We started our discovery of Tibet with the visit of the province capital - Lhasa. There we spent two days which enabled us to visit the Drepung Monastery, the summer Palace, the Potala Palace and the Sera Monastery. It was the perfect opportunity to better understand the History of the region, to get a better knowledge of the Tibetan Buddhism religion and the Dalai Lama dynasty. Long story short, this religion is quite complex yet it remains very interesting and walking around monasteries is an experience we recommend. Some of them also offer great sightseeing platforms, offering huge panoramas over the mountains. Lhasa City!Drepung Monastery!Summer Palace!Potala Palace!Sera Monastery!After this initiation to the religion, we hit the road in order to reach Nepal through the Friendship Highway. This very long road across the mountains took us to various cities including Shigatse, Gyantse, Latse, and Tingri. Whilst we supposed to reach the Everest Base Camp (EBC) to stare at the highest peak of the world, an unexpected incident had our plans altered. So here we were, in a mini van with our fellow travelers, including 2 Germans and 2 Dutch and our Tibetan guide: Nima. We alternated between Monasteries visits and incredible view points, including one of the biggest lakes of the region, some 8000 meters tall mountains, and snowy landscapes. We spent the night in various locations, ranging from average hotels to very rustic guest houses. That was awesome. We also visited local families, discovered their life conditions and we were also treated with the most welcoming hospitality. We had a chance to try a local brewed beer, some Yak cheese, some home-made cakes, etc. On the road, we saw many sheeps, yaks, dogs, horses. They were all "free into the wild"! Great memories! We also started to suffer a bit from the altitude with a few headaches, stomach aches, etc. We will never know if those were resulting from a bad food consumption or the ultimate consequences of the altitude... But we made it and came back all fine so altitude is certainly to bear in mind but not something that should stop you from visiting Tibet! On the way to Shigatse!Shigatse Monastery!Sakya Monastery!Old Tingri until the nepali Border!On the edge of reaching the EBC, a terrible snow storm closed the only road to access our key destination. So unlucky given we chose the best season to visit Nepal. Our guide who had been operating such journeys for more than 20 years had never expected such things! Some people were stuck there for days, in the cold! What an experience! So here we were, down the mountain (which we couldn't see by the way! Sick!) and we had to change our plans. The snow storm also affected the high passes so we were not sure whether we could reach the Nepali Border. As a matter of fact, the road was closed for a day and we had to stand by for the authorization to drive until the border. When we were finally given the green light, we discovered an untouched scenery with fresh snow all over the place. It was like in a dream - an absolutely incredible experience. Our guide wouldn't stop taking pictures - that explains how uncommon the situation was! After a while, we left the high peaks and reached the valley of Zhangmu. There, the snow started to melt, creating huge water cascades, causing terrible landfalls and rockfalls. The road was sometimes very dangerous and on a couple of occasions, we wondered whether this wasn't TOO dangerous... It surely was but to reach the border was our preliminary concern. Flying from Lhasa to Kathmandu was more than 300 euros so there was no way that we wouldn't make it to the border! After a long drive, we arrived in Zhangmu, the border town on the Chinese side. A horrible place where we had the chance to spend the night.... The following morning, we reached Kodari on the Nepali Side. Our adventure in Tibet was over. What a week! However, missing the chance to see the Everest from the EBC was a true disillusion and we'll have no choice but to pay another visit to this fabulous region! Tuesday, 8th of October 2013. After months of planning and with another 4 travellers, we are leaving Chengdu for our long-expected journey in Tibet! We have booked tickets on the highest railway in the World, which goes as high as 5000 meters, passing by the highest train station in the world. The ride will last 45 hours! But lucky enough, we are enjoying the comfort of hard sleepers, meaning that we can actually lie down when we want to sleep. The ride offers amazing panoramas and changing landscapes. It is absolutely a must-do when you start your journey in Tibet. Check out the pictures and dream with us! We took the bus to go to Leshan, a 2 hour-ride from Chengdu. This place is famous for its Giant Buddha which is 80 meters tall. Indeed quite tall and that's not even mentioning its age: 1300 years old. It is shaped into the rock of the mountain! An impressive human-made giant! However, given the hassle it was to get to the place, we are still wondering whether the visit is really mandatory on your must-see list! Once back to the hotel, we prepared our stuffs for the upcoming trip to Tibet! Excited we are!!! But just before we could hop in the train, we had a very last day to spend in Chengdu. As a result, we went to see the "biggest building in the world" opened in September 2013. An old looking shopping mall inhabits the place and let us tell you that whilst the building itself is quite impressive, the shopping mall is nothing close to the best ones in Hong Kong or even Europe. Very disappointing but on par with our perspective of Chengdu: a good place for a 2 day-stay - just enough time to pay a visit to the Pandas and a good place to rest before reaching Tibet! To get there, it takes either 50 minutes by plane or 10 hours by bus. We are cheap, so the bus was to be our only choice. A full day among fantastic landscapes, rivers and huge rocky Mountains. We found our hostel for the night and went to bed early as the wake up call was due at 5:30am the day after. On the morning, we went to the main ticket office and already had to queue up for half an hour. So many people were already waiting! Unbelievable... Again, national holiday means millions of Chineses sightseeing all around the country. And Jiuzhaigou certainly proved to be a key destination. However, with such a great sunshine, we were ready to hit the tracks! We went up the valley thanks to one of their numerous buses and from there, it was a great walk throughout the forests, the waterfalls, the ponds, etc. The water was crystal-clear... What an amazing day with breathtaking landscapes. Yes, we walked kilometers and kilometers but it was really worth it. This place totally delivered what it was advertised for. And whilst it comes at quite an expense, we were so glad we made it there! Check the pictures and book your flight tickets! Just avoid the first week of October and you'll be in for a treat! After our first night in a sleeper cabin on the train ride between Kunming and Chengdu, we took one day to rest in our hostel. It was a good opportunity for us to recover from past trips and to plan the days coming ahead. We decided on discovering the Panda Research Base Centre which is the number one activity in Chengdu. We read that Pandas got fed early in the morning, hence we woke up before sunrise to be there on time. It finally turned out to be a very good strategy as it allowed us to visit the park without the Chinese tourists crowd. And what a crowd! As we were stupid enough to plan our visit to China during the week-long national bank holiday, thousands of people decided to visit this park on the exact same day. However, lucky for us, most of them tend to be late sleepers, hence they turned up while we were done and leaving the place. It was a nice time in a green environment, staring at hungry pandas, the Chinese treasure. After this visit, we went back to downtown Chengdu where we had a long stroll for another 3-4 hours. We discovered a little park inside the city and busy streets filled with all kinds of shops. We can't really say that we loved Chengdu... Mostly due to its pollution, it's constant hazy-foggy appearance and the crazy traffic. But anyway, it was worth checking out... Until we finally decided to leave this place for one of our long-expected destinations: Jiuzhaigou. |