The Roof of The World - Tibet! (Day 1)

11 days without Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and even Google (or perhaps clean toilets too), Tibet compensated us with its most stunning landscapes and sceneries. It was an inspiring, magical trip it was also somewhat bitter sweet because of their hardship in fighting for its independence with China.

5 months ago, I made my dream to visit Tibet come true. After going through all the hassles of getting Chines Visa, I finally packed my luggage and waited to be on-boarded at the airport. There are multiple ways of getting into Tibet. You can choose to fly to Chengdu or Xi Ning or Beijing. I bought my AirAsia flight ticket to Chengdu way before June 2015 (note: I visited Tibet in June 2015) and it only costed me RM 560++. 
ISN'T THAT CHEAPPPPPPP???

After landed in Chengdu, I spent a night at the hotel before heading to Lhasa by flight. (Here, marked the beginning of my life without FB and Insta. Ughhhhhhhh) 
I know some of the articles say that you may take train from Chengdu to Lhasa or Xi Ning to Lhasa to get yourself adapted to the altitude. In fact, taking train does not help at all unless you are ascending slowly in 3-4 days. Another reason why I would like to suggest you to take flight instead of train on your first day because taking train is relatively more tiring than taking flight. The shortest journey of taking train to Lhasa is 24 hours (*correct me if I am wrong) whereas flight only takes you 2-3 hours. 

Oh, by the way, in order to get in to Tibet, you have to follow a local tour. There is no way you can visit Tibet on your own. Choosing a reliable tour agent is very crucial. Why? I will tell you more later.

After 2 hours flight from Chengdu, we finally landed on the Holy Land - Tibet! Words just could not describe how I felt at that moment. Tibet is part of China but it is indeed a very unique environment as they have their own writing and language. How cool is that!

We were warm-welcomed by the local tour guide and a driver. We spent most of our time talking to the tour guide as the driver speaks neither Mandarin nor English.

On our way to hotel. 

On our way to hotel, there were police checks, stationed along the highway / army in tents.

Stunning view from the car's window!

A view of my room. Looks a bit small but actually quite comfy.

Street view

A picture of meeee in front of the hotel.

My hotel was actually located right next to a mosque. Do not be surprised by the presence of Muslims here in Tibet. Even though Tibet is a place where most of the citizens are Buddhists, there are quite a number of Muslims here too. Mosque is also known as 清真寺 in Chinese.

Bazaar started at 4pm everyday.

Evening market

Note: we were also advised by the tour guide not to shower on the first day as she afraid we might catch a cold. Do note that the temperature in Tibet can drop drastically at night. Hence, bringing extra jacket / sweater could keep you warm at night.

To be continued.....