Jul 17 2009

Flight from Lhasa to Chengdu

Category: Martin @ 09:31

The two hour flight from Lhasa to Chengdu took us over a mountain range 4 times longer than the swiss alps. Although the weather was mostly cloudy, a large number of glaciers in the Nyainqêntanglha Shan mountain range could be seen. Click here to open in Google Earth.

 

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Jul 17 2009

Tibetan Ad

Category: Martin @ 04:13

You would assume, they have enough mountains themselves in Tibet to take pictures of....

 

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Jul 16 2009

Excursion to the Namtso lake

Category: Martin @ 02:24

250 km from Lhasa is the highest saltwater lake in the world, the Namtso lake. To go there we hired a minibus and drove down the valley to Damxung, along the railway line.

After Damxung we had to cross a pass (shown above) of 5150m. Popping a painkiller and two Gaoyuanan ("High Plateau Peace") pills before the peak.....and no problem at all.

Untouched nature at an altitude of 4718m.

Ok, that was a lie...hordes of tourists line up to ride on yaks, including this shady person here.

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Jul 15 2009

Tibetan ladies

Category: Martin @ 06:07

Today we visited the nunnery of Lhasa. The nuns were very friendly and we were offered each a big cup of the infamous yak butter tea.

These nuns prepare prayer papers for later use in the praying wheels.

This one wasn't too pleased I took a photo of her and was about to kick my ass...

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Jul 13 2009

Lhasa

Category: Martin @ 23:29

The potala palace was the winter residence of the Dalai Lama. It has now been converted into a museum.

The Jokham Temple was built in the 7th century and contains the most venerated Buddha statue in Tibetan buddhism. In front of the Buddha was a big assembly of people praying. Some brought their own small Buddha statues with them to charge them up for later use at home.

Prayer wheels are prime examples of efficient automatization and intelligent engineering applied to religious practices.

Some old geezers

and some more...

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Jul 13 2009

Train journey day 2

Category: Martin @ 06:36

When I woke up the train was already in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. At 6 o'clock in the morning the first snow covered mountains appeared.

The next 4 hours the train passed through the Kekexili area (83'000 square km), the worlds third least populated area. However a lot of wild life including rabbits, wild yaks and sheep could be seen all over the place.

Passing the Tanggula Mountains. The mountains are up to 6600 m in height.

After Tanggula mountains the train passes the highest elevation. The picture was made at 4888m. Shortly after we passed the Tangula rainway station, at 5068 m the highest train station in the world. I was a little disappointed, that the train did not stop for a breath of fresh air.


Passing the Cuona lake at 4595m. This is the highest freshwater lake in the world and double the size of Neuenburgersee.

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