Itinerary. Gyantse, Tibet, China

According to the tour itinerary, we leave Lhasa after a 4 day stay and our trek into the remote wilderness of Tibet begins!!

Our first road stop is Gyantse. Along the way we will skirt Yamdrok Tso, a mountain lake a located about 100 km southwest of Lhasa. Yamdrok' in Tibetan means 'upper pasture' and 'Tso' refers to 'lake'. Yamdrok Tso has no perennial source of water and not outlet -it's essentially a "dead" lake. The lake is currently the subject of controversy as the Chinese government has plans to drop the level of the lake by nearly 900m - leveraging the gravitational drop of the water to harness hydroelectric power. Protesting this plan are the Tibetan Bhuddists who consider Yamdrok Tso to be sacred.

Gyantse is the third largest town in Tibet and was the scene in 1904 of a major battle between Tibetans and British troops under Colonel Francis Younghusband as the British invaded Tibet. Despite previous brushes with British firepower, the Tibetans didn't really seem to know what they were up against - they believed that a charm marked with the seal of the Dalai Lama would protect them from British bullets. Firing began with a false alarm and in what has been described by some as one of the most one-sided battles in history, 700 Tibetans were killed in just 4 minutes.

No queue. No hassle. I like!

Compared to my experience of getting a tourist visa for India, getting the same for Nepal was ....well, a straightforward experience.

Hand over application, passport and $80 (for a multiple entry visa).

Return in a week and pick up the visa.

Where's the drama?
Where's the confusion?
Where's the hassle?
Where are the queues?
Why am I complaining?

I'll shut up now and just be grateful that I actually got my passport back with the visa attached. I can now enter Nepal!!

Stupas and Chörtens.

The stupa is the earliest form of Buddhist religious monument and was originally only a simple mound made up of mud or clay to cover supposed remains of Buddha. In Tibet, stupas are known as chörtens. Examples of stupas, that I will be visiting on my travels, include Swayambhunath and Boudhanath in Kathmandu and the Gyantse Kumbum in Gyantse, Tibet.

Itinerary. Lhasa, Tibet, China

Going to Tibet was my original inspiration behind this trip. I've always wanted to travel to this remote destination and more so now than ever as I think the cultural heart and soul of Tibet will quickly disappear as the Chinese government seems so determined to assimilate Tibet into the larger "mainland" Chinese society. I fear that when that happens, all that is unique about Tibet will be lost to the world.

Tibetan Prayer Wheel
By the time I reach Lhasa, I will be on the Intrepid tour so I can kick back a bit in terms of not having to plan out each of my travel days in advance. We'll a guide who can give suggestions on things to do and see. Of course, I've pored through my Lonely Planet guide several times and have read my share of fellow travelers' blogs to have put together my own "must see" places.

We'll be in Lhasa for four days to give us time to acclimate to the high altitude. At an elevation of 3658m (around 12,000 feet), Lhasa is the highest city in the world. Though I acclimated well to Cuzco, Peru, I'm still not taking any chances so I will take a slow pace for the first couple of days.