All Natural

Forget the people here, the topography and natural beauty of Tibet is just unreal. From Lhasa to Gyantze we drove over one measly 4700m pass, a fertile valley on one side, the insane switchbacked road we'd driven up visible all the way down, and a snaking blue lake on the other that reflected the sky as the sun peeked in and out of the clouds. Along the lake, vivid crayola yellow plots of flowering mustard contrasted with the water, green hills, and blue sky above in striking blocks of color. And then it was on to the big pass of the day. At over 5000m, glacier covered peaks lay on either side -- at least I assume they were peaks, as they disappeared into the clouds above, slopes of crinkled snow disappearing into the ceiling of gray mist. Then through more arid valleys beyond, fewer herds of sheep and yaks clinging to plunging slopes on this side of the pass. The violent thrust of the Indian subcontinent into Asia has done some crazy things to the layered rocks here. Looking around valleys carpeted with waving barley stalks, the lines in the surrounding mountain-ettes run in every direction: upthrust at a uniform 70 degrees on one, swirled on its neighbor, and zig-zagged on the one next to that. These layers of red, tan, brown, chalk, made for subtle and beautiful scenery out the bus window or from the top of the Gyantze fort, built on a tall hill in the middle of a vast valley. Add in the cloud shadows on the ground and shifting light across the valley as things went from rain to sun, and it was truly magical.