Himalaya Range, before reaching the end of the Tibetan Plateau. There were fantastic views from the top, and you really did get the impression that you were approaching the end of the world!! We stayed long enough to soak up the atmosphere, and then began the long descent!! We stopped in Nyalam for yet another Chinese lunch (this was to be our last for a good while - in fact as of 2 weeks later we haven’t eaten Chinese again since!!J). Nyalam is basically the last town on the Tibetan Plateau, and after this the road almost literally falls off the edge!! The change in scenery is the really amazing thing, you go from a kind of barren mountain landscape at 5000m at the top of the pass, to really lush greenery as you drive down the valley. Imagine a huge river valley which has been cut into a 10,000ft high cliff, and you’re close to it!! We drove down this road following the river down the valley for a good hour and a half. All the way there were waterfalls and streams crossing the road - at one point there was

a waterfall which dropped straight down on to the road - the guide told us to close the windows, and the driver went through very slowly - it was a free car wash - well known to the drivers on this route!! The sheer amount of water flowing down this valley was awesome - I guess with the Great Himalaya range in the way there are not too many places where the water can drain from the plateau. There were some incredible statistics we read as well. For instance, apparently, half of the world’s population gets their drinking water from rivers which have their source in Tibet!!!! Mind-blowing!!! The Yangtze and the Mekong both originate there, and that’s just the two I recognised from a long list!!

Finally we arrived in Zhangmu, the Border town on the Tibetan side. We had decided to stay here for a couple of nights as our new extended Visas allowed us to, and it sounded better than the Nepali