Namaste from Kathmandu!

I've safely arrived in Nepal after an awesome road trip with the funniest driver and guide I've ever met! I've seen so many monasteries and temples this week that I'm thoroughly templed out and as such will not be going into too much detail (Phew, I hear you cry!)

A quick run down then, 4 days on the road including what felt like 1 million temples and 2 milllion manasteries (But it wasn't really....) The first day we drove from Lhasa to Gyangste, via one of Tibet's holy lakes, Yam cho lyum tso . It's altitude was around 5000m and it was FREEZING! Very beautiful though. We visited a m onastery along the way and I spent the afternoon wandering around Gyangste which was a small(Ish) town with a gorgeous old market. The next day was Gyangste to Shigatse, via, you guesed it, more monasteries! I sound like I'm taking the mickey but I'm not, they were all so beautiful I don;t want to keep repeating myself! Something interesting (And maybe political...) is that in EVERY single monastery we went to I was told that "It was destroyed during the cultural revolution". Literally EVERY religious relic in Tibet has been reconstructed as the Red Guard destroyed them all in Mao's time. I also learnt that worship of Tibetan Buddhism is strictly controlled, even in tiny villages. The military come round checking, and any if pictures of the present Dalai Lama are on display they are severly punished...Interesting...

The following day I got my first glimpse of Everest, or Qomolangma in Tibetan. WOWOWOWOW. Although I didn't trek it (I didn't have enough time....) it was indescribable. We stayed that night in a guest house in the "Real" Tibet! And it had a "Real" Tibetan toilet too...YUK. There were kids roaming the streets and I was like the Pied Piper with my balloons again! Very beautiful children but it made me a little sad that they have so little. We were practising English together and playing stupid games with the balloons, another highlight for me!

The next day was the main event, Everest Base Camp. Again, I have no words to describe it, I was actally speechless...for once. I went a bit nutty with my camera but none of the pics do it justice! Once again, the Military Prescence was a little disconcerting. A few years ago, 4 Americans flew a ":Free Tibet" sign, and since then, the Military are in serious control of the area!

We stayed in a tent that night in perfect view of Everest with a woman who I will always remember as my Tibetan mum! Her name was Singra and she was AWESOME. Many places in Tibet are really dirty, and people battle against the cold and harsh conditions but this woman was amazing. The tent (Where we slept, it was so cute) was the cleanest place I've ever seen, she was constantly mopping and wiping down the cooking areas and kept trying to feed me up! (Which needed very little encouragement I migh add) All the tents i the area were complete with Kitchen, radio and soft seats to sleep on, it was like camping for wusses! Very cold at night but Singra wrapped me up and lit a fire so it was very cosy until the morning!

From EBC we drove for ages over VERY rocky terrain towards the Nepalese border. Another overnight (By now my 3rd day without a shower....) and a very early start brought me to my final Tibetan stop of Nylam . Finally got a shower andwandered happily around this tiny little border town for a few hours before an early night and a border corssing to Nepal today!

So thats it, Tibet has been truely amazing. Without a doubt one of the highlights of my whole year. And don't tell the Chinese but they suck for what they're doing to the Tibetan Culture! The driver hated the Chinese and I spotted him shouting out of the window to a fair few during the trip...

Nepal so far has been really nice,the scenery from Kodari to Kathmandu was stunning and the food is GOOD! Unfortunately I've not got long as I'm heading to India tomorrow (The job in China cut down on lots of time for me!) but I've already decided I'm going to return here for a proper holiday in a year or two.

Anyway, sorry if I've bored you with this blog, I'm hot and tired, and not feeling to inspired for blogging!

Hope you're all well,

Sel

xx