Ending Tibet

Finally the trip to Tibet is ending. It is kinda sad. There were a lot of good memories though. Heading back to Guangzhou for a break and deciding what to do for the remaining part of the trip. The train to Guangzhou takes 56 hours... Another 3 days in the train. Prepared all my cup noodles and stuff already!

Trip West Tibet - Guge Kingdom

The lost civilisation. Nobody knows what happened to the Kingdom's demised. The whole place is so mystical and hauntingly beautiful. One thing I like about travelling in Tibet is that the place of interest is not bustling with people. We spent a whole day at this place called Guge Kingdom exploring the whole ruins and we saw no more than 5 tourists. That is so cool. The whole place was ours to explore and have fun with.

Trip West Tibet - Toilet

There is one thing in the travelling part that take some getting used to. That is the hygiene part. The toilet is one of the most disgusting part of the whole journey. Witness it yourself.....

Trip West Tibet - Mt Kailash Day 2

We aspire to finish the trekking by today. However, some of the team members are having some problems already. That includes me. Didn't sleep well in the night. Day 1 was too taxing that some of us are having difficulties relaxing.

We woke up at 7 am in the morning to take breakfast. Ollie was having difficulties taking in food. We were all pretty worried and we thought that we were pushing ourselves too hard in unfamilar terrains. Anyway, we sticked on to our plans and pushed on. The first trek in the morning is the hardest of the whole trek. It has 3 steep climb that will take us about 600 metres up to the highest point of the whole trek.

Frankly, I thought I might not be able to pull it through this time. Each step burns my lungs as the air was freezing cold and it was very thin. Breathing was becoming an effort. Each breath burns the throat and the lungs. I was panting as though I just ran 10 km. At one point of time, something happened. Part of me went deep down and pulled out something which I never thought I have. A silent voice ringing telling me to relax and take one step at a time. It is not about completing the journey, it is about taking things one step firmly and having faith that the next step will come. The strange calming feeling gave me the desire to carry on bit by bit.

When we finally cleared to the top, the deepest feeling I had was surprisingly, peaceful. The rest of the journey became easier after the hardest climb up. We managed to finish the trek on the second day and that was a big news back in the guest house that we stayed because we finished the trek carrying our own backpacks, without a guide and did it in 2 days. We were given heroes treatment back in the room... Definately feels good.

Trip West Tibet - Mt Kailash Day 1

Tashi Delek Let's Go! Day 1. We are ready to challenge and clear our sins. I have a lot of it to clear so I reckon I better start early. Anyway, we have to walk about 23 km today to reach the monastery and rest. So, we started at 8 a.m. and after discussing, we decide not to have any porters to bring our bags and that each of us will carry our ration and water. So with an addition of about 10 kg, started off.



Our spirits were high and by noon, our spirits are dying. It was a really tough trek. The thin air makes breathing difficult and each of us were just taking one step at a time. At least the weather is holding up. However, we loved the challenge. I can see that everyone is taking this trek as a personal challenge and we agreed that if we are to truely washed away our sins, some pain might be necessary.



After loads of ups and downs and terrible pain in the legs and chest, we finally meet up with Kailash at the monastery. Beautiful isn't it? Although the sun was still shining, it was already 7 pm......

Trip West Tibet - Mt Kailash Day 0

This is the toughest part of the trip. We are doing a kora (Walk one round around the mountain) around Mt Kailash, the sacred mountain of the Tibetans and the Hindus. They believed that one round around Kailash will washed away one lifetime of sins. The total distance measured is about 57 kilometre of walking and the highest altitude reached will be 5630 km above sea level. We planned to complete the journey in 2 days. I was actually worried. Without doing anything, my pulse was already beating like a horse, I wonder what will happen if I start to strain myself. Anyway, it is a trip that I have to make nonetheless. I would never back down from a challenging task. Anyway, we rested at the base for a night before moving onwards to climb it. The bad news we had was that it has been snowing for a few days on the top and now the place is covered with ice and snow.

