Well... I consider myself officially and suitably chastised! During my visit to the UK, just about all of you reprimanded me for my tardy journal updates. I felt this was somewhat unfair. However, having just viewed my journal entries for the first time in months, I noticed that my last blog was in January... Oops! Sorry! It's going to take me an eternity to update you on my travels through Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos... However, I promise that I will come back to those entries and fill you in on all the juicy (and not so juicy) details!

For now, dear friends, acquaintances, and arch enemies, I'm afraid you will just have to put up with the details of my recent trip to Tibet.

Tibet (Xizang) is known as the Roof of the World, and now I understand why! With an average altitude of 4000 meters (we reached 5200 meters) and encompassed by some of the highest mountains in the world, it truly does feel as though you are standing on top of the world.

Tibet has many contrasts; it's an amalgamation of ancient tradition and progressive living; the mysterious and enthralling Buddhist side versus the atheist and communist side; the awe-inspiring and sacred mountains and lakes versus the bland communist buildings and flashing neon signs; the poignant devotion of the pilgrims versus the ruthless and capitalist views of business owners; to name just a few.

Tibet has been part of China since 1949, and due to incentives offered by the government for population transfer (for Han Chinese to move to Tibet) the Tibetans are now an extremely oppressed (sorry, liberated) minority. Many restaurants are Chinese, not Tibetan, signs and menus are written in Chinese characters... The list of examples goes on and on. Even our guide was Chinese and had chosen to become a tour guide due to his Marxist, communist, and atheist views. I have the distinct impression that it would be very difficult for a Tibetan to become a tour guide due to the fact that their views would contradict with the views of the CNP.

Our journey began with an early morning flight from Nanjing to Xi'an, and then onwards to Lhasa. We'd all (bar one) begun taking our altitude sickness pills to ensure that none of us became ill during our trip and therefore we sat around comparing the side effects we'd experienced so far (tingling lips, fingers, and toes, needing to pee far more often, and an annoying inability to taste anything carbonated; such as beer!) After a short delay we were on our way, and after two very bad China Eastern meals we arrived in Lhasa.

The journey from the airport into Lhasa was exciting. As with the rest of China, just because there is a car coming in the other direction that doesn't mean you shouldn't overtake! And blind bends... Pah... Who cares?!? They're the perfect place to overtake at seventy miles per hour!

The views were stunning, and the highlight of the journey was stopping at the house of a local Tibetan family to look around and drink yak butter tea (yuk is more appropriate than yak) and barley beer (much better!) Only the men were allowed to drink the beer, so the little old lady serving us was highly amused when I stole Mike's beer and started drinking that instead of my yuk butter tea!

We arrived at our hotel in the early evening and were warned by our guide not to leave the hotel after dark. 'Poo to that' was my thought, and off we went for an exploration of the immediate area... And so the mission to find Jack Daniels began!!!

It was this evening (the first evening) that the stresses and strains of travelling in a group began to show, with one member taking it upon himself to decide exactly what we were all eating and how much we would each pay. A few murmurs and shrugs later we were tucking into a less than delicious meal which caused me to projectile vomit... Nice!

The next day we were supposed to be visiting the Potala Palace, but due to problems with tickets our itinerary changed and off we went to the holy lake. The journey up the mountain to 4900 meters was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time; hairpin bends with no crash barriers, overlooking a drop of thousands of meters, with wet roads, bad visibility and a driver with a death wish. Woo hoo!

At the top we were rewarded with beautiful views of the holy lake, which was the most fantastic turquoise colour I've ever seen. Definitely worth the hair raising journey. Actually, we were extremely lucky to have arrived when we did, as by the time we were due to leave, the clouds had positioned themselves around our mountain and you could barely see five meters ahead of you, let alone see the surrounding mountains or the lake.

It was here that I used a sheep herder's toilet and accidentally showed my rear to two local herders who were walking down the mountain. I can now proudly claim to have used one of the highest toilets in the world!

Throughout this trip I had been regularly monitoring the number of breaths I was taking per minute. At 4000 meters I was taking an average of 16 breaths per minute, however, by the time I reached 5200 meters I was down to just 4 breaths per minute... A very strange feeling!

In the afternoon we visited a spectacular monastery and viewed the first of many Buddhas and stupas.

