This post is about our 7 days tour of Tibet from Lhasa to Kathmandu.
After spending 2 bright days in Lhasa visiting monasteries, Potala palace and observing nomadic pilgrims from all around Tibet, we started our long journey to the West to eventually cross to Nepal. Our journey was quite special because of unexpected snowfall. On one side we were unlucky as it has delayed our trip for 1 day. But on the other side we were very lucky to see very rare and absolutely fascinating views of snowy Tibet. Here is how it was.
Potala Palace 
Pilgrims 
Lhasa
Day 3: 8:30 hit the road to cover 350+ km.
12 hours driving with stop for lunch, 6-7 short (10-15min) stops at organised viewpoints for photos, and monastery visit in the afternoon. Arriving in hotel in Shigatse 19:30.Route and main sights: Yamdrok sacred lake, Noijin Kangsang glacier view, Manta reservoir, Palcho monastery.
Stops at scenic spots at organised viewpoints, however on the way you see much more fantastic sights. If we were doing selfdrive we would stop much more in more wild places. It probably would take us 2-3 days to drive same distance.
Day 4:Another 350 km to cover, 2 monasteries visits and Everest base camp for sunset. Start at 9:00 to visit Tashilhumpo monastery (takes us 1.5 hours with some waiting, because not all the halls open that early). The monastery is a residence of Penchin Lama and was the one where we saw a lot of activity by monks and pilgrims.
10:50 back in the minibus for a long drive with no stop for lunch, in order to catch the sunset on EBC.
By 14:00 we reached Gyatso la Mountain viewpoint at 5240+ meters elevation and stopped there for 10 min.
We reached the Rongbuk monastery which is at the foot of mount Everest at 18:30. No luck with seeing Everest, as it was wrapped in a thick snow cloud.
For the night by common agreement we decided to go down 50 km to a village, just to get to a safer place in case it snows.
Tibetan family guest house 
Best stay ever
Day 5: Another 350+ km to do today. Yesterday, because of high probability of snow we decided not to stay at EBC overnight, as it’s easy to get stuck there if it snows. So we drove some 50km to a near by village. And so good we did, because we woke up to 10cm of snow and our guide warned us that the way is unpredictable and we might have to comeback to Lhasa or improvise on the way. We started at 9 and not 7:30 (no need to go early as no visibility anyway) After first 20 min us and 2 other minibuses stopped to put chains on the wheels as it was slippery and the winding mountain road up and then down is a hard one to crack in these conditions.It is very quiet in the bus now, as everyone is holding their breath while our driver Migmar is ploughing slowly up the road, skilfully managing the sideslides on the turns.
9:50 the first bus breaks. There is a leak of smth and there is smoke coming from under the hood. We all stop to help.
Turns out nothing serious, so in 10 min we are back on the road. 11:20 – after a tedious assents and descends with thousand u-turns we finally reached a village and suddenly after a sharp breaking noise our bus us filled with acid plastic burning smoke. Good that we are off the mountain and there are houses here, so even if the bus is broken we won’t freeze to death.Nothing major, Kunchok says “gps wire overheat”, whatever that means. So we carry on. Just to stop in 10 min again on the cross roads where we had to make a decision weather we carry on or go back to Lhasa. It was clear that taking another mountain pass, which is steeper and higher than the one we just did with difficulty, was dangerous for life. So it made it impossible to continue to Nepal and so the only destination was back to Lhasa with an overnight in whatever town we can make it to by the darkness. This is where we tasted the horrible beaurocracy. Standing on that cross road the guide was not allowed to move further until he gets EVERYONE on the bus to commit to buy plane tickets out to Lhasa. This caused a revolt. We would have to pay extra for the flights and people wanted to have time to rebuild their plans. For us it is easier, we are not pressed by time and so an option for us could be to take a train from Lhasa back to main land China. It seemed to be cheaper option than tge flight. But it looked like the guide had no choice but to get us all to agree, before we could start driving back. He was not a desicion maker so was constantly on the phone with the office. So we spent an hour there discussing our options but clearly not agreeing to commit to buy flights. While the snow continued to fall and the light time getting shorter.12:40 – we finally started moving with at least 10 hours until the next big town and without really reaching a common decision. Not surprising as everyone has individual plans and budgets.
13:00 – the road is blocked by road police. We can’t carry on. We are staying in this village called Baiba overnight.
Baiba village 
Snow is rare here in December
Day 6 19 Dec 10:45, it is bright and frosty. We are hitting the road in the direction of the border. Guide asked us for a discharge letter in case if anything goes wrong.
12:30 the day is beautiful – deep blue sky, bright sunshine, everything else is covered in pristine white snow. By the village Tingri we finally see it – mount Qomolangma in all its glory. The peak dwarfs all the other mighty mountains around it. I am excited like a kid! We take million pictures and carry on.
Guide suggests we skip the lunch to win daytime. Everyone seems happy with that as long as we are progressing safely to the border.
15:30 the first glimpse of Lake Paiku (Pikutso in Tibetan). We are stunned and for the first time we request a photo stop ourselves. A thin blue stripe of the lake with a different kind of blue whisp of fog delicately hovering over it… stunning.We drive around the lake to marvel the magnificent mount Shishapagma- 8012 meters.
At around 7pm we reach the border town and this is where the winter fairy tale is coming to its end, just to turn the page for the new adventure in Nepal.