Trip West Tibet - Our Land Cruiser

Our Land Cruiser is one of the worst and best thing that happened to us in this trip. It broke down more than 9 times (I seriously lost count) with engine problems, burst tyres etc. You name it we have it. It is also one of the slowest four wheel drive ever. Reason, it has been operating for 18 years already. Well, we did get the vehicle and the trip at an extremely cheap price......

Although it is a problematic vehicle, it helped the 5 of us to bond together. Every night we have to hold a conference meeting to discuss about the vehicle and the contingency plans. It also brought out a lot of laughter as we saw buses travelling faster than us on the bumpy roads. Frustrating and at the same time, it taught us not to take things too seriously. We don't always get what we want but we can always change the way we react to what we have. Anyway, we make the best out of it by taking loads of pictures when the vehicle broke down.

Trip West Tibet - Our Team Members

We are a great team. The members never complained and whenever there is a problem, we solved it. We shared food and accommodate each other. Whenever we are ready to move on, we will shout our slogan "Tashi Delek, Let's Go!" (Tashi Delek is good fortune in Tibet)

Top left we have Ollie (Belgium), me in the middle (Singapore), Takashi at the top right (Japan), Marcel at the bottom left (Switzerland) and Jum (Japan) bottom right.

Mount Everest

Trip West Tibet - Mt Everest

I never expect that I will have a chance to see Everest at the close up. We were so excited when we reached the base of Everest. Seeing her from this distance is already pumping up my adrenaline. It is so exciting. The temperature was really chilling though. It was about 6 - 7 degree in the afternoon, can't imagine what it will be like in the night. At this altitude, I am already feeling the lack of air and the chill. Checked my heartbeat and it was around 180 beats per minute without me exerting myself. It is kinda worrying. Anyway, me and Ollie did a toast to our friendship and to Everest before climbing to the Base Camp 1 for a closer look the next day.

Mt Everest...what more to say...

The climb up took about an hour. Although it is only a 4 kilometre climb, the altitude and the lack of air makes the climb very difficult. The air was so cold in the wee hours that my hand felt like it was burning whenever I took off my gloves to take a picture. It is all worth it though!

Trip West Tibet - Tibetans

The people of Tibet, the Tibetans, are very pious people. They worship their religion with a kind of persistence and single minded devotion that makes me respect them deeply. It is a devotion that they willing commit and sacrifice themselves whole hearted into daily. It's really amazing just to see how they pray and devote themselves every morning.

Also, like everywhere, there will be beggars and seeing children begging on the streets is a heart wrenching feeling.

Trip West Tibet - Monastary

We visited some monastary as a start of the trip. There are a lot of these prayer wheels around the monastary and the tibetans are very pious in their prayers. They will walk rounds and rounds turning the wheels in the clockwise direction. They will wake up early in the morning and start their prayers and turning the wheels for the whole morning. Really a sight to see when there are these whole load of people turning the wheels and some of them will kneel and lay their body down on the floor as a form of prayer.




The monastaries that we visited have all these beautiful carvings and golden bells that are built on top of them. Against the blue sky and the golden sun, the gold inlaids and the carvings glistered and shine. A sight to behold. The whole place exudes an air of holy mystic.

Beginning of 17 days

We were ready to set off on the 21 April for our trip to West Tibet. The itinerary will bring us to some major places:

1. Temple of Enlightenment
2. Mt Everest
3. Kora at Mt Kailash (Trekking time)
4. Lake Mansarovar
5. Guge Kingdom
and many other spots.

Very very very excited!

Namutso Lake

There was a delay in the approval of the official documents. I went down to the police station to talk to the chief and after explaining my background, he approved it finally! We are so ready to go to the West of Tibet. However, due to the dlay, we have to make arrangements to set of a few days later. So Ollie (my good friend from Belguim) and I decide to take a look at one of the lengendary holy lake near Lhasa, known as Namusto Lake, 娜木措.

Had a bad incident alone the way. We were extorted some money by the local tibetan kids when we were taking photos. They insisted that we took photos of their holy symbol (a goat head lying on the floor) so we have to pay them 60 yuan. That is about 12 dollars and they were really firece. We had to pay up because they blocked the vehicle and barged into the van and nearly fought with us. The driver paid up and we had to return the driver the money. So it goes to show that there are always good and bad people around. Just have to be careful.

