Tibet Photos

These travelers have made a bad mistake in booking a cheap trip by truck to Tibet. Dust, cold, falling rocks and the jostling ride over rough roads almost guarantees sickness or injury.

Chinese soldiers are widely evident in the monasteries of Tibet.

This Tibetan girl resides near the Yunnan border.

Buddhist pilgrims in Lhasa circumambulate the Jhokang Monastery.

This is the classic view of the Potala from the roof of the Jhokang Temple in Lhasa.

Driving across the Tibetan Plateau you will seen many Buddhist images painted on rocks, especially near monasteries, at passes and along rivers.

Sera Monastery monks engage in active and animated debate.

An early Spring trip from Kathmandu to Lhasa may have to negotiate narrow corridors carved through snow drifts.

Prayer flags mark the pass. This one is Lalung Leh near the Nepal/Tibet Border at about 17,100'.

Even active Tibetan towns often have a desolate and worn look about them. This Sakya, site of a famous monastery.

The Potala is the best known building in Tibet. Now a museum it was formerly the palace of the Dalai Lama before he fled to India in 1959.

Lhasa supports colorful markets for religious paraphernalia sold mostly to the pilgrims who journey here from all over Tibet.

Most of the Tibetan Plateau is 11,000' in elevation or higher any precipitation falls as snow in the higher mountains.

Kumbum Stupa is a favorite pilgrimage site. The structure holds dozens of rooms with dioramas depicting Buddhist mythology.

While is Tibet no longer a major region of spiritual practice, the remaining ruins, landscapes and legends still invoke a sense of heavenly presence.