Jumping through hoops and red tape

Given the stories we had heard, coordinating a tour to Tibet from Kathmandu fell into our laps quite easily. Within our first day, we found the coordinating agency and set the ball rolling to get a 'tourist group visa' for Tibet. The only way you are allowed into Tibet is on an organized tour with a guide. This is not our preferred mode of travel but it was our only option...so we jumped on the opportunity. Our visa for Tibet is not valid for mainland China, so we will have to go through the process again (aka shell out more money!) when we continue into China. We piled onto the bus along with the others in our group of 30 and cruised out of Kathmandu. From the border, we leapt into our caravan of land cruiser jeeps. Quite different from our jeep experience in India, there were only 4 of us per jeep (plus our silent Tibetan driver who seemed to only know how to say, "tomorrow!" which was the only response we would get). Our tour was indeed the budget tour as we were herded along and our guide was extremely apathetic...only passing along the most pertinent information. But nothing could dampen the experience of cruising along the vast, desolate landscape of the Tibetan Plateau. Watching the sun rise and cast shadows over the rolling peaks we were driving through, driving through small villages of matching earthen houses (painted white with black and red accents), watching locals hearding sheep while thumbing through their prayer beads, and visiting countless monasteries. It is a magical place full of rich colors against a drab, yet captivating landscape. A culture hanging on by a string that we only got the quickest glimpse of under a guided hand. However, we found this glimpse to be extraordinary...and certainly better than no glimpse at all!