On the way back to Lhasa from Shigatse, we opted for the more direct route, skipping a few of the mountain passes and instead following the Friendship Highway, the main link between Tibet and Nepal. This scenic road follows the rocky canyon/valley created by the Brahmaputra River before it eventually flows down into India. Though it didn't feature the extreme altitudes as the other road, this too was a beautiful drive through the untouched terrain of Tibet, showing off the dry, rocky areas along the river side, split by the greenish brown river always at our side. David was a bit sick from the cold of the mountains two nights before, but the rest of us were feeling better, enjoying the views along the way. Due to a tragic bus accident last year in which a speeding driver careened off the cliff, into the freezing river below, killing 16 tourists and injuring the other 16, strict speed limits are set on the majority of the road. Though, in Tibetan fashion, these limits are not enforced by patrol cars. There are simply checkpoints every hour or so where you are given a pass card with the time you left the last checkpoint and the time you can arrive at the next checkpoint. There is about a $15 fine for every minute that you arrive early, attempting to keep the speed on this fairly easy road at a ridiculous 50 km/h (36 mph). Of course, no one really drives this slowly, instead opting for lunch and smoke breaks, or just picture stops, so it's fairly common to see groups stopped along the side of the road for a few minutes before speeding ahead to the next stop. At one point, we stopped alongside a few local women doing some farming, separating strands of canola, so we took a few pictures and eventually decided to join in and try our hand at the job. The ladies loved it, though I don't think we were too effective.
(One of our stops along the river. At other points, the road was much higher above the river, particularly at the point of the bus crash of last year.)
(Dawa, our driver, couldn't resist the urge to play around on this stationary tractor. Despite speaking very little English, we had a good time with him.)
(More views of the river below at one of our stops, making sure that we didn't arrive too early at the checkpoint.)
(This was actually taken from the window of the moving car, but it turned out pretty well. As with other parts of Tibet, everywhere you look is marvellous scenery.)
(We made a stop here to see the locals producing incense down by the river, with this tiny outpost being the major supplier of incense to the province.)
(Our lady friend taking a quick break from her work to analyze our cameras.)
(While the others hung around the car, I made my way down to the river for this view.)
(Another great photo courtesy of Rami Amir of the farmer we met. I don't like to use other peoples' photos, but he had some great pictures of the typical people we saw throughout the trip.)
(All in a day's work for me. Dawa and Wu look on as I do my one minute of manual labor for the day.)
(Back outside of Lhasa, we rejoined the road following the Lhasa River back into town. Yellow trees and numerous police officers lined the road, so we took it easy, in no rush to get away from these landscapes.)
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