Driving Across Tibet to Nepal

Our driver and guide

After 3 nights in Lhasa, we were ready for a 5-day drive across Tibet. This was a smorgasbord of high-altitude scenery. It was an exciting drive, leading me to the #1 Rule for Driving In Tibet:

If you see anything on the road, honk the horn.

Honk continuously until there is nothing on the road.

There are enough yaks, cows, sheep, goats, kids, old ladies, etc. on the road that we’re just always honking. For many towns, our driver would simply drive through the entire town pressing the horn. You’d think it would get annoying, but it’s just how it is.

Honking

A lot of vehicles seem to be homebuilt. 

Yamdrok Lake

The Gyantse fort, built in 1390

The Gyantse Kumbum

We saw a lot of these guys in the 77 chapels of the Gyantse Kumbum

The highest elevation of the journey: 5248m (17200')

We stayed in hotels in relatively small cities along the way. The hotels in small-town Tibet seem like old Chinese factories that someone decided to turn into hotels: big, cold, dark concrete buildings with almost no guests other than us. 

Typical hotel architecture

Our (least) favorite was in Tingri: despite a huge sign out front advertising “24-hour hot water”, there was no running water at all. We asked the manager (we think) how to flush the toilet and he said “bucket”, making a bailing motion. I went into the bathroom and found the 5 gallon bucket he was referring to. Still, it was empty. The solution to this was to go into an “under construction” section of the hotel that somehow had running water, fill up the bucket, and pour it into the toilet in our room, causing it to flush.

Actually no water at all, 24 hours a day. Occasional electricity.

They do one thing well: 3G cell service.

The power in Tingri goes on and off every half-hour or so. During the off times, the night sky is amazing.

The highlight of the drive was our visit to the Rongbu monastery, 20km from Mount Everest. We got lucky and had an unusually clear day, providing an unobstructed view.

The road to Everest.

Everest. Our guide says it's never this clear. 

It’s another surreal place up there. With almost no tourists, it’s a bunch of monks and a few nuns, continually chanting in the world’s highest monastery, with the world’s tallest mountain looming ahead.

The Rongbuk monastery, and its chanting nuns.

We ate lunch at the monastery and then embarked on the long drive down towards the Nepal border.

Through the Himalayas to Nepal

Tibet was the kind of place that you really feel like you're living in another time, in another world. At the same time, the people were extremely friendly, the scenery was incredible, and the culture very interesting.