11. 12 Sept to 3 Oct 2011 -Tibet, China.

The 5231 metre Tanggula Pass was a fitting welcome into Tibet - high altitude is a constant companion, the Tibetan plateau having an average altitude of 4000 metres. In Kyrgyzstan our Song Kul excursion seemed monstrously high at 3000 metres. With the dizzy heights of many mountain passes in Tibet, and at least five campsites at altitudes of over 4000 metres where it was common to wake up short of breath, 3000 metres became child's play. We were told our bodies would slowly adjust, which they probably did, though it often didn't feel like it. But Ping had supplied us with four aerosol canisters of oxygen per vehicle, and it wasn't long before we were no longer shy about using them.

Our first Tibetan town was Amdo at 4667 metres. It seemed a culture shock both for us and the local people. We were all fascinated with each other. While we were parked in the street waiting for Ping to negotiate a hotel car park for us where we could camp, they gathered round our vehicle, staring unashamedly at us, faces to the windows after we realised if the windows were down their heads were in the cabin with us. They seemed fascinated with the contents of the cabin, including us, and possibly with the steering wheel on the wrong side, but the fascination was mutual. Akubra-type hats were worn by both men and women, so Brian could have blended quite well from the forehead up. But the men wore long coats with sleeves hanging a metre or two below their hands and, depending on their body temperature at the time, their coats were often hanging off one shoulder. Apparently the unused sleeve serves brilliantly as a pillow. Other men wore bright red braids of wool wound around their jet black (or greying) hair. The women were wearing long heavy skirts to the ground, three quarters covered by striped aprons, and if not wearing hats, their hair decorated with turquoise and other dangling ornaments. Masks over faces were common, whether for the cold, dust or fumes who knows, and many women wore headscarves across their faces. The people seem to have a very ruddy, sun scorched complexion, even the children.

The activity in the town was quite chaotic, the streets lined with such interesting shops and restaurants, people bustling about, dogs roaming everywhere, cars and highly decorated motor bikes careering down the streets, and the motor bikes even had loud, blaring sound systems, which we hadn't ever encountered before, all adding to the general mayhem. But it was so interesting and exciting and different - here we were in Tibet, though of course according to Ping, still in China!

After setting up camp, four of us had a great Tibetan meal in an upstairs restaurant with highly decorated walls and ceilings, which seems to be the Tibetan way. Everyone in the restaurant was smiling and friendly, and because we were without Ping, one customer phoned an English-speaking friend who spoke to Ann and then to the owner conveying what we wanted to eat. Our meal was a Tibetan dish called 'shemdre' which is yak meat, rice and potato. We tried sweet tea and yak butter tea which is made from yak butter mixed with salt, milk, soda, tea leaves and hot water. Interesting! Some of us were trying to stay alcohol-free to better handle the altitude, but others of us had to try just one glass of Tibetan beer, Lhasa Beer, which has low alcohol content but which we all eventually discovered, tastes pretty good.

We had another interesting Tibetan meal at our next night stop, Na Qu (Nagchu), at 4513 metres. The restaurants have very low tables and low benches decorated with colourful rugs or fabric. Some of us had Chinese Herbal Tea available in red cans, or sweet tea but of course others of us couldn't resist the low alcohol Lhasa Beer. Once again we ordered yak, this time a traditional Tibetan dish of yak joints, tasty but tough, and we tried 'tsampa', a dough made with roasted barley flour and yak butter, and mixed with water, beer or tea. It tastes quite sweet and is like rolled up biscuit dough. It is a Tibetan staple, and on the outskirts of Lhasa, we saw the barley harvest in progress, by hand. Slashed barley can be seen drying on platforms or on huge stands all over Tibet.

And one of our favourite meals in Tibet was our lunch in Lulang, famous for its Stone Pot Chicken. They serve the soup hot and bubbling in a stone pot on a gas burner in the middle of the table, with cabbage leaves, spinach and tofu on plates to be added if and whenever you please. The soup was delicious even without any additions, and had a whole chicken cooked through it in pieces. We didn't fight Ping for the two chicken feet or the comb etc. - of course only because they were her very favourite bits.

Buddhism embraces everyday life with prayer flags, strung up to purify the air and pacify the gods. They can be found on mountain passes, bridges, houses, road barriers, flapping down mountain sides or across deep ravines, or just from tree to tree, in fact anywhere at all. If Australia is held together with wire, as some say in the bush, Tibet is held together by 'tarchoks' or strings of prayer flags.

Monks dressed in their maroon robes, many of whom are students of Tibetan Buddhism, can regularly be encountered along the road, prostrating flat on the ground every few metres, their hands slipped into wooden boards to protect them as they slide them along the ground. They are usually in groups of 4 or 5, with a 'support' motor bike wagon or a manually pulled cart, covered in prayer flags following or leading, and there to provide sustenance on the journey. Many of them are heading for Lhasa and the Jokhang Temple, the most sacred and one of the most ancient of Tibet's temples.

