So after a month of mountain fresh air and outdoor adrenaline, we decided to make the jump from Nepal to China... via Tibet. Not the easiest thing to sort ordinarily but if you pay a bit of $ and walk into the right agency in Kathmandu, then the next thing you know you're high on 'the rooftop of the world'. We booked ourselves onto a budget tour which we thought would be another couple in a jeep driving across the plateau to the capital, Lhasa - what we ended up with was a convoy of 36 of us in jeeps driving across the plateau stopping in a line every other second to take photos - so just like a proper tour group. Musn't grumble though as we met some awesome (and equally awful but hilarious) people and had an amazing week.

The trip started with an eventful border crossing. We knew they'd be strict but when Ant was shouted at for standing 10cm too far along the counter, then we realised that we weren't in friendly Nepal anymore. Equally we'd been warned that our bags would be searched and any literature mentioning Tibet or the Dalai Lama would be confiscated (so sadly the 'Seven Years in Tibet' and 'The Art of Happiness' books just purchased in Kathmandu had to be returned...) but we thought our Lonely Planet guide for the whole of China would be welcomed with open arms. Oh no. I showed it to the Border Police with pride when they searched my bag only to have the guy grab it off me. When I asked why, he pointed to the map on the inside cover and the tiny dot of Taiwan. I motioned that I didn't care about the map and that I just needed the rest of the book (and that it was all about China and not Taiwan), but when he firmly put his hands on my wrist and muttered 'arrest arrest', I thought it best that I back away. Power or paranoia? Who knows. Either way, it was very annoying, not just for the fact that we had yet to research any of our forthcoming month in China but because we carried the damn book around for 2 months already. And it's one of the beastly heavy ones.

Moving on, we loaded into the jeeps with the rest of the rabble and started on our LONG drive along the Friendship Highway to Lhasa. Except we didn't move very far for the first 4 hours. Something about roadworks and lots of reversing lorries down narrow streets. Hmmm was this what the rest of the road would be like? Well yes if we'd been in Tibet a few years ago, but in the last year the Chinese government has pumped cash into tarmacing 1000km of the most incredible road. And only the short section next to the border remains unfinished. The rest of it was an amazing piece of engineering which of course was a plus side for our unbruised bottoms but it could equally be viewed as a negative for all those Tibetans who thought that 'China' wouldn't be able to reach them.

And sadly that's exactly what we thought across Tibet. China really has invaded and 'Free Tibet' really is pointless. There is no going back. The cities (Xigatse and Lhasa) are very China-ised with wide tree-lined streets and neon neon neon everywhere, and even worse, they've discovered the power of the $ sign. Everyone was after it - especially the monks in all the monasteries - it was like walking into the Royal Mint seeing them constantly counting money.

But negatives aside - it is possibly the most stunning place we've ever seen. A photographer's dream. Crazy high passes over 5,000m, snow capped peaks, desert sand dunes, bleak permafrost, Mt Everest from the northern side, enormous lakes (some man-made by one of China's favourite pastimes - building dams and flooding vast areas) and generally just wow wow wow at every look. And the Tibetan people are so friendly and so deep rooted in their traditions (clothing, jewellery, religion) that I'm sure they will strive on despite the highways, powerlines and hydro-electro stations.

We got a suitable dose of culture soaking up the Potala Palace, the Panchen Lamas Tashilhumpu Monastery, the Kumben Stupa and Phalkor Monastery and Ant checked out the nightlife with the boyz of the tour group... beer drunk out of shot glasses at 4,000m altitude = not the best idea the next morning. And speaking of mornings, they're very dark in Tibet. The Big Brother that is 'China' decided that the whole of China should be on the same time as Beijing - despite it being a vast country spanning a number of different time zones. So it basically stayed pitch dark until about 9am and it really did feel like the middle of the night (the temperature especially brrrrrr) when we got up each day to clamber into the jeeps (thank goodness for the yak blankets we bought in Kathmandu).

After a few days in Lhasa, we waved goodbye to the majority of the group and boarded a train to embark on a 2-day train ride to China proper. And not just an ordinary train but an oxygen-pumped brand new train linking Tibet with China and the rest of the world. Yeah getting high (only juking mum) - on the highest train in the world. Awesome. Now in China proper. And what an amazing crazy place it is.