the road again, next stop Gyantse. This small town between Shigatse and Lhasa is home to the stunning Palcho monastery and the imposing Gyantse Fortress (which was actually conquered by the British in 1903 during a British expedition to Tibet). This monastery is home to the largest and most famous Kumbum in Tibet (this is a multi-storied stupa-like structure you can walk up). This structure was very beautiful and intricate, and we were allowed to climb up to the top level for panoramic views of the monastery and the fortress on the hill. Unfortunately, most of the statues in the Kumbum were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution in China, and have been replaced by clay replicates which lack the artistic merit of the originals.

After a quick lunch break for some noodles and coffee we were back on the road again. The landscape in Tibet is so beautiful and we were totally in awe as we looked out the windows of our van. We passed over multiple 5000m+ mountain passes, all of which have smooth roads with endless switchbacks that would put the Crown Range in New Zealand to shame. We stopped on one of the scenic mountain passes to admire a magnificent glacier, and Yeshi confirmed for us that just like everywhere else in the world this glacier has also retreated much in recent years. 

Our next stop was at a lovely Tibetan family home on the forefront of the picturesque Yamdrok Lake (one of the three largest lakes in Tibet), for a delicious home cooked dinner. This lake is one the sources of the Yarlung Tsangpo river which flows through Tibet into India and Bangladesh where it is known as the Brahmaputra. China has just started construction on what will be the world's largest dam on this river in Tibet, costing an estimated 167.8 billion US dollars. The electricity produced by this dam is estimated to be enough to power the entirety of the UK with room to spare, but has also sparked significant environmental, geopolitical, and humanitarian concerns. We had already seen early indicators of this with the incredible infrastructure and feats of engineering to literally pave highways over numerous 5,000m plus mountain passes! After our delicious dinner with the lovely Tibetan family by the lake, we all hopped back in the van for a final drive through to Lhasa accompanied by loud car Karaoke to ABBA. It had been a long and incredible day filled with such beautiful scenery, awe inspiring monasteries, and so much kindness from the lovely Tibetan people.

After all the uncertainty and stress we had finally made it to the Tibet/Nepal border. We woke up that morning excited and a bit nervous about the border security and process. It was another 20 minutes of bumpy driving from Tatopani to the border where we met two lovely girls who were joining our tour, Edda and Tekla. They had just finished a meditation retreat in Kathmandu and had to get a separate jeep to drive them to the border that morning. Coincidentally they were also on an overland journey from Germany to Japan (here is their amazing instagram account, make sure you give them a follow). We were all very excited to share our stories from the magic of overland travel and have some like-minded friends on the tour, but first we had to get through the border into Tibet!

We had heard the border security was very strict with full bag searches, checking messages on phones and inspecting laptops. But the reality was much more relaxed, there were some half hearted bag searches and nobody had their devices checked. The technology in the Tibet/China side of the border crossing was very advanced, and it felt like an airport. There were passport scanning gates and fingerprint scanners with cameras everywhere. But we all made it through smoothly where we met our guide for the next seven days, a lovely Tibetan man called Yeshi and our friendly driver Wang Len who spoke no English but always had a handshake and a smile to offer. We had made it to Tibet!

The road immediately after the border crossing was a little precarious as many parts of it were under construction. We got our first glimpse of Chinese infrastructure, which is extensive, ever present and world-leading. There was major work being done to carve a motorway into the side of the mountains, and reinforce the landslide prone hillside. It wasn’t long until we made it through the roadworks and on to the best road we have seen this entire trip. The road twisted and turned its way 2000m up the valley and had barriers the entire way, we passed through tunnels and underneath waterfalls, and the driving was so smooth. It was such a contrast compared to the treacherous Nepalese roads and we quickly climbed up the valley towards the incredible Tibetan Plateau.

We reached our first destination of the Tibetan tour at 3750m, a town called Nyalam. After we had settled into our room, a very lush hotel that we would never normally stay at, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring this remote Tibetan town. China covers almost five different geographic timezones while only using one official timezone, China Standard Time (CST). This means that the Western parts of China have very strange daylight hours, and we immediately noticed this as sunset was around 9pm (feels like NZ during summer). Seeing as we were still close to the Nepali border, it also didn’t get light until around 7:30 AM which felt a bit strange. 

We were unsure what the free time would look like on the tour given the restrictions of the area, so we were very pleased when we were told we could basically explore the local town independently for the afternoon, and were left to our own devices for lunch and dinner. As soon as we left the hotel to explore, Alice and I had one thing in mind. A fat bowl of noodles. We went into a place Alice had spotted from the bus that seemed popular with the locals and had a menu with no English. The owner was so friendly and excited to see foreigners and started speaking to us rapidly in Mandarin. Alice put some of her Duolingo lessons to use and tried some basic Mandarin conversation, but after we got through the basics of where we were from, we resorted to translation apps and pointing at pictures on the menu to order. The food quickly arrived and it was the most delicious noodles with egg and tomato for me, and wonton soup for Alice. The friendly owner was super stoked when I asked for chilli oil in Mandarin! After lunch we found a great coffee and spent some time wandering through the town. We were definitely getting a lot of attention, and quickly remembered that foreigners really didn’t usually come this way, it was a total one off with the border switch! 

