Julianne's Diary Day Six -- Zhangmu to Shigatse

Driving straight towards Mt Everest was another highlight. I still can't believe I was looking over at the highest point on the planet, and for the second time! Our convoy of vehicles stopped to pose for group photos here and why not.

The vibrant colours of the Tibetan landscape are breathtakingly beautiful. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

We stopped for lunch at one of the highest elevated hotels in the world, not far from Everest. In fact many mountaineers stay here on their way to Mt Everest and alongside the restaurant was a shop selling climbing equipment.

Some of the mountains we passed were full of slate and we saw people working to extract it as we drove past. Actually these mountains appear to contain more slate than would be needed to create bench tops for every kitchen in Australia.

As we continued along we saw many Tibetan homes. Architecture in Tibet contains both Chinese and Indian influences and reflects deeply held Buddhist beliefs.

Many homes are built facing south and are created using materials such as rocks, stones, wood, cement or earth. The roofs are almost always flat. The windows on these homes are numerous and usually very colourfully painted. The outside walls of the houses are often painted white.

I discovered that little fuel was traditionally available for heating or lighting so roofs were built flat to conserve heat and multiple windows constructed to let in as much sunlight as possible. In this part of the world that's a lot of sunlight.

Nearly every one of these homes has long branches jutting out of each of the four corners of the roof and secured with mud. Tibetan prayer flags are then attached to these branches. These are used to attract good fortune to those who live in the homes.