DAY 55 - Views on the way to Shigatse (5 August)

We got up early for a day for beautiful views across Tibet as we headed towards Shigatse - the hotel receptionist was wrapped in a duvet and a police man was asleep on the reception couch. Driving in our mini-van across Tibet, we saw some spectacular Tibetan Mountain scenery as we ascended to 4700 metres.

Our first stop was Yamdrok-tso lake. A beautiful crystal clear blue lake set across the mountains. I couldn't help but mount a Yak, and both Louise and I succumbed to the 50p charge to hold the very cute little goats!

After this, we went to see the Kharola Glacier, the patterns made by the slow moving ice were incredible to look at. I am not sure that the photos do it any justice.

Finally we looked at Monasteries in Gyantse (left in the sequence) and the Ta Shi Lhun Po Monastery in Shigatse (the right three). Lunch was some delicious food at a Nepalese restaurant. Local Tibetans were very reluctant to speak openly about topics relating to their "autonomy" under Chinese rule - they declined to comment, and mentioned eavesdropping, listening devices and CCTV monitoring.

In the evening, I spent some more time looking at how I will get to the Punjab in India. I am not sure if I have already mentioned this, but in the Indian system, people hedge their bets by booking many train tickets, then decide a few days before which one they want (cancelling the rest). The result is an oversubscribed service and a waiting list for trains. I have currently selected two tickets, on one I am in waiting list position 1, and the other one position 9. These positions have not changed since my initial booking over a week ago. If I move up, I will move to a seated journey (24 hours), and if I am lucky, I will move up further to a sleeper berth. Let's see what happens.