From the Roof of the World to the Bay of Bengal A journey from Lhasa to Dhaka in October 1996 Kathmandu, Nepal, 6th to 11th October We flew to Kathmandu on Bangladesh Biman airline and stayed at the Ganesh Himal hotel. We visited the Indian Embassy and Tibet Travel to make arrangements and walked around Thamel and Durbar Square. On Tuesday we visited Swayambunath Temple (the monkey temple) ... ... and returned to Durbar Square where we moved to the Sugat Hotel overlooking the square. On Wednesday and Thursday we visited Patan ... ... and Bhaktapur, nearby towns to Kathmandu. On Friday we visited Pashupatinath and Bodhnath and went to Patan again where there were market stalls in the busy streets. Lhasa, Tibet, 12th to 14th Oct. We flew to Lhasa on China Southwest Airlines and met Gunnar and Antja from Germany who are on the same tour as us. We walked around the Barkhor and stayed at the Yak Hotel. On Sunday we went to Dreprung Monastery in the morning, the Barkhor and Jokhang in the afternoon and had dinner at Tashi restaurant. There were pilgrims walking the Barkhor circuit round the monastery, crowds in Barkhor Square in front of the Jokhang, quiet calm inside and wonderful views from the Jokhang roof. On Monday we went to the Potala in the morning. In the afternoon we went to the Sera Monastery and learned about Tibetan medicine. Then we went to the Norbalinka (the summer palace). We ate at Tashi restaurant again. Across Tibet from Lhasa to Gyantse, Shigatse and Zhangmu border, 15th to 18th Oct. We left Lhasa and drove via Yamdrok Tso lake and the Kamba-La pass (13,000 ft) to Gyantse. We saw Gyantse Dzong (fort) and Gyantze Kumbum (monastery) and stayed at the Gyantse hotel, where Sheila had a yak ride on a prize-winning yak. On Wednesday we drove through a snowstorm then saw villagers haymaking in a valley below the road. In Shigatse (12,800 ft) we went to Tashi, our guide’s house, visited a market and the Tashilhumpo monastery. We stayed at the Shigatse hotel. On Thursday we visited Sakya monastery and crossed the Lagpa La pass (17,226 ft, 5250 metres). We stayed at Qomolangma hotel in Shegar. On Friday we saw Mount Everest (Qomolangma) from the road near Tingri .... .... and visited Milarepa’s cave near Nyalam. There was more harvesting in the fields by the road and Pelgyeling monastery nestling in the bleak valley below. We had to walk the last six kilometres to the border at Zhangmu because the Friendship Highway was washed away. We stayed at Zhangmu hotel in the border town. Kathmandu again, 19th to 23rd Oct. We crossed the border into Nepal and stayed at the Himalayan Horizon hotel at Dhulikhel, half an hour from Kathmandu (Gunnar and Antjar went on to Kathmandu). On Sunday we returned to Kathmandu and stayed at the Sugat hotel again. The next couple of days we had 'Mike’s breakfast' next door to the Sugat, went to Bodhnath Stupa again and looked around Kathmandu. On Wednesday we had lunch at the Third Eye and Gunnar and Antja came to see us off on the bus to Darjeeling. Darjeeling, India, 24th and 25th Oct. We had bought a ticket from Kathmandu all the way to Darjeeling, which involved a long overnight bus ride to the Indian border. We got through the border into India OK and on to Siliguri town, but the onward transport to Darjeeling never appeared so we had to arrange our own onward travel from Siliguri. We arrived in Darjeeling and stayed at the lovely old-fashioned Windermere Hotel. On Friday we had a day in Darjeeling town, visited Observatory Hill and rested in the Windermere Hotel. Rangpur and Dhaka, Bangladesh, 26th to 29th Oct. We had a long minibus trip to the Bangladesh border at Changra Banda. After a leisurely border crossing we got a minibus to Rangpur and stayed at the rather awful Rajanighandha hotel. Sunday was a day at leisure in Rangpur, not really a good idea. On Monday we got the Hanif express bus through pouring rain to Dhaka and stayed at the hotel Purbani. On Tuesday we had a rickshaw tour of Dhaka, through flooded Topkhana road .... .... to Sadar Ghat and Badam Tole on the Buringanga waterfront to see the boats and river activity. On Wednesday we had another rickshaw tour of Dhaka, to Ahsan Manzil palace on the Bund, As-Tara (star) mosque in the old city, Lalbagh fort, Curzon Hall and the National Assembly building. Kathmandu yet again, and another quick look at Dhaka, 30th Oct to 2nd Nov. Then, because it felt like we’d done it, we flew back to Kathmandu and stayed in the Ganesh Himal hotel. We visited Durbar Square, Hanuman Dhoka (the old royal palace), a spice shop, Bodhnath Stupa yet again, had a milk shake with monks and went to Thamel. On Friday we had a last walk round Durbar Square and Thamel then flew to Dhaka. Because of the length of our stopover Biman took us to the Dhaka Midtown hotel and gave us a room with a shower and a buffet meal in the restaurant. We had a rickshaw ride along Gulshan Road round the embassies and big houses. On Saturday we flew back to Heathrow via Dubai. If you would like to see more of our travels just click the map.