That night, Mike and I broke away from the rest of the group (who were still too scared to venture far from the hotel) and wandered around Lhasa's old town, in the pouring rain! By the time we were soaked to the skin and I had blisters on my blisters we found ourselves a nice little bar with semi-naked Carlsberg girls, good music, and Jack Daniels.. Woo hoo! We were soon joined by a few others from our group once the rumour of JD had been spread, and it turned into a great night.

Once the others had left, Mike and I got drinking with some locals and played some dice drinking games (never a good idea in China... There's only one way that things can go, and that's rapidly downhill!) until we could barely stand. We then hailed a taxi back to our hotel.

Once we arrived back, Mike realised he'd left his camera at the bar, so off we went on a drunken mission to find it. After storming the bar and demanding that they hand over the camera, we gave up and figured that someone had stolen it, so hailed yet another taxi to take us back to the hotel (de ja vu!)

The next morning I awoke with a massive headache, and found his camera in my bag... Mike had forgotten he'd put it there, and we'd been on a mission to find something we'd had all along... Oops!

That morning we visited the Potala Palace, maybe the most famous building in Tibet. The Potala dominates the city from a hill right in the centre of Lhasa. It is the highest building in town and can be seen from nearly every part of the city. It must have changed a great deal since the days when religious and political decisions for Tibet were made here; however, it has not become a boring museum or an alternative to Disneyland. It is visited by hundreds of pilgrims every day and is still bustling and lively inside.

The building consists of 13 storeys and is divided into the Red and the White Palace. Once inside you are hurried (and I mean hurried to the point where you feel you will be beaten with sticks by the guards!) through the mysterious dark rooms filled with incense, and yak butter candles up to the roof from where you have the best view of the city!

Around the Potala, there is a pilgrimage circuit with hundreds and hundreds of prayer wheels and stone carvings and paintings. Around every corner you find yet another pilgrim prostrating him or herself to show devotion to Buddha and to secure him or herself a better position in the next life.

We then visited an active monastery, where hundreds of pilgrims had convened to pray and to meditate. It was sight I will never forget. I was expecting to see more Buddhas and stupas, so when confronted with the sight of so many Buddhist pilgrims I was overwhelmed; hundreds and hundreds of malnourished Buddha devotees eating slop with their hands out of plastic bags... All to prove worthy to Buddha! This is something I respect but will never fully understand.

We wandered round the old market and haggled over prayer wheels and prayer bowls, before hiring a bike taxi to take us back to our hotel. We'd forgotten how far away the hotel actually was and felt extremely guilty when the poor guy was struggling up the hill and cursing under his breath!

That evening we all ventured into the old town for a big group dinner of yak burgers and yak burritos (very Tibetan!) before heading to a smoky little music bar for a couple of Lhasa beers and JDs.

The next morning we were due to leave for Nanjing, however; the weather was terrible and the clouds were low. We noticed a few planes leaving, but none landing. Once the last plane at the airport had left, we wondered where our plane was. We were still wondering a few hours later when our flight was cancelled. Aaaarrrghhhh!!!

Some serious kafuffle and confusion (and a little physical confrontation, actually) later, we were all on a bus heading for another city in Tibet, where we would be accommodated for one more night... This caused some complication and upset for many of our group, but I was secretly rather pleased to be seeing more of Tibet and at the excitement of it all (I'm such a child at heart!)

This diversion gave us time to wander the streets, for Mike to accidentally throw himself down a bowling alley lane, and for us to purchase novelty hats... What more could anyone want?

After yet another night of Lhasa beer and Jack Daniels in an incense filled music bar, we disappeared to bed, ready for our early morning flight.

At silly o'clock in the morning, the telephone rang to wake us for our flight, and off we set on a two hour journey to the airport. We boarded our flight almost on time and flew to Chengdu for our connecting flight... This is when the fun began!!! Of course, we still had tickets for Nanjing for the previous day, so we had to exchange them. Thanks to the extremely unhelpful (lack of) effort from Amex, we had to join the rugby scrum of people wanting to swap tickets. Oh joy!

The process was long and arduous, and the pushing was constant, but thanks to pointy elbows, team work, and extremely memorable Tibetan cowboy (should that be yakboy?!?) hats we managed to get the 'most important' people (which did, of course, include me ; ) on the first flight, and everyone else on the two following flights.

We arrived back in Nanjing, late on Monday morning; twenty fours hours later than planned; exhausted but happy, and in need of a non-Lhasa beer... Which, thanks to no longer taking altitude tablets, we knew we'd be able to enjoy.

A truly unforgettable experience... For more reasons than one!!!