Min Tai Hotel Lhasa

... to the north at the base of the mountains. This monastery was built in 1419 and is one of the 2 great Gelugpa sect monasteries. It was the home to 5,000 monks but now has only about 600. Inside of the temples on site we saw again beautifully coloured statues, murals and thangkas. Much yak butter was burning in massive vats holding candles. The floor can be slippery with spilled fat in some places. In a courtyard we witnessed the daily debating of all the monks which is a loud ...

... only reasonable course of action available to us – to get drunk. So we ordered several bottles of a petrol-like spirit called Baijui which at 67% proof, was the only thing likely to drown my newly learned sorrows.

For those of you with a similarly sketchy knowledge of this tragic chapter in world history, here is an even briefer summary on the history of Tibet (unashamedly plagiarised from various sources, not least the LP). It is still a little on the long side, but ...

... we decided, was completely out of bounds. The prices have significantly increased - for an 8day tour it would cost us $700 per person - and would leave us only 7 more days worth of visa to get through China and onto the rest of Asia. So we decided upon trying to catch a flight to Chengdu....

Our final few days in Kathmandu were like banging my head against a brick wall though. It was frustratingly difficult to escape - firstly we had to go to the ...

My last day in Lhasa will bring me to Ganden Monastery which is 40 km out of Lhasa (built in 1417 - 1st yellow hat buddist in Tibet - and there is close to 50 monks now living here.)

I had an amazing ride out of Lhasa to the hilltop where Ganden Monastery is. Such beautiful scenery on the way and the first opportunity I have to see several groups of yaks in the fields ...

Today we got up early and headed to Lhasa. Everyone was keen and excited to get there as we had all heard fantastic things about this holy town. We've had some spectacular scenery getting to Lhasa. We past a beautiful lake called Yamdrok Tso Lake. Its the 3rd largest in Tibet and is separated from Lhasa by the Kampa La Pass (4794m). It was a stunning place to see with turquoise water. We drove by snow-capped ...

... for the vultures to eat, thus carrying the body in parts back to the sky. I believe the remaisns are then burnt as we encountered heaps of ash rather than bones on this site. Next day we enjoyed the dirt road ride back to Old Tingri. We had a bit of convincing to do for Lobsang and Jampa to drive us to the Tsamda Hot Springs Hotel. This is a fairly basic affair with a rather grotty outside hot bathing pool frequented by happy Tibetans. We negotiated 2 double rooms ...

... many groups are not able to visit the Palace as there are crowd control to avoid over loading to the old structure. In the afternoon, we visited the next important attraction - Jokhang Temple. We can see many believers praying continuously for days. Outside of the temple is the busy street of Barkhor.

... us both with a white silk scarf each and placed them around our necks, which is a traditional Tibetan gesture of welcome. One thing that immediately struck was the high military presence around the train station, and Daniella made the mistake of including them in a picture of the impressive and imposing train station. The soldiers reacted badly, shouting at her in Chinese, so she swiftly put her camera back in its bag before they confiscated it. On arrival at our hotel ...

... Dry? No. Damp? Always. · Hey DJ Pat gets a bit distressed by some of the music I play on my laptop. He hasn't openly stated that but I can tell by his shivers and eye-rolling to heaven. He has asked me if he can put his mp3 player contents onto the laptop and I said yes, even though I know he has the likes of CCR, The Jackson Five & Bob Dylan (yawn) on there. Here's hoping this doesn't end our friendship. · Junkies Virtually any drug is ...

... tour group and guide you had to have, evidentially you didn't! The drive from the airport to Lasha was really stunning and the mountains along with the blue water running alongside it was really beautiful. Tibet is over 3,500 meters high and you can really notice it with the altitude, and I would often get short of breath and a bit dizzy from time to time but this was only for the first few days. The first thing I did was take a stroll around the ...