Prayer flags & temples | Stephen's adventure in Tibet

Stephen travelled to Tibet with Rickshaw and made sure to take plenty of fantastic photos along the way! We’re lucky he’s agreed to share them with us. Here’s what he had to say about his exciting trip…

“You hear a lot about the tempestuous relationship between China and Tibet, so it was with genuine excitement and intrigue that we travelled from Qinghai to Lhasa. Traversing what seemed like every type of landscape via the relatively new, wonderfully elongated train route, the truly striking journey revealed vast expanses of water, mountain and tundra on an impressive scale.

Arriving at the squirrelled high-altitude capital of Lhasa, the humbling mountainous surroundings towered over the low-level community, tightly protecting the ancient concentration of Tibetan dwellers. We were quickly ready to explore the spiritually rich and revered plateau, eager to head into the inviting centre, but not before being warmly decorated with a white Khatak – a ceremonial silk scarf welcoming our arrival.

We wandered the streets of Lhasa, a bright and colour-filled affair, passing a hotchpotch of simple buildings down pedestrian-friendly passages, drawn to the wealth of attention grabbing flourishes. Cobbled roads and dusty paves trickle throughout, ensuring that no one’s ever far from a place of worship within the spiritual heart of Tibet.

Tibet’s intimate relationship with Buddhism is sewn throughout the surroundings; awash with streams of vibrant prayer flags, the routes are punctuated with brilliant and lavishly decorated temples, dotted with soaring poles and spinning prayer wheels.

The sensory bath intensifies within any one of the intoxicating temples. Smoking candles, luxuriously decorated shrines, yak butter offerings and bright shrouds fill the sacred spaces, and much like Tibet itself, left us with a vivid lasting impression.”

If you’d like to see more of Stephen’s photography then head on over to his Stephen Jarvis photography account.