I: Introduction

The topography of Tibet makes the travel in Tibet extremely difficult. The eastern Tibet is covered by steep valleys and tall mountains which reach 5000 metres above the sea level. It is common to travel 3000 metres vertically to the the bottoms of the valleys to continue the road. The rivers are traversable only by long suspending bridges. The northern Tibet is a high plateau reaching 6000 metres above the sea level. The frozen earth is harder to cross than the poles because the extra burden of thin air. Traditionally, it takes months or years to move around in Tibet. In the winter, the travels become almost impossible. The difficulties of traveling in Tibet were taken into consideration by military commenders in the past. For instance, when Qing army led by Fu Kang-an in the Sino-Nepal war in 1792 invaded Nepal, the Qing court had to agree to a peaceful settlement because the winter was around the corner. Or the British army had to withdraw after conquering Lhasa in 1904 because the winter was coming.
In the past, Tibetans traveled along the trails by horses, the beasts of burden were yaks and sheep. The Tibetan horses are short and suitable for the thin air. The yak is strong, cold-resist and feeds on coarse grasses of the high land, sheep are tame. The main materials transported are salt from the northern lake areas, tea from Han areas. To cross a river, if it is shallow, a wooden bridge is sometimes built, if the valley is steep, a suspending bridge is sometimes built. For wide and smooth river, Tibetans use rafts made of yak skins.

II: Trip

The life on a trail is difficult. In the pastoral areas, the travelers usually ride horses or yaks. For a horse-ride trip, the traveler carries a few things; a simple copper pot, a wind-box, some `tsamba', tea, dried meat etc. In the afternoon, the traveler locates a grass land for the horse, and cook a simple meal for himself. The traveler finds a flat land at dusk to rest. The traveler either set up a small tent or uses the saddle for pillow and sleep on the ground.

In the agriculture areas, people use ass and donkey. Although people prefer the noble horses which are hard to raise, the common ass and donkey are more useful. For a short trip, people have to call the help of the humble animals.
III: Caravan

In early spring each year, herdmen drive their pack-animals, yak or sheep, across hundreds or thousands of kilometres to destinies to fetch the materials. The salt journey takes about two, three months, while the tea journey which trades Tibetan horses with Han tea takes up to two years. They themselves consume a very small portion of what they bring home; the rest of salt they keep until late autumn or early winter to trade for grain in the farming areas and the tea will be traded for horses.

A team consists of at least four men, each responsible for about thirty-five yaks on the average. Usually each yak carries about 50 kilograms, each man would load and unload 1,750 kilograms each day of the journey. Each team has for its leader a person held in high esteem for whom there is a special seat in the tent. Every morning before they starts out, someone in charge of religious rituals during the journey chants scriptures, burns small barley cakes as offering to the deities, and strikes a hand bell with small rod as a accompaniment.

As the pack-animals are in the habit of stopping to graze along the way, a team covers no more then 20 kilometres a day. On the journey many pack-animals, sheep in particular, die of exhaustion, thirst, and hunger. Making the small and frail sheep carry loads is in itself a cruelty. Moreover, because there are too many of them to a caravan, the men cannot possible unload them at the end of each day as they do with yaks. These poor little sheep must bear their burden day and night all through the weeks of the journey. Consequently, the hair on their backs gets rubbed off, and their skins become raw and infeded, so that even if they were slaughtered there and then, the flesh from that part would be rotten.

The salt packmen are very strict about not taking women along on the journey because that would displease the jealous Salt Lakes.

Although the caravans has been carried on in Tibet for hundreds of years, the trails are fast failing into disuse. With the last county `Medog' in the southeastern Tibet was connected to the highway system in 1994, all materials can be delivered to every county by trucks now. The time and labour saved has made the prices of merchandises at rural areas very cheap.

IV: Bridge

To cross a shallow river, a simple bridge is constructed with woods and stones.

The greatest contribution of Tibetan engeneering is probably the invention of the iron suspending bridge. The suspending bridge was an old idea developed in the Han Dynasties in China. First they suspended a rope over a valley to transmit human and material. Later on, it was modified to have three ropes with two higher ones for human beings to hold. Then it was modified to four ropes with the lower two covered by wood boards. In Tibet, it has been perfected to the present form. The Tang monks marveled while traveling through Tibet to India. Most suspending bridges in Tibet are made of ropes nowaday.
V: Raft

The rafts (coracles) are made of yak skin with wooden frames. They can be carried by a single person and are used for ferry for several or up to scores of people. In the northwestern part of China, the rafts are made with cowhide air pockets very much like the modern rubber rafts. Here, they are different.

VI: Modern Transportation

There are modern airports at Lhasa and Chamdo. The highway system reaches all counties of Tibet. Due to the high attitude, steep valley and frozen earth, a railroad has been on paper in the planning for the last thirty years without any motion in sight.