Meet the Gang.

At a roadhouse restaurant on the road from Lhasa to Gyantse. From left to right. Claire, Margaret, Jo, Bec, and Barry.

Back to Nepal. Zhangmu to Dhulikhel to Kathmandu.

This was the day we would be leaving China and entering back into Nepal. It was also the first time I've ever crossed a country border on foot!

I woke up well rested despite the fact that the bed I was sleeping on was a straw mattress - lots of things poking up at me all night long and that Margaret, Claire and I had stayed up late - chatting and giggling the night away. We all met up at the breakfast table and soon enough, we had to get our backpacks and get going for the day.

Rongphu to Zhangmu.

It was early morning at Rongphu Monastery. Baikuntha's alarm clock went off at 7:30am. Barry braved the freezing cold to watch sunrise over Mt. Everest. I had had a difficult night sleeping and I was toasty warm in my sleeping bag (with two blankets piled on top) - no way I was going to join Barry. Within the hour, we all had to get out of bed - just a few minutes to brush our teeth and grab a cup of altitude sickness tea. We quickly packed up and piled back into the LandCruisers for the day's ride.

One Yak Towns. Sakya and Lao Tinggri.

Tibetan village nestled into the foothills of a mountain.

Okay, there are some pretty remote places in Tibet. We passed by a lot of little villages and hamlets on our drive towards Kathmandu. Some had signposts announcing their names. Others were just made up of clusters of homes - no name, no entry road. Towns got a lot smaller once we left Gyantse. Here are my recollections and photos of two that we visited.

Offroading in Tibet.

On the road from Lhasa to Gyantse.

Our return from Lhasa back to Kathmandu was going to be an overland journey. Though I knew it was going to be a long trip, I was still excited at the thought of driving across the Tibetan plateau and then cutting through Himalayan mountain passes to reach Nepal.

Everest, Baby!

Can you remember where you were and what you were doing on October 14th at 1pm? I can. I was in the Mt. Qomolangma (pronounced "Cho mo lahng ma") National Nature Preserve standing and looking at the great Himalaya Range of mountains.

Tibet. Shigatse.

We left Gyantse after lunch and headed down the road to Shigatse.

We arrived in Shigatse in early afternoon and had the rest of the day to explore the town. Baikuntha had told us that Shigatse was primarily a "Chinese" town so as we entered it, we were prepared to see China and not Tibet. I must admit, that was a bit disappointing.

Tibet. Gyantse.

Welcome to Gyantse, Tibet, China! Gyantse is the third largest city in Tibet and was our first destination after Lhasa. We arrived the night before - after a long 10 hour ride.

Tibet. Lhasa to Gyantse.

Me and the accidental yak :-)

It's October 11th. Today we finally left on our road trip through Tibet. It would take two drivers and two Toyota LandCruisers to carry us on our road trip.

Tibet. Ganden Monastery.

It's the morning of October 10th and I'm feeling much better after having spent yesterday afternoon in bed fending off the flu. I missed the tour to Sera Monastery so I'm excited about this morning's trip to Ganden Monastery. The trip to Ganden is not included in our itinerary but everyone elected to go so Baikuntha arranged for a car and driver to take us there and back.

Lhasa. Drepung Monastery.

After having met Gung Chu, a Tibetan monk studying at Gomang College in Drepung Monastery, I was really interested in seeing where he spends his days.

Lhasa. The Potala Palace.

A simple red wooden door beckons you inside the Potala Palace, the former Winter Palace of the Dalai Lamas.

Me and the Monk.

Chanting monks, Ganden Monastery.

Okay, I admit it. My image of what a Tibetan Buddhist monk would be like was stamped into my brain courtesy of the Lonely Planet guidebook and the dozens of images that I had seen on the web. I imagined their dress to be extremely modest and behavior to be pious and contemplative -reflections of the self sacrifices they had willingly accepted in order to achieve their ultimate goal of enlightenment. So you can imagine how disappointed I was when I came across this pair, with backpack and sneakers, walking the kora in Barkhor Square.

