LHASA, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Fifty-eight years ago, Norbu Cering spent over ten days traversing mountains and dales out of his hometown in Medog, a county in Tibet that was China's last to receive a highway link.

In the 1950s, the 85-year-old man was among the first three people to succeed in venturing out of Medog to receive a college education in Beijing.

"Generations of people in the isolated county have dreamed of seeing the outside world, but few people dared to travel and few survived on the 'monkey road' in the deep valleys," according to the elderly man of Monba ethnicity.

Medog, a county in Nyingchi Prefecture in southeastern Tibet, has been dubbed the "secret lotus." It is quite different from other regions in Tibet in terms of both scenery and weather. Surrounded by mountains, it is humid and rich in resources.

Getting out of Medog used to be a dangerous journey in which people had to climb over Galung La and Doxong La, two snow-capped mountains rising over 4,000 meters above sea level. On these mountains, there were frequent accidents such as landslides and collapses.

Local people called the rugged path out of Medog of the "monkey road," as only people who were light and flexible like monkeys could make their way out of the mountains, said Norbu Cering.

"With only mountain trails and temporary bridges, even flexible monkeys could easily fall into the deep valley," said Norbu Cering.

The lack of modern transportation infrastructure isolated the "secret lotus" from the outside world and restricted its development.

In the past, Medog had no postal services and little communication with the outside world. Local residents mainly had to rely on horses and mules for transportation and many had never seen a automobile.

"My father was a prestigious astronomy officer in Medog. Like many natives in the isolated county, he also had lifelong dream of seeing the outside world," said Norbu Cering.