Taixing Hotel Xigaze

... 10th<br>Panchen Lama was actually picked by the Chinese government; there was<br>an expectation that he would follow and stay in line with Chinese<br>rules. However the 10t h Panchen Lama sided with the<br>Tibetans and presented then Chinese leader Mao with a list of the<br>wrongs committed against Tibetans by Chinese troops and requested<br>that Tibetans be given more freedoms. In a speech in front of a<br>large Tibetan crowd he said that Tibet would one ...

... prominent in the monasteries), carrying various loads of great stone chunks, livestock (deadstock on occasion) - and huge 4x4s with tinted windows zooming past other road users at great speed, horns blaring. <br><br>We visited Tashilhunpo Monastery this morning, which is quite different from anything we've seen so far. Several temples reside inside the large complex, with more Buddahs than you can shake a stick at, and ...

... image of Jampa (the future Buddha) took four years to complete and uses a remarkable 300kg of gold. The site was built in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama. It was so interesting that Leon was bored after the second room!!! After visiting the monastery we decided to walk around the outside of the building which took very long time!! At least we got good views of the city. <br>

Another sleepless night. The altitude pills take most of the headache away, produce some interesting tingling sensations in fingers and face as side-effects, but can't get me to sleep. My mind just keeps racing from one thought to the next without following any through to a satisfactory end. And the strange thing is, I don't feel tired at all. It's a natural high. The road is fairly similar to yesterdays, with lots of brown dusty mountains, high ...

... rises up to bite me in the ass). posted in hostels, hotels, and travel agents around lhasa are a multitude of hand written notices, people looking for others to join them in a tour to make hiring the land cruiser as affordable as possible. it's a frustrating way to organize travel as the posters are often for a specific time period, a specific route, or often just old and no longer relevant. there are generally a lot of people trying to hook up with land cruiser tours, but ...

... annoying. Afters we started our drive to Gyangtse, another few hours, and we had to go back down that windy road! :P We stopped for pic-nic lunch at a local tibetan house which was cool. After a while of driving along the main highway (the chinese built Friendship Highway) we went off-road through a desert! Eventually we reachd Gyangtse at aroun 6pm, a small town with v little in it, we went for a wander after dinner but v little else to do ...

... to pay tribute to the Tibetan defenders who sought to "preserve the territorial frontiers of greater China against British imperialists" or some bs like that. True to the Communist habit of uglifying anywhere they set foot with decrepit looking monuments and squares, the area directly in front of the outcrop on which the fortress was built was at some point made into a sprawling park and public square, with a big phallic ...

These Nalgene bottles are awfully handy for making tea. You can stop at any Tibetan roadside hovel, request a liter of water, add your own Earl Grey or Guan Yin, and instant refreshment. The only problem is drinking it when you're dodging the remnants of the previous evening's rockslides, slogging through foot-deep mud and swerving around bends in mountain roads clinging to sides of canyons. The screw-off bottle top results in spillage and a constantly scalded ...

... or the lack of washing, but some bug has found its way to us. I feel pity for my friends because it is difficult to enjoy the sights when you would rather curl up in a warm bed. Here we have neither. I keep drinking my water and take a dose of prevention as well. Now, when we visit monasteries we pray for health. One of my favorite beverages in Tibet is tasty, heart warming ginger tea. I believe this is good for both body and soul, as the more I drink the better I ...

today it was a real sunny day, not much cloud but too strong sunshine. Our jeep brought us to Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet. After noon, we arrived at Tashilhunpo Monastery which was the key feature of this city and its fame was just next to the Potala Palace. To me, it was far more exciting to explore Tashilhunpo Monastery than the Potala Palace. Once you deeply immersed in this red-dorminant complex, you would get loss in ...