Chinese police were at checkpoints every
twenty minutes in Tibet.  Each one has the
right to look at permits, passports, have
travelers get out of the car.  They have a
 narrow time window for your car to reach
the next checkpoint.  If you are early or late,
the driver can be fined or punished.
  And the speed cameras!  We could only drive
 about 20 mph on up to 10 hour driving days,
 and we actually got a SPEEDING ticket!
 There are many plain clothes police
 eavesdropping and watching you.
Tibet is definitely an occupied territory,
chafing at China’s strong armed tactics.
How lucky we were to be able to travel
here.  Native Tibetans had their passports
 taken by the police in 2008.  If they
 leave Tibet, they cannot return.
Our first hotel in Tibet – little did
we know this was a really luxe
accommodation.  We actually had
a flush toilet and hot water.
Great Google graphic showing how China feels
about Google and vice versa.  We had to find
search engines approved by the Chinese
 government. There was also no Gmail,
Picasa, Google Translate or Google Maps.

An attempt at making order out of chaos.
Sponge Bob’s passport is apparently good anywhere.
The first of many Tibetan yaks.

This gushing waterfall crossed over the roadway –
we drove right under it.

Typical Tibetan wheels.  Sure beats a cart with a yak.

Yak dung is plentiful.  Locals like to shape it while
still warm into yak poop hockey pucks, which they
proudly stack and dry on top of their fences.  In
the winter, they burn it for warmth.
I’ll just have rice, please.
Yak butter tea was offered on many occasions,
sometimes we had to take it to be polite.  The
taste is buttery, in a wet dog cheesy kind of way.
Pretty awful, but it did make a good lip moisturizer.