We left Lhasa on 25th June for a six day 4WD trip with our excellent tour group deeper into the Himalayas. Our transport was the ever trusty Toyota Landcruiser (the best off road car there is) driven by Tibetan drivers and boy, did you ever need both car and drivers ability over the next few days! This is how we got on: 25th June Most of that day was taken up by driving but what a journey! Many of the roads (and I use that term very lightly) were just dirt tracks in the mountains. Many were rather perilous with no barriers and sometimes with a 500 foot or so drop off the edge. Things weren't helped by lengthy delays caused by development of the roads which often involved controlled explosions to widen the tracks. At one point we had to drive over a mound of exploded rock, patted down by a digger which was a pretty hairy experience as we were so high up. Some of the scenery and mountain passes were stunning and we passed one peak at nearly 7200m, a sign of things to come. We eventually reached Gyantse fairly late in the evening, in time to watch England v Ecuador in our hotel. The local girls working there were in terms amused and bemused with Stuart's intensity and irritation at Englands latest woeful attempt at playing football. 26th June We had a wander around Gyantse (3900m above sea level) in the morning, including visiting a hill fortress and a monestry. We got our first real taste here of how backward Tibet really is. It really is the land that time forgot with the rows of old Tibetan houses with rows of cows tied up outside. In the afternoon we drove across paved roads (shock, horror) to Shigatse, Tibets 2nd largest town where we spent the night in a reasonable hotel. 27th June In the morning Jo visited the local monesty in Shigatse although Stuart didn't bother figuring he was a little monestaried out by now! In the afternoon we drove on to the town of Shigar which featured yet more stunning scenery and also more road hold-ups, one at a village where we got rather hassled by the local grubby children. This sight unfortunately is a rather common feature here. Many of the native Tibetans simply don't have access to running water, therefore hardly wash and as a consequence look utterly filthy! Shirgar itself, at 4300m above sea level resembled a wild west frontier town and our accomodation was pretty basic although comfortable enough even if the toilets were nothing more than a hole in the ground. This is something we were going to have to get use to for the next few days along with very basic food, although to be fair we were warned when we booked the trip so we had no complaints. We ate dinner in the very rustic hotel restaurant and amused ourselves by watching some locals getting totally plastered. 28th June Everyone was excited that morning as this was the day of travel to Mount Everest, around 100kms and a three or so hours drive from Shirgar. We caught our first glimpse of Everest at a 5000m mountain pass through the clouds and continued to make our way there via bumpy and sometimes non-existant tracks and a couple of checkpoints. We arrived at Rongphu monastery, the worlds highest at 5000m above sea level at midday which is around 8km from base-camp and with an incredible view of it's north face which at the time was bathed in brilliant sunshine. After lunch we made the 8km walk to base camp (where we were due to spend the night) along a gravel track which wasn't terribly steep but because of the altitude not everyone found it easy. Everest had clouded over by the time we arrived and the wind had rather whipped up too. Unfortunately Jo then started to suffer with altitude sickness which got so bad that a decision was taken for Stuart to take her back down to the monastery. She was suffering severe headaches, was shivering uncontrollably and couldn't even think or concentrate on what anybody was saying to her. Things weren't helped by the horse drawn cart taking us down tilting back and hitting the ground with us in it when an Italian couple got off on the front. We were lucky to escape a nasty injury and couldn't believe the driver had the nerve to ask for a tip at the end of the journey when he had nearly killed us! We ended up staying at the monastery guesthouse where Jo improved a little with the help of some advice from our Tibetan guide. She certainly didn't have a comfortable night though and we almost had to get our driver to take us down to another lower altitude town if things didn't improve. It was a worrying time and it shows the dangers of altitude sickness which affects many people at that height and is totally random on who it affects. Fitness and age have little to do with it as it all comes down to your red blood cells and how they absorb oxygen. It was a cold night in the very basic monastery guesthouse and we slept in all our clothes plus gloves and hats and it wasn't easy to sleep as you couldn't get the right ryhthm when breathing because of the lack of oxygen. 29th June Mercifully Jo felt better in the morning and was able to walk around Rongphu in the brilliant morning sunshine and take some superb photo's of Everest. It was dissapointing not to be able to stay at base camp but it would have been dangerous for Jo to stay there and the view from our returning tour group was that the views were no better there anyway so we really didn't miss out that much. After lunch we left this incredible place and drove to the tiny town of Lao Tingri. It was another great drive but we did have a life flash in front of your eyes moment when our driver, going a little too fast down a mountain track nearly overshot a corner and only just managed to break with our front wheels on the edge of a 50ft drop! Lao Tingri was a seriously backward town but with an amazing, unique setting. Our accomodation was once again basic but it was clean enough and we enjoyed watching the local horse racing festival which we were lucky enough to catch as it only occurs once a year. 30th June We left Lao Tingri early and drove on towards the Nepalise border taking in one more spectacular 5000m mountain pass before we started to descend. As we did so the barren scenery dissapeared and was replaced by stunningly lush valleys and waterfalls. We arrived at the border town of Zhangmu at mid-afternoon expecting a half decent town given it's wonderful setting. Instead we found a grubby town and our accomodation was positively filthy, the worst hotel we stayed in during our entire eight month trip and we were dissapointed in our tour company for booking us in there. Relief was found in the Germany v Argentina world cup game later which we watched in an OK local bar. We had a German in our tour group, a real character by the name of Bobby who proved that the Germans can have a sense of humour and who was naturally delighted with the result. 1st July We couldn't wait to get out of filthy Zhangmu but the over officious Chinese border officials did their best to delay us before we walked over frienship bridge said goodbye to our Tibetan drivers and went back into Nepal. The border there was also pretty chaotic although the friendly Nepalise officials, chatting away about the football made a welcome change from the Chinese! We had to carry our bags for a fair distance before meeting our bus which took us on the five hour journey back to Kathmandu taking in some more attractive valleys on the way. We were happy to return to Kathmandu to get some decent accomodation and of course to watch England v Portugal in a packed bar. Stuart and one or two others obviously weren't happy with the result but once it reached penalties it was hardly surprising what happended. Thank you Sven Goran Eriksson, who surely must be the most overpaid excuse for a manager in history. The next day (2nd July) we flew of of Kathmandu to complete an amazing trip. Tibet really is a unique, awesome place and to see Mount Everest alone is a highlight of any trip and despite a certain amount of travel weariness on our part when we arrived we're really glad we did it. We can't say we were exactly looking forward to the basic facilities and food but we were survived them well enough in the end and we loved our time here, helped by a great tour group.