Tibet is unlikely to become a hot destination for foodless. Though you will not starve, Tibetan food will probably not be a highlight of your trip. In Lhasa, there are a few restaurants that have elevated a subsistence diet into the beginnings of a cuisine but outside the urban centres, Tibetan food is more about survival than pleasure. On the plus side, fresh vegetables and packaged goods are now widely available and you are never far away from a good Chinese cuisine stores.

Specialties of Tibet
The basic Tibetan meal is tsampa, a kind of dough made with roasted – something wet. Tibetans skillfully knead and mix the paste by hand into dough-like balls – not as easy as it looks! Tsampa with milk powder and sugar makes a pretty good porridge and is a fine trekking staple, but only a Tibetan can eat it every day and still look forward to the next meal. Outside of Lhasa, Tibetan food is limited to greasy momos and thugpa. Momos are small dumplings filled with meat or vegetables or both. Variations on the theme include hipthuk and thenthuk. Glass noodles known as Phing are also sometimes used. The other main option is shemdre, a stew of potatoes and yak meat on a bed of rice. In smarter restaurants in Lhasa or Shigatse you could try dishes like damje or shomday, droma drase and shya vale.

In rural areas and markets, you could see strings of little white lumps drying in the sun that even the flies leave alone – this is dried yak cheese and it is eaten like a boiled sweet. For the half-hour it is like having a small rock in your mouth, but eventually it starts to soften up and taste like old, dried yak cheese. Also, popular among nomads is yak sha. It is normally cut into strips and left to dry on tent lines and is pretty chewy stuff.

Muslim Food in Tibet
The Muslim restaurants found in almost urban centers in Tibet are an interesting alternative to Chinese or Tibetan food. These are normally recognizable by a green flag hanging outside or Arabic script on the restaurant sign. Most chefs come from the Linxia area of Gansu. The food is based on noodles, and of course, there is no pork.

Food in Tibet also could be regarded as a charming sightseeing waiting for your special taste and enjoy!

With this 10 days tour, we could able visit Beijing, Lhasa and Shanghai. Beijing and Shanghai could be very common cities that everyone could travel when come to China. But, how about Lhasa? Yes, Lhasa as the very important site in Tibet, heard as the highest land in the world filled with lots of interesting and really attractive destinations. Very authentic, ancient and even sacred place spread all over the city.

Barkhor Street in Lhasa

So, my trip with family, in total of 7 people of us began our journey from the capital. Of course, we did visit Great Wall, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and many others significant attractions around the city before transferred to Lhasa. After full 2 days trip explore Beijing, on the fourth day, we took a long train journey to Lhasa. We arrived at Lhasa on the next day. In fact, our guide and the trip advisors were already told me about mountain sickness (commonly happen to people who visit Tibet) before the tour. So we could prepare for the worst. Luckily, all of my family members were health, nothing bad happened, only sometimes hard to sleep at night. Some tips you should notice when you are in Lhasa is never get too much tired, do not do something over energetic.

All our efforts, time and everything were so worth! Lhasa is a beautiful place, kind of mysterious. Along the way, our guide always with us guided us well to the famous attractions at the same time, gave us some tips when we were in the city. Our guide was a local people who very informative and glad to share lots of information about Lhasa. We had no worries for travelling Lhasa. Although the city was little bit remote, old and mysterious but I enjoyed the atmosphere, feel so different from other cities in China.

Majestic Potala Palace - The Highest Palace on Earth

Over the next couple of days we visited Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Sera Monastery, Barkhor Street, Norbulingka Park etc. All of them were incredible but the Potala Palace was truly breathtaking both mentally and physically. I was lucky to be honored with the opportunity to witness such devotion in the most incredible temples and palace. It was a priceless experience I will never forget.

At last after Lhasa, we also had a chance to admire the modern city of Shanghai. It was a beautiful city where I saw the old and new Shanghai at the same time. Thank you for the nice arrangements so we can have a chance to visit those 3 famous cities around China! Appreciate!