Anyway, this meant that for the first few days on the road we were putting up tents in the dark, tempers frayed by the unnecessary delays. The scenery was barren but spectacular. We drove through empty plains of gravel and rock, along valleys lined by mountains of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and by huge lakes of incredible blueness and clarity. It is basically desert, and the drive to Kailas must be one of the dustiest you can undertake. In fact, most of central Tibet is dusty and dry, and you are constantly inhaling this fine, floury powder, former mountainside ground down by the incessant winds that blow across Tibet.
Dust masks are a big help.
Conspicuously absent from our trip, however, was Tibet's famous wildlife. These plains, once roamed by vast herds of wild deer, yak, antelope, and ass, were virtually devoid of life. All we saw were the occasional nomad settlements with their flocks of sheep and a few yak. Rarely, a wild hare or a tiny group of deer would scurry by. Years ago, we heard, a bored PLA had machine-gunned most of Tibet's beautiful wild animals into oblivion for fun.