Thanks for that. I lost all my photos to my now ex-girlfriend. we spent 2 months in 1994. it doesn't look any different. more cars.
We took the bus, originally from Chengdu. After a week of gradual ascent we didn't notice the altitude at, what 4,000 m ?
The locals were very friendly, but afraid to talk about politics. back then we were free to roam, just catching a local bus and staying wherever. Samye was my favourite place. An ancient monastery surrounded by strip farming. No electricity and no running water. The toilet was on the roof of the only hotel. No walls or anything, just a view of the Himalaya. No roads, a boat across the river.
I remember seeing many hoopoes, a bird i had only seen in books. In Llahsa, men were selling animal pelts: Snow leopards and red pandas. Han Chinese tourists were buying them. I hated that.
It started getting cold at night in September, so we caught the monthly bus to the border with Nepal. the most picturesque two day bus journey ever.
In Northern India months later, after Q-ing for an hour to meet the Dalai Llama, my girlfriend showed him our diary with pictures of Tibet like yours, KW, and he autographed it, under a picture of the Potthala Palace.
Sorry for rambling on, nostalgia and all that. Feel sad now, don't know why.