The plane landed but the feeling was strange. Perhaps it was the fact that the altitude of Lhasa is 12000 feet (3650m) so altitude sickness is very common. The airport was extremely modern but very strange feeling. The outside walls where completely made from mirrors, and these reflected the desert mountains behind giving the whole place a bizarre feeling from the start. We got off the plane and the first thing you feel is a sort of high from not enough oxygen. I soon felt better and had to tackle about 20 forms through Chinese customs, bag Xrays (looking for forbidden items such as Pictures of Dalai lama) my bags where not searched. After all the formalities we met a driver who was madly waving a photocopy of out Chinese visa. He took us to a bus where we met our very nice guide. We where taken in a Mini Bus and began the trip to Lhasa. The roads where unrealistically modern and new. We passed through a new tunnel that is about 2km long and apparently cuts 2 hours off the journey. The desert mountains rising high above rushing rivers made a dramatic introduction to Tibet. At one point we stopped at a huge rock carving of the Buddha (the biggest rock carving in Tibet) I hung some prayer flags in a tree that joined the 1000s of others already blowing in the wind! It was very cold. The fast flowing rivers had iced off sections and even the parts where the water flowed quickly there was ice build up around the edges. There where hundreds of golden ducks, none of which minded the water being full of ice.