Over the pass

At a height of 5,210 metres, a band of icy snow blocks the track. Tsetan throws soil on it, so that the tyres can grip, and the car gets across. Later, he drives round a second snowdrift.

As they climb above 5,400 metres, the author's head throbs with the lack of oxygen. At the top of the pass stands a cairn (a pile of stones), decorated with silk scarves and prayer flags. Following Tibetan custom, they walk round it clockwise. The lower air pressure even makes the petrol in the car's tank expand and hiss.

The high plateau is dotted with salt flats and brackish (salty) lakes. They are what is left of the Tethys Ocean, which disappeared millions of years ago when the land of India pushed into Asia, raising Tibet high into the sky. Men still dig salt from one of these lakes.

The author's writing is lively partly because he uses the active voice for most sentences: 'Tsetan threw soil on the snow,' rather than 'Soil was thrown on the snow.'

Notice also the structure 'have something done', meaning to get someone else to do it: Tsetan wanted to have his tyres fixed.