Tibet is a strange mixture – a land on the roof of the world, unlike any other place we’ve seen, yet with the trappings of modern China seeping in all the time. Impressions that stick with me…
- The scent of yak butter candles in dark monasteries, with worshippers jostling to donate money to their preferred deities and lamas, all of them staring down at us with placid golden faces
- The thin mountain air making breathing hard, with an impossibly blue sky and a huge raven perched above Ralung monastery
- Driving along through an endless barren moonscape, then finding a village with locals busy threshing barley and herding animals (usually along the road)
- Wide, modern streets with shiny motorbikes for sale next to filthy tea-shops, roadside butchers and pavement pool tables, locals hawking and spitting as they go about their business
Related Images:
I think that stall selling ‘colourful hairpieces’ is actually selling threads for weaving… probably yak hair or something. 😉
Very colourful yak hair then! Wow… Tibet already feels like a long time ago. The last two-and-a-bit weeks have been our most tiring yet.