Day 3 - Sept 27th Kangding- 康定. We take the "environment-friendly" coach bus 
crawling up the sharp valley gorge reaching 3,000m at the gondola station going up to 5,000 on top of the glacier and close to the glacial fall of Gongga. Luck is with us as the sky clears up in the morning after a night's rainfall; it is said one needs luck to see the peak of Gongga. Only drawback is there are tons of tourists. Note: Our original plan was to go to Yanzhigou-燕子沟 which is the backside of Gongga, but the road which required a 2-hour horse ride was closed off.
After finishing at 3 pm, we leave Gongga for Kangding康定which is 40km away. Kangding is the most prosperous town of Khampa (Kham is "Kang" in Tibetan; the Tibetans there are known as Khampa), famous from the popular love-song, The Love Song of Kangding 康定情歌 and beautiful Tibetan women.
We are famished since we had skipped lunch. We find a "hole-in-the-wall" Sichuan restaurant, and have a good, simple meal—plus a group of nurses from Guangzhou whom Paul enthusiastically displayed his social skill as Laoxiang老乡. The nurses have bought a preserved wild pig from a village and most graciously share some with usJ.
Day 4 - Sept 28th. Daocheng 稻城We've to wake up at 4 am to reach a checkpoint 
before the road closes off at 6 am for roadwork. It is a 500 km ride to Daocheng 稻城 taking us 15 hours arriving at 7pm. We are all exhausted; Frank and Teresa, the youngest couple among us old folks, suffer car sick—especially Teresa who also suffer from high-mountain sickness. Then Joel developed some stomach trouble. I am worried sick for having to stay behind to take care of themL. After taking Diamox, she feels much better the next day—thank god!
After that day, we get used to peeing off the highway while the ladies sought shelter behind bushesJ.
Day 5 - Sept 29th Yading 亚丁. It is a short ride (2 hours) up winding roads 
to Yading 亚丁, a national park featuring 3 snowcapped peaks of 6,000+m. When the vista of the snowcapped peak open up in front of our eyes in the deep blue sky, we're elated, feeling lucky and well-rewarded.
The park is well maintained. A horse ride of 20 minutes then a walk of 30 minutes takes us to the upper valley at the foot of the snowcapped mountains. We first walked up to a small monastery, then a long gentle climb to a small glacial lake at the foot of the pe
ak—most rew
arding. Then as the rain clouds closes in at about 3pm, an electric car takes us further into the valley reaching a yak pasture where the other two snowcapped peaks appear shrouded in rainclouds. Temperature drops sharply as light rain drizzles upon us. Fortunately, Teresa recovers to enjoy the day of hikingJ.
The night is spent back at Daocheng, after a most satisfying meal of hotpot made of chicken with wild pine mushrooms.
Day 6 —
Sept 30 Batang 巴塘. It is another day of long ride of 400km across the high plateau of southern Ganzi 甘孜—as this part of Sichuan is known. At 4,000m, the scenery changed drastically—vast expanse of pasture wetland crisscrossed with rivers and streams, dotted with yaks and nomadic Tibetans, dry rock mountains with snow mountains at the far distance, low-hanging clouds when one feels one almost can touch the sky. After passing couple of 4,700 mountain passes, we descend onto Batang, a relatively affluent town close by Jinshajiang 金沙江 that separates Sichuan from Tibet.
Day 7 — Oct 1 Zuogong左贡. Again we wake up at 4 am to cross the checkpoint 
into Tibet over the Jinsha river bridge. The road conditions abruptly change—unpaved road with narrow sharp turns. The road becomes worst as we climb the "99 SharpTurns" 
up the mountain pass, then go along Lancangjiang 澜沧江 with vertical cliffs cut from rock on the inside and drop of 100+ meters down the river gorge on the outside. We've to wait two hours to cross a single-lane suspension bridge where only one truck t a time is allowed; we see the bridge bending by the weight of the truck at its mid-section. At some points when a big truck approaches from the opposite direction, we've to back off with the hanging cliff only inches away. We're most fortunately to have three skilled Tibetan drivers, and powerful 4,500 cc 4WD SUVs. From 4,000m, we quickly drop to 2,500m—terrain, vegetation changing abruptly.
It was PRC's 60th anniversary when there is the big military parade in Beijing. We watched reruns in the evening—anxiously watching the pretty PLA woman soldiers in short skirts with uplifting chests pointing skywardJ.
Day 8 Oct 3 — Ranwu Lake 然乌. We then drive past the blue-water 
Nujiang 怒江 which flows out of Nianqing TanggulaShan 念青唐古拉山 that runs northwest-to-southeast of Tibet—thus, Tibet is separated from Sichuan by three parallel-running rivers. We arrived at the two glacial lakes of Ranwu. The water level of the glacial lakes has receded due to drop of snowfall.
It is the eve of Mid-Autumn Festival when the full moon hangs high over the calm lake water.
Day 9 Oct 4 — Linzhi 林芝. On our way, we visit 
Midui Glacier 米堆冰川, a gentle hike going over pastures, villages and hills. Paul
befriended a couple of Guangzhou girls who walk along with us, chatting happily—to all of our envy. We stop at Bomi 波密 for a sumptuous hot pot meal cooked in a rock pot which is unique to this area, offering remedial medical properties. Before reaching the town of Linzhi, we stop by the Cypress Park which claims to have the largest cypress trees.
