Moving closer to the roof of the world

I am in Shigatse now. The police regulate how much time can elapse between five check points on the road from Lhasa after a Chinese tour bus overturned and killed 16. So, our drivers know how much time there can be, so we pull over and wait so that we can arrive at the proper times and not get fined. The drive so slowly any way!! Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise as the view at the side of the road is much preferable to being in a city that is becoming more Sino-ized by the day. I can see tremendous change just in the year since I was here, and as I am a country girl at heart, I feel sad to see more ugly construction and mindless sprawl without charm.

During this morning's drive, we climbed to more than 17,000 feet to a pass that overlooks the exquisite Turquoise Lake: the clouds change the color of the water's surface as they move across the sky, causing incredible shades of blue. This is the place of my first "yak encounter" last year.

( I am not able to upload photos from the road here, so I've asked Clint to substitute some of my photos from last year. What Tibet 2007 would show as a marked difference from Tibet 2006 is the temperature: While last year there was snow at the top of the pass and I was bundled in five layers that I hardly removed for two weeks, this year's photo would show Kare in a short-sleeve silk knit top and a long skirt --- nary a glove nor insulating scarf in sight --- striking a jaunty pose that is not wind-whipped! We would call the weather Indian Summer, but who knows how that would translate into Tibetans.

I continue to be extremely healthy with no effects of acute altitude sickness, knock on wood painted with the auspicious symbols of Buddhism!