The Tibetan Plateau is shown below; our route to Nepal would take us from Lhasa, through Gyantse, Shigaste, Everest Base Camp and down through the border to Kathmandu.

Day 1: Lhasa to Gyantse

At 8:42 am, we departed Lhasa in a blue Toyota Landcruiser driven by our Tibetan driver; Tassi. There were four of us in the car, the other 2 people were a Belgian couple at the tail end of their 14-month round the world trip.

Setting off from the courtyard of the YAK Hotel in Lhasa.   

Today's itinerary would take us to the town of Gyantse; 263 kilometers away from Lhasa.

Our first three hours of steady driving was a surprising smooth ride on freshly paved roads. The first main break in our journey was at the top of Kampa La Pass - 4,990 meters high - overlooking the majestic lake Yamdrok. We piled out of the jeep to admire the stunning turquoise waters of the sacred lake only slightly distracted by a light falling of snow. Our viewpoint was shared with fellow tourists and a circus of yaks, dogs and clinging children.

Dark snow clouds loomed overhead, as we admired the lake.  Local herdsman brought their saddled yaks and surrounded the jeeps in an attempt to entice the tourists to pay for a ride.

Soon after, the paved roads were replaced by dirt roads winding up and down and around the snow-capped mountains passing tiny settlements and icy flowing rivers.

We stopped for lunch in a small Tibetan town where our driver directed us to a local restaurant. The $5-a-head tourists' buffet did not appeal, so using our Tibetan phrasebook we managed to obtain some hot water for our personal supply of instant noodles. Whilst eating we were closely watched by a very scruffy 4-year-old Tibetan boy who gratefully accepted our leftovers.

Outside the restaurant the word that foreigners were in town had clearly spread and while our driver tinkered with the jeeps engine we were surrounded by a cluster of school children eagerly shouting out the few English phrases they knew. Eric reciprocated the enthusiasm with his own line of questioning using the ever-useful Tibetan phrasebook.

Eric orchestrated a group photo of our attentive audience.

During our final stretch to Gyantse, we paused to admire another impressive lake. This one having the most beautiful turquoise hue. A brief hailstorm ensued before our late afternoon arrival in Gyantse.

The lake glistened in the sun amongst the high surrounding mountains.

Day 2: Gyantse to Shigaste

After a hearty breakfast of banana pancakes, we strolled into town on our way to see the famous Kumbum Monastery. Gyantse is an attractive, relaxed town offering the visitor a very Tibetan feel.

The wide cobblestone streets are almost car-free; instead, the locals rely on horse and tractors to transport themselves and their goods around town. An overnight snowfall had blanketed the tops of the surrounding mountains, and whilst there was no snow in the town itself, we still wrapped up warmly against the icy temperatures.

Young boys played in the sidestreets whilst we admired the traditional Tibetan houses.

The 14th-century Kumbum monastery was our favorite monastery we have visited so far. Not only is it the best preserved monastery in Tibet, it also exudes an air of spirituality that is unheard of in the more museum-like Buddhist temples we saw in China. The word 'Kumbum' means '100,000 images'; the colorful murals and the beautifully adorned statues inside, certainly do not make this an overstatement.

The beautifully preserved temples of Kumbum  Monastery are still in use today.

A view from the hills behind the monastery provides a great vantage point of the town.  In the background, the Gyantse Dzong, a 14th century fortress towers over the rooftops.

On our way back to our hotel, we paused at a street vendor to purchase 2 hand-made Buddhist monk scarves - a much-needed addition to our wardrobe in these colder temperatures.

A 90 km 1.5 hour drive took us to the city of Shigaste. The drive to Shigaste would be the shortest scheduled travel day of our trip across the Tibetan plateau. This city portrays a far larger Chinese presence as Chinese restaurants and hotels line the main boulevard and advertisements for Chinese products dominate the streets.

We checked into the Fruit Orchard hotel located directly opposite the monastery. After a brief lunch we paid a visit to another one of Tibet's glorious monasteries. The Tashilunpo Monastery is a large complex of brightly painted buildings and golden roofed temples. Amongst its maze of alleyways and courtyards are various chapels and shrines including an 8 million-dollar gold-leafed Buddha, the final resting-place of the 10th Pachen Lama.

The walls of the huge monastery were lined with colorful murals depicting religious tales, symbols, and the many forms of Buddha.

Whilst we explored the monastery the monks continued with their daily chores - which included prayer-flag making and religious teaching.

The next day would be the longest leg of our journey, a 10-hour stretch taking us up to 5,200 meters.  With our driver coming to collect us at 7:15 am, we decided to make it an early night.

Day 3: Shigaste to Shekar

We departed in our jeep early enough to catch the morning sunrise over the barren brown mountains. After 4 hours of driving along the partly surfaced friendship highway, we climbed to the 4,500 metre mountain pass of Tsua La. Then we steeply descended down a windy dirt road to the nearly deserted plains of the plateau. On our way, we passed small Tibetan settlements consisting of mud brick houses; also visible within these hamlets were local farmers sifting grains and preparing hay bales for the upcoming winter.

Dry-mud hillsides, sand dunes, and rocky mountains - the main features of the Tibetan Plateau. 

We stopped for lunch at the truck-stop town of Lhatse. The town's only road was a hive of activity with tractors and buses loading and unloading both people and goods. Clouds of dust also filled the air from the passing Chinese trucks rumbling down the dirt road. We had lunch at a road-side Chinese restaurant; whilst waiting for our food, a large black cow casually strolled by the restaurant's open doorway and paused for lunch at the bakery next door. It was a good five minutes before the baker noticed and shooed the cow away from the bag of flour it had been enjoying. With the cow dispersed, the baker scooped up another handful from the sack of flour and continued baking.

