Mountain flight over Kathmandu valley to Mt. Everest

Before leaving Nepal, we did an early morning mountain flight to get "a closer look" at Mt. Everest from Nepal. We did have our doubts though, as the air seemed to be very misty at 5a.m. However, as the small turboprop rose above Kathmandu we suddenly got above the layer of smog into clear blue skies.

From ASIA - NEPAL

We got the most fantastic views of a load of snow-capped mountains as we flew east towards the Everest.

From ASIA - NEPAL

One at a time, we were allowed to go into the cockpit to see the panorama from the front as we were approaching Mt. Everest. We could clearly see it's very distinctive triangular shape as we got nearer to it, though we weren't close enough to spot anyone waving from the top :D

From ASIA - NEPAL

The plane then flew back past everything again, but a lot nearer this time, with spectacular views of  the Himalayan mountain range underneath us. These mountains were truly majestic, and not only the Mt Everest which happens to be the tallest amongst other, 7-8,000m summits.

From ASIA - NEPAL

All our photos from Nepal

Friendship Highway: Tingri to the Nepalese border

Our last day in Tibet... We started the day by going to another vista point to have the Mount Everest "at our fingertips"

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

The trip was through a more desolate, desert plateau scenery...

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

On the way to Nyalam we drove through our final pass – the Lalung-La- at above 5000 meters. It was the highest elevation of the day and we could see the Himalayan mountain range with snow covered peaks. This seemed really like being on the "Roof of the Earth".

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

Then, the landscape went though a shocking transformation as we were descending to Zhangmu at 2.300m.

We’ve gone from dry, sunny with brownish vegetation...

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

to wet...

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

then misty and lush green scenery

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

through winding roads...

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

all within couple of hours and amazingly all this in one single very deep valley. 

We stopped in Zhangmu (the border town to Nepal) to wait for the opening of the border next morning; it's a one-street town jammed with cars, trucks, animals and who knows what else queuing to cross into Nepal. Once the border opens, hundreds of vehicles start to descend from the Tibetan plateau into the gorge filled with endless waterfalls...



All our photos on Tibet Overland Tour

Friendship Highway: Shigatse To Tingri

This was the day of extremes:

On the third day of our overland tour along the friendship highway, we got as far as 5000km (along the shortest route - but we made an aprox. 1000km detour to Beijing) from Shanghai:

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

Then, we reached the highest point of our journey and also the highest elevation we have ever been (and might ever be):

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

As we were slowly descending towards Tingri, in the middle of nowhere we have met a friendly Tibetan family who was just "passing nearby". We still wonder where did they appear from so sudden and where they were headed to on foot... (at least one of the kids seemed to be coming from...)

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

Later on we had for the first time a direct and unobstructed view of the Mount Everest rising magnificently 4000m above:

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

Our end destination for the day was the most primitive, yet authentic Tibetan village we had seen; a few mud houses and a couple of guesthouses on one side of the river and some tents on the opposite side: it was the village of Tingri at an altitude of mere 4200m

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

where the two basic items being offered (besides the usual yak joghurt and hot momo for our hungry bellies) were "internet and oxygen":

From ASIA - TIBET - Friendship highway

We decided to buy some of both.

Unfortunately we don't have pictures, but we have to mention that we have seen here the most amazing night sky we have ever seen. Due to the lack of light sources in the area and the thin air, one could really see the milky way with as a cloud of stars...a truly amazing experience - something similar to the upper picture on this comparison (just imagine it without any light source) ... which is made impossible in our modern world by light pollution. This satellite picture from Wikipedia illustrates well how little light is scattered in Tibet in comparison with other parts of the world.



All our photos on Tibet Overland Tour

The journey of our travel along the Friendship Highway continues with the next blog entry....