Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Journey through the Himalayas

Much of our time in Tibet was spent either on a bus or a train ... we spent over 18 hours during two days on a bus going from Lhasa to Everest base camp and then turned around and headed back.  In many places, this would not be a fun vacation, but in a place so full of breathtaking beauty, all I could do was stare out the window with my jaw dropped.

Tibetan toilets did leave a little something to be desired.  This is the nicest one along the way ... if you exclude trees, bushes and small hills :)

























Yamdrok Lake with Mt. Nojin Kangtsang (7191 meters / 23,592 feet) in the distance.  One of Tibet's three holiest lakes. 

 

 

















Karo-la Glacier (5045 meters / 16,551 feet).



















And .... drumroll ... the highest place I have stood (& probably ever will stand) on the earth. 
5,248 meters / 17,217 feet.
















 
Bus troubles ... road work that meant we needed to walk a bit so the bus didn't bottom out going through this area.  Couldn't ask for a more beautiful place to go for a walk.



















After all that breathtaking scenery during our week, we still hadn't had enough and took the 50 hour train ride back from Lhasa to Shanghai!  We had wonderful cabin-mates and minus all of the smokers on the train, had a really great ride.












 The tracks rising above the plateau ...




Our cabin-mate and new friend, Liu Ning. He & his uncle had just spent 3 weeks in Tibet taking photographs.

1 comment:

Molly W. said...

it really is breath taking. your adventures are something else!