Kathmandu to Lhasa Overland
May 7th 2008 04:57
Rocky Road all the way!!!
More like Rocky Road!!!
I daresay if I had not found myself by this stage I was never going to.
No, my trip was about curiosity of a beautiful landscape of people, of a culture , of artistry in everything around , an adventure of many dimensions, and yes to the beauty of Tibetan Buddhism .
It was not to be a long trip as there were many restrictions by the Chinese government of how and when and why one wanted to enter Tibet.
As some of you may know Tibet was only opened to tourism in 1985 and "foreigners" like myself could enter in 1986.
Until the mid 1980's Tibet had no western influences allowed , making the cuture unique , and the religion developed independently.There are many unique statues, thangkas and religious books that have never been seen outside Tibet.
My journey was to take 11 long ,hard days but magical in every sense of the word. It actually began with my arrival in Kathmandu Nepal in the August of 1999.
What a magnificent bustling fascinating place I had landed in. It was also very warm and muggy. Had I expected what I saw , first hand , yes and no , I had expected it to be a little neater and cleaner but it was wonderful in many different ways , the shop keepers , the spices , the jewellery , fabrics ,the unusual signs , the general friendliness of everyone ,the alleyways and the general vibrance of the place.
There was though a feeling of unsettled ease also about the place which was to do with many of the people . Obviously a lot of poverty also loomed and this could also be seen clearly.
Here in Kathmandu my partner and I joined up with a group of Italians ,Americans and another Australian. We had not realised that the group would be so large 13 of us all up.
Meeting new people to journey with on this epic trip would also be interesting.
We were all given very clear instructions of how we would travel and what the rules and regulations were of the Chinese government once we entered Tibet.
Everyone in the group was given a number as we were numbered in the Visa to Tibet this number and one document as a group was all we had for entry . This was the only way we could enter Tibet.
None of our passports were issued with separate Visas, so really inside Tibet unless with the group we could not really venture anywhere other than the designated trip we were on. So our trip into Tibet was totally controlled , nevertheless we were all going to Tibet.
This is a tight squeeze!
I will continue my adventure to Tibet in my next post so do come back and read more. A beautiful journey into a magical place in my eyes any way!
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