Julianne's Diary Day Eight-Gyangtse to Lhasa

By Julianne Page

For a comparatively small city Gyangste boasts a very impressive hotel. They even had an impressive display of typical traditional Tibetan costumes, which I discovered are, aside from being beautiful, numerous and varied.

CRI reporter Julianne Page stands in front of an  impressive display of typical traditional Tibetan  costumes.[Photo:CRIENGLISH.com]

The weather is becoming a little cooler now so as we departed our hotel we were advised to put more clothes as we were heading back up into the mountains. Along the way we stopped for a group photograph.

Luckily we have some very skilful local drivers who have taken care of us along the way. Some of the roads in Tibet haven't been completed, or are in disrepair, so our drivers have had to take us off road at times. This makes for some very rocky motion, which makes it very difficult to work on a laptop computer.

Today we visited perhaps the world's highest outdoor market 4,500 meters above sea level, perched below the Kharola glacier in southern Tibet. For such a remote location there sure was a lot of activity. Local traders haggled over prices with all comers, including Han Chinese, international visitors, tour groups and Tibetan monks of all ages.

Women of all ages also approached us clutching baby goats and seeking money for a photo with the cute beasts. Who could refuse? Not me anyway.

I managed to snap up a small, spinning prayer wheel at the market and had it explained to me that after writing your wish you could then put it inside, meditate on it and spin to your heart's content. I'm sure going to try.

As we made our way up into the mountain we encountered our daily quota of breathtaking scenery. However this was exceeded soon after when we came across the Yamdro Yumtso Lake.