Today was our first day outside of a city.  We’ve been in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Lhasa.  We left Lhasa this morning in our Land Cruiser and headed Southwest toward Nepal for 5+ hours.  The driving is just like that of any developing country which is both nerve racking and exhilarating.  It seems there are hundreds of other Land Cruisers on the road just like ours, but one such one didn’t fare so well.  The photo on the right is luckily not us, but a single vehicle accident we passed just outside of Lhasa.  Our vehicle and driver seem well equipped for the journey, although we are missing one thing: seat belts.  Us Yanks don’t do too well without our belts, but we are already getting used to it.  Ty keeps grabbing for his every time we get in the car which is fun to watch.

So what did we see?  Traffic for the first hour, until we passed the turn off to the airport, followed by some small sand dunes, then some bigger mountains, and then a very steep, windy and yak-filled (and beautiful) climb from 3700 meters to 4900 meters.  It only took about 40 minutes for this.  At around 4700 meters there was an enormous lake and many small farm villages, which was amazing.  The next pass was the highlight of the day, measuring over 5100 meters and filled with stunning glaciers (the picture of me is from there).  The rest was filled with small villages, temples, and wide-open scenery in the raw.  This is what I had been waiting for.

We amazingly have internet access here in Shigatse, and might tomorrow, but after than we will be absent for a few days (sleeping in tents).  With luck, we will drop another post tomorrow from the road. 

Best to everyone…