Day 8: Junba Village, Tibet

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Although it is listed on the official website that HKSAR passport can apply for visa on arrival when visiting Nepal, I needed to ensure it with my friend that he went to Nepal from Lhasa before and he did apply for visa in Lhasa in advance. 

In order not to mess up things, I rushed to the Nepal Embassy with Chloe, Eason and that annoying lady in the morning. Friendly reminder: Application of Nepalese Visa is easy. No proof of flight ticket nor accommodation is needed. Tourist just needs to fill in the application form (which can be taken from the staff outside of the embassy) and prepare your passport and 2 passport photos. 

If you have no passport photos, don't worry! There are few shops near the embassy offer instant passport photo service! The application hour of the embassy is from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (Mon-Fri); and the pick-up time is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. (Mon-Fri). Because their working hours are very short, going there earlier to line up is a must! We arrived at around 10 a.m., there were already 50 person lining up in front of the embassy! I was glad that we could make it just in time!

The only way to get to Junba Village

One of the tents

After finishing the visa application, we went back to the guesthouse for lunch. As it was a beautiful sunny day, I decided to wash my dirty clothes which I have been bringing along from Chongqing, and hung them in the patio for dry.

Life seemed to be very relaxing at that moment, as if I had lived there for many years. If one day I retire, Lhasa is definitely a nice place for retirement. However, the weather in Lhasa is still unpredictable. At last, I hung them back on my bed when they were half dried, so as not to get them all wet after I am back from camping!

Apparently beer has become the essentials of life

Bonfire

Cloud layers

At around 4 in the afternoon, all people who would go camping gathered around in the living room of the guesthouse. Owing to the fact that we are one of the favorite groups of owner J, she made an exception and went camping with us! 

This camping tour was once again organized by owner Z. Besides booking the travel coach, he also prepared all the tents/blankets, Tibetan pork, barbecue stove and other food for us. Moreover, he asked the driver to drive us to Yamdrok Yum Tso Lake before driving us back to Lhasa tomorrow. It cost only 120 RMB per head, what a great deal!

Many sheep from far away

Take a close look of the sheep

Tibetan shepherd

When all people arrived at the guesthouse in time, we were ready to go to Junba Village where is located 2 hours away from Lhasa. This village is believably never mentioned on any travel guidebook, as it is not a well-known tourist place. We could come here for camping just because Z made a lot of friends in Tibet. He got to know the village chief somehow and knew how to appreciate the beauty of Junba Village. It is not a jaw-droppingly beautiful place, but for a typical city person like me, the combination of blue sky and green grass is a rarely seen scenery already! In addition, I never went camping before. My first camping experience in this pretty nature is worth every penny, I could not be more excited!  

A very cool looking cow

The famous food in Tibet: Tibetan Pork

We had over 20 people in total, and we separated our jobs after getting off the coach. Some people were building the tents; some people were setting up the bonfire; some people were picking up the glass pieces on the grass; and some people were making the barbecue meat, everyone was busy and disciplined! 

Before getting dark, we started to grill the beef, the Tibetan pork and potatoes! Surrounding the bonfire to eat Tibetan pork and listening to Zhu playing guitar had never been a part of my plan, yet it was an unexpectedly unique and genuinely unforgettable experience, I felt lucky and blessed!

Bonfire at night