Anyway, Namutso Lake is really beautiful. i think the picture speaks louder......than words.

Before Setting of, Potala Palace

Before setting off for our planned trip, I went to take a look at Potala Palace. It is a palace and a temple built together on the top of a hill. Majestic and proud, it stood as the tallest building in the whole of Lhasa. I went alone and had to take a whole afternoon climbing up to the palace. Anyway, walking in Lhasa is heavy duty work. The altitude is high up, 3700 above sea level. Therefore, the air is thin and cold. Walking up a flight of stairs is like sprinting a 100metres. I was panting all the while when touring the palace.

Stay on to look at the Potala Palcae in the night and it gave a very different feel as compared to the day. Mysterious and grand at the same time.

Gathering of Friends

Met up with a friend that I got to know in Chengdu. Together with a few others, we planned a 17 days trip around the west of Tibet. There will be trekking and I get to see Mt Everest! Wonderful. We planned to move out in a few days time as we prepare resources like sleeping bags, food, water and other necessities while waiting for the Government's permit.



It is really like a dream come true to trek in icy cold places and to get to see Everest. How many people actually get to do that in their lifetime.



After all the bustling around, a few of us went for beer with some of the other traveller that we met.

Lhasa, Tibet

The train took 48 hours to reach Lhasa, the main town of Tibet. It was a wonderful journey. I have never seen so much change in the landscape within 2 days. Sunny at once, then it was snowing and the there were ice and glacier. It was such a wonderful feast for the eyes.

Reaching Lhasa was a totally new experience. They sights and sound and people filled me up. Entering the whole place is like entering a new realm. A place of fantasy with people carrying knife on their waist and dressed in all sorts of tribal dressing mixed with people in suits and business wear. Shops abound with Tibetans selling their wares. I settled down in one of the guest house and rested. The weather was extremely cold at about 7 - 8 degree in the night and just looking up, I see mountains covered with snow surrounding the whole village. From far is the famous Potala Palace, home of the Dalai Lama. I can't wait to explore Tibet.

Around Chengdu and preparing for Tibet

Went to a few touristic places while I am at Chengdu. The travelling time in China is really long. Unlike South East Asia, travelling in one province in China is like travelling the whole of Vietnam. Went to see the Leshan Buddha and a few other places. Tourists abound. However, my focus is not in Chengdu. My final destination is in Tibet, the sacred lands. I have heard so much about it that I want to take a look.

Went to check out about the train tickets but there was a long queue and the people there have been queuing for one night already. Further checking demoralised me as I found out that the train to Lhasa, Tibet is one of the hardest ticket to buy and that there are a lot of people profiting from the sales so they are buying many tickets at one go and reselling them at a higher price. Having no choice, I went to the locals and asked for a black market ticket going at 20% more than the normal price and finally got myself a place in the train to Tibet.

Sichuan, Chengdu

Took a train to Chengdu, Sichuan province. Made a mistake. I bought a train ticket from Guanzhou to Chengdu thinking that I will reached there in a day. So I bought the seater and the trip took 3 days and 2 nights with me seating throughout. My butt doesn't feel like a butt and my back doesn't feel like a back after the 3 days. More surprisingly so, there are local Chinese that were standing and sleeping on the floor for 3 days! Crazy!

Met a lot of people on the train in the 3 days. Well, 3 days can make you a lot of friends if all your friends are trapped in a confined area. So we talked about anything under the sky and got to know China a little bit better.

A visit to Hongkong from Shenzhen

Went to Shenzhen to meet up with an old friend from the Army. We were the trainers in OCS and had a great time then. His name is Terrence and he is in Shenzhen, China working.

He offered me his place to stay while I am there and also he played the excellent host and brought me to places. Since Shenzhen is just next to Hongkong, he also brought me there to take a look at the place. Went to the 星光大道to take a look and posed with my favourite actor Bruce Lee.

Hong Kong is a shopper's paradise! Lots of things to buy and lots of delicious food. The only complain, it is a very expensive country. Just like Singapore.