Tibet

In my mind, Tibet is a vast emptiness of dried brown grassland surrounded by crystalline blue lakes with thawing white ice on its surface and set against a backdrop of snowy mountains towering high up into the clear blue sky. It's a place where the vastness of the sky and the land link.
I think I can understand why this place holds many favorite sites for pilgrims. The holiness, the wilderness, the close proximity to nature, the sense of mystic surrounding, all set the mind in awe and seem to have the power to instill some kind of spirituality to awaken the mind in certain way. Tibetians lead simple lives which are sustained by deep religious faith often rooted in Buddhism. The grandeur of their temples stand high up with its architecture adding interesting colors to the tibetian landscape.
Coming from a modern city, I feel I have been thrown at least a 100 years back in time. Indeed, like what they term as an alien permit required of tourists coming into the country, I am an alien in this country. Pilgrims sometimes leave personal belongings at the site, as a signification of leaving the past behind and starting life anew. Despite all the daily inconveniences and me suffering from AMS, I guess I have also left a certain part of my heart in Tibet, even though I was there for a brief stay and only as a bystander.

From Xian to Xining to Tibet via Qingzang Railway