Lhasa. The Jokhang Monastery and Barkhor Square.

Sightseeing on the first day in Lhasa began with a visit to the Jokhang Monastery. On the way, we walked through some of the sidestreets surrounding Barkhor Square. The streets were packed with locals - some to do their daily marketing and others on their way to join the pilgrim circuit that circumvents Barkhor Square.

Tibet and Lhasa. First Views.

Our group arrived by air from Kathmandu yesterday afternoon. It was an uneventful flight except that we got to see Mt. Everest and Yamdrok Tso (Turquoise) Lake as we flew over the Himalayas. We would get to see both up close in the days to come.

I'm off to India, Nepal & Tibet!!

Today's the day!

I was up late last night doing last minute stuff for the trip and was physically exhausted by time I fell into bed.....but as so often happens with me, I just couldn't turn my brain off - half filled with excited thoughts of the trip and half worried that I forgotten to do something or pack something.

Eventually, I drifted off and then awoke well before the alarm clock went off thanks to a small battalion of helicopters hovering above the Beltway which is just a stone's throw away from my house. I found out later on on the morning news that there was a 4 or 5 car pile up and all lanes were blocked but one so I presume the copters were hovering overhead to get a good vantage point to report on the accident. Whatever the case, the whirring of the rotor blades was not the way I wanted to woken up!

T minus 5 and counting.

I leave in just a little over 5 days and I'm pretty much set to go.

My final week of preparation began with packing my backpack this past weekend. I had to do it 3 times to get it packed the way I wanted to.

The good news is that I got all my stuff packed in crammed in and there was A LOT of stuff - more clothes, medicine and food than I've lugged along on my previous trips. Not to mention a winter weight sleeping bag, down vest and other "acoutrements" for trekking through Tibet.

Prayer Wheels and Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum.

Prayer Wheels. They're an integral element of practicing Tibetan Bhuddism and before I join the pilgrims in circumambulating the monasteries, I thought I ought to know what they represent so that I can more fully appreciate the experience.

Simply put, a prayer wheel is a device for spreading spiritual blessings and well being. Rolls of thin white paper, imprinted with the mantra (prayer) "Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum", in ancient Indian or Tibetan script, are carefully wrapped and placed inside the wheel and then the opening of the wheel sealed. Typically, the mantra is also inscribed onto the exterior surface of the wheel.

Itinerary. Rongphu, Lao Tingri and Zhangmu, Tibet, China.

Oh boy. Best I can tell, when we leave Sakya, we pretty much are entering the wild, wild west of Tibet. First stop. Rongphu which is known for its monastery and for the fact that it's the launch point to Everest Base Camp.

Situated at an elevation of 4980m (16,338 ft), Rongphu Monastery holds the distinction of being the highest monastery in the world. According to the Lonely Planet guide, Rongphu once served as the center of religious activity for around a dozen neighboring religious institutions but is now experiencing quieter times with only about 20 nuns and 10 monks in residence. With Mt. Everest serving as the backdrop, the Monastery and its chörten in the foreground should provide for some spectacular photo ops.

How many रुपया for a dollar?

It's time for me to buy some currency for the trip - specifically, Indian rupees and Chinese yuan. Nepalese rupees are not available outside of Nepal. As usual, I was curious about the different currencies so more reading.

Indian Rupee.
As of the date of this posting, the exchange rate (according to xe.com) is 40.6 Indian rupees to one US dollar.

The Indian rupee is divided into 100 paise (singular paisa). The ISO 4217 code is INR. Locally, the abbreviations Rs and Rp are frequently used. Banknotes worth Rs. 5, Rs. 10, Rs. 20, Rs. 50, Rs. 100, Rs. 500, Rs. 1000 are currently in circulation.

All notes are issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The current series, which began in 1996, is called the Mahatma Gandhi series and can be easily identified as the obverse face of each note has a watermark image of Mahatma Ghandi and differing images on the reverse.