Prayer wheels, carried by pilgrims visiting monasteries and temples, are spun around rhythmically as they walk, while reciting a 'mani' or prayer, such as 'om mani padme hum' meaning 'hail to the jewel in the lotus'. Free standing gold-coloured prayer wheels are spun by the pilgrims in temples, always clockwise, and others stand two metres or more high, and colourfully decorated. We also saw quite a few water prayer wheels, constantly turned by the current of a small stream rushing down a mountain, and we wondered if the cylindrical shapes below wind vanes on rooves may also be wind prayer wheels. And in taxis and cars, a little gold prayer wheel sits on the dashboard constantly turning.

Chortens, the Tibetan word for stupas, signify the cremated remains of important lamas, and punctuate the landscape frequently. We have seen 'mani' tablets and 'mani' stones engraved with prayers, as well as 'mani' walls. White prayer scarves or 'kathaks' can be seen in all sorts of places in temples, and they are used as a ritual offering or as a gift. The evidence of Buddhism is everywhere, and the depth of faith astounding.

From Amdo to Lhasa was bare open plateau, covered by what looked like peat moss, apparently appetising for yaks, though many are not true yaks, but rather 'dzo', a domesticated cattle/yak cross. After leaving Na Qu we came across an overturned Toyota Landcruiser Wagon. No one was injured but Clive's truck was able to pull the vehicle over and back on to the road. The driver was very grateful, as was the suited gentleman who hadn't been off his mobile since we arrived. But amazingly, the driver hopped in and started the car with a lot of smoke and revving, and then they hopped in and with a wave drove away. That's Toyota Landcruiser for you!!!

On our way to Lhasa we had two nights camped at Namtso, which in Tibetan means 'heavenly lake'. With an altitude of 4718 metres, it is claimed to be the highest lake in the world. Once again we were able to watch the comings and goings of semi-nomadic herders, and in Tibet they are known as 'dropkas'. There are apparently two million of them across the Tibetan Plateau. They live in tents made from yak hair, and they have mainly yaks, but also sheep and cattle.

Ping found us a great hotel car park right in the middle of Lhasa, though we did stay in the hotel for a couple of nights to re-group. We visited the 1300-year old Jokhang Temple, beautifully decorated with Buddhas, silk brocades and other colourful wall hangings. We walked clockwise with the pilgrims spinning their prayer wheels and chanting prayers as they followed the Barkhor, or kora, (pilgrim circuit) around the temple, and watched the devout prostrating outside, perhaps having travelled very far. We mixed with the crowds milling around the stalls in Jokhang Square selling pilgrim accessories and souvenirs.

Ping also arranged a visit to the Potala, built in the 7th Century, a huge structure, which dominates a hill overlooking the city. Unlike the Jokhang which is a working monastery and hums with activity, the Potala used to house the Dalai Lama and his government, but is now more of a museum and tourist attraction. It is full of Buddhist treasures collected and housed over the centuries. The Sangkhung Nunnery was another interesting visit that day.

And it was in Lhasa that Ping found us our first 'shower shop', designed for locals who have no shower at home, or for tourists who are camped in a hotel car park and feel uncomfortable about putting up their shower tent. There is a shopfront, with products for sale that a person might need for a shower, and perhaps mirrors and hairdryers etc., and hidden behind is a rabbit warren of shower rooms, always with plenty of hot water, and although rough, wonderfully clean. They cost 7 to 10 yuan each, about $1.00 to $1.50. We are now shower shop connoisseurs!

The scenery from Lhasa heading east was stunning with raging swirling rivers and steep, often sheer, rocky banks winding through breathtakingly beautiful mountains. There were mountains so high we had to crick our necks to see the skyline through the windscreen. 'The roof of the world' proved to be just that.

Some mountains were rugged and barren reflecting such a variation of colours at different times of the day, and revealing their dramatic geological history. Yet other mountains were covered with green sub-tropical forest and low lying cloud or mist - cloud forest as it can be called - interspersed with the yellow leaves of autumn. Apparently many of the rhododendrons and azaleas found in the West descend from samples taken from Eastern Tibet. And finally more mountains covered with low shrubs, struggling to survive the terrain. We drove across six mountain passes between 4000 and 5000 metres, and one at 5010, and at times the roads were narrow, unsealed and muddy with a high chance of meeting oncoming trucks. And there was a section prone to landslides, with teams clearing the roads as we drove through. But at other times the roads were magnificent, with awe inspiring Chinese engineering, and constructed across the most challenging of landscapes.

Except for in Lhasa, the only tourists we saw were Chinese, many of them cycling. They were often very excited to see us and always very friendly, often wanting to have their photo taken with us, and one even wanted a photo of himself seated at the steering wheel of our vehicle.

And now we are to enter Sichuan Province followed by Yunnan Province, for the last part of our journey through China.