Tibet
10 Highest Mountains
By Tony on June 11, 2009 | No Comments »
We’ve managed to get our first view of phenomenal Kangchendzonga, the third highest mountain in the world. Although we are still 74 km (46 miles) from the mountain, it looks massive towering over the valleys of Sikkim.
Seeing Kangchendzonga is also a milestone for Thomas and me. This means we have seen 8 of the top ten highest mountains in the world. The remaining two mountains, K2 and Nanga Parbat, are both located in northwest Pakistan, and we obviously won’t be heading there right now.
To celebrate the eight, we have put together our own pictorial list of the world’s ten highest mountains, respectfully leaving blank spaces for K2 and Nanga Parbat. We’ll get to Pakistan some day!
Friends Arrested in Sichuan!
By Thomas on March 21, 2008 | No Comments »
In October last year, I was raving about our stay in Dargye Gompa, a beautiful and serene monastery in Sichuan, China. We spent several days there with three monks and a wonderful, small group of travelers, French Thomas, Fredy the Nomad, and Rachel.
French Thomas just left a comment on our blog that monks from Dargye Gompa have been arrested while protesting for their freedom, and he left a link with photos from an online source.
This is terrible news, and we hope the Chinese government will end this nonsense and release our friends.
Crossing to Nepal
By Tony on December 15, 2007 | No Comments »
I’ve always said the San Diego -Tijuana border crossing is the most abrupt, most dramatic border transition I’ve ever experienced. It turns out, there is another…
Driving along the desert roads of the Tibetan plateau, the road peaked just before Nyalam to reveal a spectacular Himalayan panorama and a road heading down, down , down. After what seemed like an unending series of switchbacks, the open moonscape we were moving through gave way to tight canyons that slid their way through the snow-capped mountains. Stone villages and terraced fields clung to the steep cliffs, herds of yaks and goats wandered along the road.
Pema, our driver, carefully navigated the hairpin turns and steep drop-offs as suicidal Chinese drivers » Continue reading this post »
Trash Eating Cow
By Thomas on December 14, 2007 | 1 Comment »
As in many third world countries, trash management in China, and even more so in Tibet, is a huge problem particularly outside the tourist areas where there don’t seem to be any centralized places for disposing of trash. The more organized municipalities have random piles of trash distributed throughout the town while less organized places are evenly littered with garbage – it is just like living on a dump.
The most shocking examples of trash mismanagement, we encountered in Tibet. » Continue reading this post »
The Long Road Back
By Thomas on December 13, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Two days of driving to the Nepalese border and most of it was backtracking via the same route by which we had come. Our 17-day trip was almost over and I knew, we would hit the same spine-crumbling potholes again.
I didn’t expect a lot of excitement going back. Going through familiar terrain, though, provides a chance to relax and let your mind wander. I believe all of us were thinking about » Continue reading this post »
