A road trip across Tibet to Mount Everest in 2000

The road would climb up and over several passes usually crowned with prayer flags, such as the 4,500-meter-high Tso-La Pass and the 4,950 meter-high Yulang-La Pass. The visibility was so clear, giving excellent views of distant peaks. At one point I saw the heavy walls of what had been a fort guarding a pass. Descending, lower areas would have limited cultivation, although I did observe groups of farmers scattering seed potatoes onto ploughed soil. Ponies pulled wooden carts alongside the farmers.

Along G318 there also was a regular procession of blue trucks laden with goods, for this road was also a main lifeline to western Tibet.

Some 150 kilometers from Xigaze is Lhaze, a small county whose main street had many small restaurants with name boards in English such as “Chengdu Restaurant”, for it was where G318 to the Nepalese border splits from the highway to western Tibet. Apparently travelers heading up toward Mount Everest maybe would stay one or two nights, for it was the last real town on the route.