Tibet Adventure (via China)

A trip to Tibet is not an easy journey - it is an adventure in every sense. Tibet was only opened to tourism in 1985 and the Lhasa-Chengdu highway, enabling overland travel, was officially opened a year later. Until the mid-1980s Tibet avoided most outside influences, allowing its unique culture and religion to develop independently. This arduous but exhilarating journey begins with a flight from Chengdu to Lhasa, then travels overland from Lhasa to Everest Base Camp (Tibetan side) and then back to Chengdu. The views of the Himalayas from the northern side are dramatically different from the Nepalese side of the border and it's easy to see how the title "Roof of the World" has been given to Tibet.