Land of Yaks

Tibet is a beautiful place, and the blue skies when we arrived at the Lhasa airport were a welcome sight after days of Beijing's "blue" grey skies. (Above, a sign leaving the airport that pictures all the great Communist party leaders, past and current.)

The Potala Palace is Lhasa's most noteworthy building, and while I was initially excited to do a tour inside it, the tour process for our English-speaking group was going to be a massive pain in the butt, so a coworker and I escaped in search of noodles instead. We wandered through some public park areas and through the main streets of downtown, which are quite cheery during the day, despite all the police and military presence.

After a few days of acclimation, we headed to our field station at Nam Co, which is at an elevation of ~4720m (15,000+ feet) (and everything liquid-like in a bottle you bring up from Lhasa WILL explode as soon as you open it). We first headed over a nearby pass, which is often visited by tourists and pilgrims and covered in prayer flages, to the point that they just look like trash.

North of Nam Co, a local pub/restaurant/hang out for workers on nearby construction projects.

Yaks were everywhere, including this prettiest lady of the bunch (disclaimer: possibly not a lady).

Rock cairn by the shore of Nam Co, or Holy Lake

 Bridge out over a glacier-fed stream.. not a problem for our professional drivers and land cruisers.

Tibet.. alas that I only had 2 weeks.