We had started feeling very comfortable in South Asia. The amount of English on menus, products, transportation and apps, as well as in conversation, made it pretty easy to navigate life. The culture shock here was immediate for us. There are hardly any English signs. Supermarkets have no English anywhere and most of the products are unrecognisable to us. Google Maps doesn’t work in China as all Google products are blocked, so we were trying to use a Chinese map app. And lastly, hardly anybody speaks even basic English. It felt like a completely different world to the previous day in Nepal, which was only a few hours drive away. It was scary, confusing, and so insanely exciting. We were both fizzing with excitement as we explored the town that afternoon and couldn’t wait for the days to come. Tomorrow we would be driving all the way up to Mount Everest base camp at 5,100m where we would be staying the night, stay tuned for this adventure and more exciting moments from our week in Tibet!

What! A! Day! One of the coolest (and hardest) yet for sure. We’ve taken an extra acclimatization day here in Samdo to make sure we’re totally ready to head over the pass in a couple of days, but also to do a side trip up to the Tibet border which we knew would take all day. 

The day started with a “good morning” and “are you getting out of bed?” from Mayla! No matter what time we ask for breakfast it seems to be ready early or late, and today it was early!! We quickly got ready, ate and were out the door at our planned 6:30 AM to begin the walk to the Tibet border. We knew it was going to be a big day, with a 1200m climb and 20km of trail in front of us.

We weren’t the only ones out and about on the trails - turns out it’s a very special harvesting season here in the region. All the locals were spending their days scouring  the mountains for a particular type of caterpillar. As I understand, instead of turning into a cocoon and then a butterfly, it burrows into the ground and then a plant grows from it. I’m not sure how much of this was lost in translation, but I’ll google it once I get WiFi again! (Hi from future Alice! I googled it, basically it’s a parasite that attacks a moth larvae, kills the host, and then grows a fungus from the corpse. It’s the fungus that’s actually used medicinally, known as Himalayan Viagra…). Apparently the locals can earn really good money from these, especially selling to China for medicinal purposes. Mayla was on the look out all day and we tried to help, but we didn’t find anything, and I’m not entirely sure we really knew what we were looking for!! 

We were both pleasantly surprised about our fitness and how easy the altitude felt (the best feeling)! The first half of the track was gradual and sidled above the river. We started in major yak territory, and these ones were huge!! As we began climbing we saw so many of the Himalayan Marmots I had spotted yesterday, they are very cute, reminding me of a cross between a fat cat and an otter. It definitely felt like we were getting higher and higher, with less plants around and much more of a desert, alpine feel. We crossed the (now very small) Budhi Gandaki River very close to its source glacier, which was super cool after following it for basically a week now! We also saw some mountain goat/deer/thar like creatures, I need to look them up once we are back in WiFi. (Hi again - these are called Bharal or Blue Sheep, they are native to the high Himalayas and the main prey of the Snow Leopord). They were in pack of about 15 including one really small baby, and let us get pretty close!! 

After about three hours we crossed the river we were following and the climb began. From here it was a pretty steep 600m climb, taking us all the way up to nearly 5,000m. We both approached it with strength, resilience and tenacity, and by putting one foot in front of the other got up in about two hours. At altitude walking up hills is even more of a mind game than at home, you have to slow your pace right down to keep your breathing and heart rate under control. It’s definitely a test of the saying “slow and steady”. The final push up to the border was across a soft scree slope, and before we knew it we could see the border complete with a fence, Chinese flag and a chortun on the Nepali side. We didn’t even have a headache and had both really enjoyed the walk, and were stoked to be up this high! There was a bit of cloud around so we didn’t get the best views ever, but it was still an amazing experience. 

We got the fright of our life when a truck pulled up on the other side, but it was just a group of Chinese tourists enjoying a tour through Tibet. Weirdly, they covered their number plates, so I couldn’t help think that something wasn’t quite right with them being up there!! We spent some time taking photos on both sides (the fence was down so there didn’t seem to be any immediate issue with crossing, we’ll see if they detain us at the Tibet border lol), and having a well earned snack tucked behind a rock to avoid the wind. Mayla was especially excited, this was his first time out of Nepal! 

The walk down felt long as walks down tend to do. It was like our brains were catching on to the Marmots though and we were suddenly seeing them everywhere!! The weather was packing in and once we got back it started to rain, which was actually a good sign for clearing up the skies for the coming days. We had a well earned pizza for dinner (it’s on the menu everywhere here so we thought we should try it at least once) and after a quick stretch crawled into bed with our books. Tomorrow is a short day so we were treating ourselves to a sleep in - bliss.