Himalaya Road Trip

Our trip started in the 4x4 Land Cruiser by heading out south from Lhasa, past the main airport which is some 60km out of town. Then heading up hill and I mean up hill towards Yamdrok-tso-Lake. We reached the summit and over the top you could see Yamdrok-tso-Lake a stunning turquoise blue colour with huge mountains beyond. It was beautiful. After a ride on a Yak and many photos we headed down towards the lake, about 500 metres below us. We stopped for more kodak moments on the shore and built our own cairn to leave our mark on the place. We continued on our way and passed a number of glaciers and through a number of small villages where all the children come out to wave at the car. Of course we saw many more monasteries dotted along the mountain sides. Of course this road trip has two purposes, one to reach Everest Base Camp (or EBC for short) and the other is to reach the land border to Nepal going through a town called Zhãngmù. This would take us 3 days though so mostly we just sat back and enjoyed the stunning scenery all around us. The scenery was just breathtaking, snow capped mountains, blue lakes, and roads that just went on forever. We would stop each day for lunch in a small village, places that you would never know you could eat in unless you had a guide with you, but all serving delicious food, and snickers bars! They are the only familiar chocolate bars we see here but nice to have one occasionally when needing something familiar. What was quite funny, was how we kept catching up with and passing cars full of other tourists we had met earlier on our travels who were doing the same trip as us. We went by a car with Ben in (the Aussie from the train) and when we stopped for a meal, or at the motel, we would see him with his party and we got to know some of the other travellers quite well. Then they would pass us on the road and we would all catch up again at the next stop. We felt like we were part of a little travelling community! Our first night we spent in an ordinary town in a motel at the back of a rather posh looking Hotel at the front. We were quite hopeful as our driver pulled up but we soon had our hopes dashed when they led us around the back. Just a small motel room (not very clean either) and a shared bathroom and toilet along the balcony. Needless to say it was so grimy we never used either. So trying to clean up as best as we can (you have no idea how grateful we are to wet wipes!) we left the motel and as we did-so, the porter came running over to drape us with another white silk scarf. How much luck are we going to need??? We set off again towards EBC, and what can i say, just more stunning scenery and more attempts to photograph it through the windows of the moving car. Grimy Hotel Room rating: 2/10 bed not comfortable, room not clean Location: ?/10 - who cares? it was just a stop over Staff: 6/10 - most just OK but porter was lovely Value for Money: 4/10 - £10 per night per room Other comments: would never have stayed if given a choice Stay again? never Overall area experience: 2/10 indifferent really - it was just a stopover, we never saw any of the town.