Alexia Pestre ended up in Qinghai by accident after Chinese authorities detained and forced her off of a Tibet-bound bus. Watch as she shares her extemporaneous tales of sleeping in monasteries, eating instant noodles with endlessly hospitable monks, and navigating icy mountain roads through a Tibetan snowstorm.

Hailing from Australia, David Yeats lived and worked for two years as an English teacher to young monks in Yushu, Qinghai, the Tibetan area recently hit with an earthquake that killed almost 2,200 people. Now living in Beijing, he traveled back to Yushu to help with the relief effort, and tells us all about it - from the concerted prayer efforts of lamas across the world to the pillagers who posed as monks to snag valuables from the rubble. Recently engaged to a Tibetan woman, David also shares a few of his best pick-up lines that are sure to melt the hearts of many a nomad girl.

To help the earthquake affected people of Yushu: ww.kbi.com.au