Tibetans pile into the local taxi-tractor. 

After Lhatse, the Friendship highway became diabolical, as we spent the next couple of hours ascending up steep-snaking roads carved into the mountain face. We reached what would be the highest point of our trip: the Lhakpa La Pass (mountain pass) at an altitude of 5,220 meters. A photo session quickly ensued of the spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.

Eric lines up the local children at the mountain pass to hand out candy, but then has to make a quick escape when the bag runs out.

The road continued and gradually descended a good 400 to 500 meters before reaching the small town of Shekar. Along the way, we managed to get our first glimpse of Mount Everest in the distance.  The 'one-cow' town of Shekar consisted of nothing more than a handful of Tibetan guesthouses and restaurants. This town provides very little of interest for the sightseer: it's simply a welcome stop during the arduous trek to seek out Everest.

A lone cow wanders down the town's only street... 

Day 4: Shekar � Everest Base Camp

We left Shekar at sunrise for a grueling 4-hour drive to Everest base camp. For the first hour, the road zigzagged steeply up to the Pang la Pass (5,150 meters), where we were given a taste of what awaited us - a clear magnificent view of the Himalayan range. The snow-topped mountaintops were complemented beautifully by blue skies.

The mighty Everest dominates the Himalayan Range.

From the mountain pass, we continued on another long, bumpy, spellbinding 100 kilometers to the Everest base camp. The base camp (5,200 meters in altitude) is a collection of wind-beaten white canvas tents and a lone teahouse, serving yak-buttered tea to those in need of warming up.

Everest Base Camp.   

We stopped just beyond the base camp at the foot of the mighty Everest four our one and half-hour photo shoot.

Mt. Everest - 8,840m. 

Everest tourists!!

Happy to have made it..!!

The photo shoot went on for ages....no pose was left out...

At such a high altitude, symptoms of altitude sickness can quickly develop, so it is imperative to keep a watchful eye on your companions. Soon after the photo shoot, Nikki announced to Eric that she felt 'drunk'. She was giggling continuously and staggering about complaining of dizziness, nausea and headache. Eric promptly grabbed Nikki by the hand and guided her back to the base camp (at this point, Nikki felt so drunk she expected to see the bouncers and bars of London streets along the trail). Eric realized the potential severity of the situation having previously read that signs of drunkenness indicate the person may be hours away from unconsciousness. Upon reaching the base camp, he quickly negotiated with the driver to get a ride back down to a nearby hotel at a lower altitude. After a short rest and some food at the hotel, the 'drunk' symptoms had subsided but it was felt that it would be wise precaution for us to spend the night at an even lower altitude.

The three-hour drive down to the nearest town was far from smooth; the extremely bumpy ride was a further test to Nikki's nausea.  Within an hour of arriving at Tingri, we changed into our thermals and were soon cocooned in our sleeping bags under musty blankets. We went to sleep very early that evening; not only due to tiredness, but also because there was little to do in our crumbling, mud-brick constructed room. It was too cold to explore the town and the electricity sourced from the guesthouse's petrol generator made our light too unreliable and weak to read by.

The 'quaint' Tibetan hotels lacked certain home comforts.

Day 5: Crossing the Himalayas

During our seven-hour trip to the China-Nepal border, we traversed across starkly contrasting landscapes. We began in the brown barren mountains of the Tibetan plateau and advanced up mountain passes into the snowy Himalayas. The temperature had dropped dramatically and it was definitely below freezing... our woolly hats, gloves, scarves and many layers barely kept us warm in the jeep ('comfort stops' were kept to a minimum!!).

Making the steep acsent up to the snowy himalayas.

Prayer flags and icy roads adorned the mountain passes.

As we descended down the Himalayas, the landscape changed again - from snow-covered mountainsides to forests - exuding an almost jungle complete with magnificent waterfalls.

The road carved down jagged ravines, following a fast-flowing mountain river to Nepal.

Upon reaching the border town of Zhangmu, we negotiated the lorry-filled streets and came to a stop at a small teahouse. There we arranged for a ride to take us from the boarder to Kathmandu. Having rid ourselves of our remaining Chinese Yuan via the black market touts, we began the confusing multistage border crossing process.

The view from 'Friendship Bridge' - a 65-meter bridge spanning across a ravine marking the natural border between China and Nepal.  Visible in the distance is the Chinese border town of Zhangmu.

How to cross the Chinese-Nepal border:

1.  Load bags into Chinese taxi.
 
2.  Walk through Chinese immigration and customs department, receive exit stamps in passport.

3.  Rejoin waiting Chinese taxi and descend 8 kilometers down mountainside to meet up with Nepalese taxi.

4.  Unload bags from Chinese taxi and reload them into Nepalese taxi.

5.  Walk behind Nepalese taxi across 'Friendship Bridge'.

6.  Proceed through the Nepalese immigration and customs and receive entry stamp in passport.

7.  Rejoin taxi and drive 3 and half-hours down mountain roads to Kathmandu.
 
8.  Change clocks back 2 hours and 15 minutes to Nepalese time.

The difference between Nepal and Tibet is immediately apparent - not only through the different-looking houses, roads, street life, sounds, smells and ethnic people, but also through the sudden abundance of plush plant and animal life. On the way to Kathmandu, we were surrounded by people wearing saris and tending to rice paddies... as well as many banana trees, huge fast flowing rivers, cows, chickens, goats, exotic-looking birds and even monkeys and snakes.

Nepal - a stark contrast to the landscape of the Tibetan Plateau where we began our 6 hour drive the same day.