Any Travels

With an average elevation of over 4,000 m, Tibet is considered to be the highest region in the world and is often called the "Roof of the World." This comes as no surprise, especially since southern Tibet is located in the Himalayas, which contains many of the world's highest summits. In addition to it's incredible heights, Tibet is also one of the most isolated areas on earth, with most of the people living in elevations ranging from 1200 m to 5100 m. One of the most famous peaks found in Tibet is Mount Everest (8848 m), the highest mountain in the world.

Tibet with it's mountains is the source and dividing line of the Asian continent's major rivers, with the Brahmaputra being the most important. Many of the rivers in Tibet can be used for hydroelectricity, but this potential hasn't been developed as of yet.

Tibet (Xizang) is a culturally, religiously, ethnically, linguistically and geographically distinct. For some people Tibet is the Shangri-La for travelers. A land of exotic sounds, sights and (rather unfortunately) smells. The best starting place to visit Tibet is Lhasa, the capital, where you can find the famous Potala palace. Shigatse is a 5 hour ride from Lasa, and trips can be arranged from there. The main sights in Shigatse is the Tashilhunpo Monastery. 180 south of Lhasa you can find the Tibetan royal tombs in Chonggye. Lake Yamdrok Yamsto can be visited as a daytrip form Lhasa.

There are two things you have to take into account when traveling here. The first is the political situation - which means you need a special permit to go here and you should be careful of expressing any political ideas when you are there. Immediately prior to 1951 Tibet was a defacto independent country with its own governmental, political and judicial systems. For centuries Tibet had remained stubbornly isolated and aloof from the rest of the world, partly through its own volition and partly due to Chinese encouragement. However its independent status, though self-declared, was never recognised by any outside party. China has made consistent territorial claims over Tibet and has in the past exerted varying degrees of political control. Since 1951 Tibet has been fully incorporated into the Peoples Republic of China.

Places of Interest:

Lhasa
Lhasa is the capital of Tibet. Tibet is quite an exotic place to visit. You will feel like you somehow landed in an issue of National Geographic: colorful monks with prayer wheels, magnificient landscapes, great monasteries and palaces and funny smelling yaks.

Lhasa can be reached from Chengdu by plane (two daily flights) and from Beijing. From Golmud you can take a bus with a stop in Amdo. From Nepal you can fly or come by bus. You need to get the necessary permits form the Chinese embassy. For the brave: try to get here from Kashgar.

Zhangmu
This town is 7,000 ft above sea level and is known by its Tibetan name Khasa and is the last Chinese town you'll see before hitting Nepal. The hills around Zhangmu are heavily wooded with innumerable waterfalls in the summer and frozen'icicles'during the winter.

Xeger
13,800 ft above sea level, this is a new Chinese community built 7 km off of the highway at the foot of the ruins of Xegar Dzong. With population of 3000, it is the center of a large and remote country and also the base for the expeditions to Mt. Everest and other peaks.

Shigatse
Shigatse is the second largest city in Tibet. It is famous for the Tashilhunpo Monastery built in 1447- the seat of the Panchen Lama that once housed over 4000 monks, but now there are only 600. Very little remains of the old Shigatse Fortress, but the ruins on the skyline are imposing all the same.

Shannan
Shannan occupies one fifteenth of the total land area of the tibet autonomous region. It included 12 countries, four of which are in border areas. Shannan's topography is typical of the southern Tibetan valley area, with a terrain gradually declining from west to east and at an average elevation of about 3,700 meters.Shannan has many kinds of flora and fauna. It bounds in qingke barley wheat, broad beans, peas, corn and buckwheat making it one of the major grain and oil producing regions in Tibet. The region is full of vegetables, fruits. The city is enriched with wild plant resources. There are several hundred medicinal plants. Its famous medicinal herbs include sinensis, fritillaries thun-bergli, root of red salvia.

Gyantse
This small agricultural town is at 13, 050 ft above sea level and is famous for its wool carpets and palkhor choide chorten. The Palkhor Monastery built in 1427, is notable for its superb Kumbum (10,000 images)stupa, which has nice tiers and, according to the Buddhist tradition, 108 chapels. The lower tiers contain excellent murals.

Philosophy of Tibet

Most of the Tibetan population observes Tibetan Buddhism, which has evolved into four divisions: Ngingma, teaches from translations from the 7th century; Kagyu, founded between the 10th and 11th centuries; Sakya, before the Dalai Lamas came about, this sect was led by the chief political rulers of Tibet; and finally the Gelugpa sect, the Dalai and Panchen Lamas belong to this sect, which became the largest of the four sects.

Religion is very important to the Tibetans with everything being centered around it. Education (although there wasn't a formal educational system) as well as anything cultural or intellectual, was based on religious beliefs, with the leaders in the government being Buddhist monks.

Things changed during the Chinese cultural revolution with the Red Guard destroying anything religious and persecuting the nuns and monks. Many temples were destroyed and other religious buildings during this time.

Buddhism is still prevalent in Tibet today and the temples and monasteries that were destroyed have been rebuilt. The Chinese government still has a strong hold on religious practices, including placing a limit on the number of religious buildings. Tibetans are resentful of the control the government has imposed on religion and the numerous restrictions that are in place.