Maria's Travel Blog

It’s been exactly a year since I left home in October 2006 and I’m nervous about going back. Someone asked me if I’d like to continue on but...

I first started to think about going home a week ago, part of me excited about seeing familiar things again, and part of me wishing I could ...

Kathmandu is like an old friend. It doesn’t shock me or repel me as it did when I first arrived. I am pleasantly surprised to find my valuab...

We arrive into the chaotic border town of Zhangmu at 8.30pm, brought to a standstill by gridlocked roads of trucks waiting to cross into Nep...

Nyalam is a one-street town jammed with cars queuing to cross into Nepal. It’s a construction site during the day which means vehicles have ...

It’s a very bumpy 3-hour drive on a yak track to Tingri, a small town overlooking a sweeping plain bordered by towering Himalayan peaks. Som...

As the cloud doesn’t look like clearing any time soon we decide to leave for the border at Zhangmu, a 9-hour drive over rugged terrain. As w...

I do not sleep well. Even though I’d put on my thermals, hat, scarf, gloves and buried myself under two duvets, I was still freezing. It was...

It’s 6.30pm and it’s taken us 1.5 hours to arrive at the checkpoint where we need to show our passports. I feel exhilarated. The final chall...

Nearly there... Connie and I on the last leg

The walk to Base Camp

It’s 5pm when we arrive and although our (exhausted) group is due to walk the 4 kilometres up to the official Base Camp early tomorrow morni...

Everest Base Camp is a strange place. Situated at 5200 metres on the north face it was first used by the 1924 British Expedition. The ‘camp’...

More winding roads lead to the village of Tashi Dzon or Peruche, where we break for vegetable noodle soup. We have been advised not to eat m...

Not long after Shegar we leave the Friendship Highway and join a dusty track which winds its way up to Pang-la Pass at 5120 metres. Here the...

I sleep well despite having to get up twice and pee into the ceramic basin provided under the bed. Having visited the 'hotel' toilet...

For the few that may still be following this epic travelthon, I am now back in London and have been for a few months (will come to that late...

A local woman stops to talk to me as I walk around the monastery

Sakya is a three-hour drive from Shigatse across empty landscapes studded with the odd village. It's a small dusty town dominated by an ...

Pilgrims leaving Tashilhunpo Monastery

A monk picking up offerings from pilgrims

Tomb of 10th Panchen Lama (Sisum Namgyer)

The highlight for me is the Tomb of the 10th Panchen Lama (Sisum Namgyel), Tibet's favourite Panchen Lama. A gold-plated chorten holds h...

Although there are hordes of pilgrims (and tourists) which makes queueing to enter chapels slightly unpleasant, Tashilhunpo is the first pla...

The huge monastery is a walled town in its own right. Its cobbled lanes throng with the murmur of pilgrims queueing to enter the golden-topp...

Tashilhunpo is one of the six great Gelugpa monasteries along with Drepung, Sera and Ganden. Founded in 1447 by a disciple of Tsongkhapa, Ge...

It's a two-hour bus ride to Shigatse, Tibet's second largest town. The big draw here is Tashilhunpo Monastery, the seat of Panchen L...

View of Pelkor Chode Monastery and Gyantse Kumbum from the fort

This 14th century fort looms over the town and the surrounding Nyang-chu Valley. It's a 20 minute walk up a snaking path plus a further ...

In the monastery complex is the famed Gyantse Kumbum, (kumbum means '100,000 images') the largest chorten in Tibet. Designed in laye...

I'm in Gyantse to see the Pelkor Chode Monastery, founded in 1418, and which brought together three different orders of Buddhism in one ...

Leaving Yamdrok-tso via the same road we drive to Gyantse, once again passing through the most dramatic landscapes.

The road leads up to Kamba-la Pass at 4950 metres where there are dazzling views of the deep turquoise Yamdrok-tso lake. In the distance, th...

I spent last night in the hotel watching Tibetan TV, which more or less consists of fifty-odd channels shamelessly promoting the greatness o...

Blue flowers

View from the high kora