Linzhi is at the lowest elevation point of our trip, at 2,600m. The vegetation is 
lush and almost sub-tropical. This is also part of the Yarlung-Zangpo 亚砻藏布river gorge area where several rivers merge running into the deepest river gorge in the world—accessible only by a 5-day hike.
Day 10 Oct 5 — Lhasa 拉萨. Driving up the clear blue water of Niyang River 尼洋河, we cross the 5,300m Mila mountain pass米拉山口to reach Basumcuo Lake 巴松错湖, the milky-blue alpine lake, 
the highest in Tibet. Then we descended to Lhasa that ended our 10-day SUV tour.
Most memorable on our way are the pilgrims; one man has spent 8 months with 3 more months to go fully stretching out on the road travelling alone supported by his wife trailing behind with food and provisions. There are other several groups of pilgrims of young men and women as it is after the autumn harvest when pilgrims all over Tibet flock to Lhasa. We share with them some food and water. In the old days, it would take up to 3 years going over high mountains to reach Lhasa—a journey a Buddhist devotee must take at least once in one's life time.
Day 11-14. Oct 6 — 9 Lhasa. Other than the usual tour spots of Potala, monasteries of Jokhang Drepung and Sera, Lhasa Museum, and the summer palace, it is most rewarding we make "friends" with some local Tibetans at Barkhor, the old city around Jokhang Temple—Lobsang Jigme whom I befriend in a previous visit, a restaurant serving yak steak with young Tibetan waitresses that were most cheerful, friendly and "innocent", a gift shop run by a young woman from Hunan who graciously host a dinner for us, a coffee house serving excellent cappuccino, a café run by a Hong Kong young man who cycled to Lhasa and decided to stay on ...
We're extremely lucky to be invited to a private museum where hundreds of Tibetan antiques and relics are displayed—and a nice Tibetan lunch in a tent on the rooftop hosted by the friendly Tibetan staff. Note: I will be visiting with the owner of the private museum in Beijing who is devoted to the preservation of Tibetan culture and arts, and also active in environmental protection of Kekexili and the headwaters of the Three Rivers (Yellow River, Yangtse River and Lancangjiang/Mekong.) in upper Tibet to see if I can be of any help.
At the end of out tour, the rest of the "Gang" take the train going over the high plateau of Kekexili to their respective destinations; I fly as I've taken the train several times before.
Epilogue. It is an exhaustive trip of 16 days. The varying sceneries are incomparably
spectacular, and the experience most rewarding as we all agree. Most enjoyable is the good company when we learn to respect and enjoy each other's varying personalities—and idiosyncrasies. Then it is the people that we befriended gaining a first glimpse of life in Tibet.
CKH: 2009/11/4
Thoughts from a Recent Tour of Tibet ~ By NKL
I had hoped to piece something together at the outset of our trip. That's why throughout the fortnight I took notes diligently. But after returning to Shanghai, one thing led to another I never was able to really sit down and put my thoughts together. I had wanted to write something like what Joel and Cyrus have written. But somehow a descriptive journal like theirs was not adequate to me this time. I felt troubled, yet did not know what it was.
I cannot explain my thoughts in words. At times like this language is inadequate. I will try nevertheless.
Perhaps it is that sumptuous deep blue sky, the high altitude, the thin crispy air, the majestic snow-capped mountains so mysterious yet imposing with awe, the little running creeks, the rapids along the roads with such pure and clear water, the perfectly calm and peaceful yaks roaming the fields, the vast openness that stretches for miles, the colorful prayer papers that hang everywhere in trees, along railings, on bridges..., the walled-in monasteries with their monks in yellow or crimson robes, the sun-tanned and winkled faces of Tibetan men and women, the young and dedicated pilgrims on the highways who give months of their lives to prostrate their way to Lhasa.... I don't know what it is or is it the combination of all of the factors above, I was and still am, mesmerized by what I saw and came into contact in the fourteen days of our trip from Chengdu to Lhasa. The further west we went I seemed to become more fascinated.
At the end of visiting the Tibet Museum I quietly bought at the museum shop the cheapest prayer bead---said to have been "blessed" by a Buddhist priest 开光. Except for when I am asleep or taking a shower I have had it on my left wrist ever since. I resisted purchasing it in 2006 when I first visited the museum. But not any more. I suppose it will be on my wrist to my dying day. Why? I cannot explain. I hope someday I can.
Won't it be nice that one day I can just return to that vast openness, to the green mountains, blue skies and clear waters and forget it all about politics, credit cards, income taxes, my this, our that....
Nature, from hence we came, that's where we will return. The earlier I can return, the happier I shall be. Time will tell.
At home in Charlotte.
November 5, 2009
Day 0 — Sept 24. 
since mysteriously disappeared. This is an amazing collection of 
bronze-age 1,000-2000 BCE relics—a 
the highest mountain of Sichuan of 7,500m. Stopping for lunch and briefly at Luding 
