The passing countryside still reveals the rubble of priceless monasteries obliterated by the Chinese, especially during their disastrous 1965 to 1976 Cultural Revolution. Other monasteries are being painstakingly reconstructed, and rise from the rubble as reborn outposts of Tibetan Buddhism. Impoverished Tibetans who survived China's purges, crackdowns and communist experiments, now struggle just to survive. Many of the Tibetan villages along this route are protected by walls covered with hand-pressed yak manure, which is dried to be burned as fuel for cooking and warmth, because firewood is scarce. All of the passengers are delighted when the bus stops for lunch.
Chinese passengers prefer fried vegetables, meat and rice.
In the afternoon, the bus finally barrels into Lhasa's valley. The huge, 1,000-room Potala Palace suddenly appears in the distance, rising on an isolated, prehistoric plateau above the surrounding flatland. No longer home to the Dalai Lama, the Potala Palace is now a museum run by the Chinese government. But the palace's approaching silhouette awes passengers who point and feel thankful that their journey will soon safely end. The Friendship Highway ribbons about 725 kilometers, linking Lhasa with Tibet's southern neighbor, Nepal, where a Friendship Bridge allows further travel to and from Kathmandu.