For Rummy,

[exanimo2]

Photos and a short description for you from my trip to Tibet:

Qinghai railway from Xining to Lhasa, 24 hour train ride with some spectacular views



Beautiful salt water lake and a holy mountain on the way from Lhasa to Gyangse



Gyangse Monastery



Himalayas and Mount Everest (You had to be there for it to take your breath away, literally and figuratively)





Holy Namtso Lake (Highest Salt Water Lake in the World)




Sheep Crossing on the return to Lhasa


Potala Palace



The Entrance into the rooms of Potala (Fucking unbelievably awesome inside, but you weren't allowed to take any photos inside anywhere, also you were pushed around and couldn't really get to close look at everything)


Sera Monastery
Debating Courtyard

Cute kids and I (I think I wore my Ommegang shirt about every day there, haha)


Lhasa market street


Overall it was a pretty nice trip. The altitude was a tough thing to overcome. Lhasa is at about 12,000 feet above sea level while Namtso and Everest Base Camp is at 17,000 feet. At first it was an interesting feeling when your heart misses beats and it's hard to breath, but the constant headache really gets to you. After staying overnight at Everest everyone was miserable. We all felt like we were going to die that night because we didn't have enough time to acclimate. For everyone it was either Nausea or our circulatory system flipping out on us. I felt like my heart beat so hard and so fast that night that I probably lost a couple years of my life.

The politics behind Tibet is probably it's biggest shortcoming. While interesting to see guards walking around Lhasa and the Chinese flag put at every possible place it could, the business that China makes of Tibet kind of ruined it for me. I never really felt engaged in the culture there, it was just a sightseeing tour and I hated it. I felt like one of the many herds of Yaks that were led around the country side. You can't go into any Monastery without a guide and it's basically impossible to do anything without being on a tour. Plus not many people could speak good Chinese there, so it really does feel like a different country and probably should be (something I never thought before).

So, is it worth a look? Probably. Would I do it again? No.
The only way I would go to Tibet again would be to just go to the cities and hang out with the very warm people. Especially the country side folk.

With Love,
exanimo (Brandon)

[Didzo]

Wow.

[Hobospartan]

Wow.

[Versus]

nice dick

[Turtle]

Lol that kid in the pic with the ommegang shirt is staring at you

[Tricks]

Amazing pictures. Really awesome post. 

[Surf314]

Man your trip seems awesome. How long are you staying in China?

[Dtrain323i]

Tibet is one place I want to visit in my lifetime.

[Luinbariel]

Oh my god, I want to go there.

[CaffeinePowered]

Was Tibet free and did you offer to take it off their hands?


Nice set as well, gorgeous

[Dtrain323i]

Was Tibet free and did you offer to take it off their hands?


Nice set as well, gorgeous

http://instantrimshot.com/classic/?sound=rimshot

[KarthXLR]

Wow. Himalayas must have been quite a sight.

[exanimo2]

I've been here nearly 5 months now. I'll be back in the states for a month in August then ill be coming back for a job I found for a year.

And yeah Karth, it was an amazing sight.

I tried caff, but they wouldn't give me any of their tea. Actually barley is their number one crop.

[rumsfald]

This is super awesome, thanks duder. Good pro-tips about the altitude and the politics. If and when I do go, it'd be to do several days of retreat. I've got to get my kamma muscle up first.

how was the food?

[exanimo2]

Pretty tasty! Lots of Yak, potatoes and curry. Tibetan food is like a combination of Indian and Chinese.

Also, make sure your stomach can handle unpasteurized dairy products. I had some Yak yogurt that gave me terrible diarrhea and in turn, robbed my body of much needed water making it difficult for me to breath.



P.S. If you ever decide to go, I have a name and contact information of a good guide.

[rumsfald]

What does yak taste like?

[exanimo2]

Can't really describe the flavor, it's not similar to anything really. We had an ongoing joke saying everything tastes like Yak in Tibet though.

It's nice.