Beautifully green patch on top of the mountain: 
Silk Route is well known, while Tea-Horse Trade route are not often talked about. China traded tea with Tibet. Tibetans who took a lot of Chinese tea to supplement their diet. Horses were used to transport the tea along difficult route on steep hills. Today, the roads through this region are a lot better but still very narrow, windy and very dangerous. Photos: It was questionable if this bridge would take the combined weight of Calypso and the passengers. For safety, we all got out and walked.
Tim had to get out and inspect this overhanging cliff around a corner - so that Calypso could negotiate it safely. 
(Calipso under a crag) Landslips are common along the defiles. This example: Steep cliff on one side and precipice/deep ravine on the other, and a third of the road width covered with slip material - exciting stuff! 
This is a typical winding road we took through this region. 
.... and lunch break on top of the world: 
This is the Lancang Jiang (river) which will eventually flow through Indochina and be called the Mekong River. Picture take at village Dengba: not obvious in the photo, the water through this gap was quite fierce
Along the way we saw scores of cyclists, pligrims ( a couple of them were posturing toward Lhasa), donkeys, etc.
Road construction we saw was still very menial and hard work. Each stone was individually shaped by hand and man-handled.
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