Rollin' down the Friendship Highway...

Note: There are already millions of travel reports for the trip on the "Friendship Highway" from Lhasa to Kathmandu, so I will keep this one short (just some nice pics with comments).

We had a beautiful time in Lhasa, but our time / visa was running out. So we had to find a way out of the country. Since individual traveling is not very welcome by the Chinese government this is not as easy as it seems: You need to rent a vehicle via an official Tour Operator, with an official licenced tour-guide who can act as a kind of watchdog for dangerous international tourists.
We found 3 Canadian girls who were traveling the same way the same time, so we agreed to rent a Land-Crouiser to get to the border town (Zhangmo) with a quick stop at Everest Base camp in 4 days / 3 nights.

I’ve never seen more off-road trucks (Toyota Land-cruiser) than here in Tibet.



and after a while it was also clear why – I never drove that rought roads!!












our driver kept us entertained with a really nice tape – Only problem was, that that was his only on, and at the end of our tour we could sing along, even if the songs were in Tibetan!








shigatse was a beautiful town – but plan enough time for the monastery!









Landscape is just stunning!


But to get to the Everest Base camp we had to cross some rough terrain...





sometimes we couldnt even drive!!







Well, OK OK, maybe we drove most of it ;)




when we arrived we walked a little (really only a little!! On 5200m you get out of breath from turning around in the bed at night!!) into the valley, but the big mountain was in clouds...






But in the morning it cleared up…

And there he was! Everest! So close! You could almost touch him!
And after one more hard day of driving we finally reached the Border.

There we were seperating from the canadian girls again - after 4 days crowded together in a Landcruiser I think we all were happy. It wasnt bad, but sometimes traveling can get, hrmm, un-relaxed if you are stuck with people you do not really fit together with - especially if 7 people are driving in one land cruiser!

And what happened first thing we arrived back in Kathmandu? As soon as we stepped out of the car we saw Shelby walking along - a nice american lady we met and had a lot of fun with 2 weeks earlier. (We expected her to be already in Bangkok by the time we get back to Kathmandu!) I only say: Best "Truth or Dare" in ages!! And: Kathmandu Rooftops rock!!!! ;)


And I was also meeting a good old School Friend again - STRACKIIII!!!

Man, It was good meeting him again after such a long time!! Phillip surely chose one of the more fascinating ways after we finished school together 4 years ago!!


Well, and after this three days in Kathmandu my sister and me finally flew home. Thats it, I hope I will get into that corner of the world again, the people deeply fascinated me.

And I'm happy I finally finished my blog! In the near future you will also find the best pictures of my whole journey on this page, so stay updated! I'd love your comments on on my photos!

Lukas