Some of us laid down, while others held onto the sides of the Chinese truck that took us from Kodari through hairpin turns on an extremely rough track to Zhangmu. We arrived at the Chinese border post, met our Tibetan guide Tashi, and jumped in our Toyota Land cruisers to ascend the hairpin turns through Zhangmu and the 30km ride to the small village of Nyalam (3750m). Nyalam is small, consisting of mostly Chinese buildings situated in a gorge surrounded by gray hills. We checked in to the Snow Land Hotel.