The Bog-Garden Hotel Lhasa

... 13 floors after climbing the ramps and steps 130m before the main building was entered!!!! The getting there whilst hard work added to the appreciation of how much this was also a fortress and government complex of Tibet in the centuries since it was built in the 7th century. However the building as it is today was built by the 5th Dalai Lama in 1645 and took 50 years to complete. It has over 1,000 rooms in it. The palace is divided into two parts, the white palace where the dalai ...

... chinos en grupo... pero no hay un aseo decente. Este consistia en un par de agujeros con una vista espectacular de la ladera de la montana y previos depositos. <br><br>Por la tarde la lluvia ya habia parado y fuimos a pasear por alrededor del Templo Jokhang (en el sentido de las agujas del reloj, como manda la tradicion). La plaza se llama Barkhor. En esta zona ...

... sets a precedent for Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. Clearly this is very misguided! <br><br>When the Mongol empire disintegrated, both China and Tibet regained their independence. The<br>next few centuries saw a rise to power of the Gelugpa order of monks, whose lamas were believed to be reincarnations of their predecessors. The third such lama received the title of 'Dalai', meaning 'Ocean', and implying 'Ocean of Wisdom'. It marked the Gelugpa's entry into the turbulent waters ...

... although the guy with us wasn't sure if that was the right one and spent 5minutes walking up and down the street - eventually he conceded that the first office was found was the right one after all....but Ooohh look, its 4:05pm and its now closed. He rang back to the office and said we would just have to wait til tomorrow, informing him that our visas run out and can't stay he's back on the phone and we head back to the office. On arrival the head agent ...

Day 4 was totally filled with visits to 4 monasteries outside of Lhasa but doable without being rushed. (Most of these monasteries are recommended by Travel Agencies except for Poboula that most consider too small to be worth a visit but ended up being one of my favorites for several reasons.)<br><br>We started by visiting Deprung Monastery (15th century monastery - 7 km west of Lhasa). This was once the largest monastery in the world and had 7000 monks. One of ...

... drove past groups of workers putting the finishing touches to their day's work while others waited for transport back to their tentcamps hovering above the abyss on the valley side of the road. The border town of Zhangmu was a crazy affair and a stark contrast to the sterile arrival at Lhasa's empty airport a few days back. Here a single track road was besieged by heavy traffic from both sides: the colourful trucks from Nepal vs. the heavy duty lorries from China ...

... blinde mensen achterlijk zijn en dat mem ze niks kan leren. Hier wordt het tegendeel bewezen. De kinderen leren Braille, wiskunde, Engels, Chinees, Tibetaans. Ze schrijven met behulp van de brailletypmachine of met behulp van de computer. Een mooi project ... Het project werd in stelling gebracht door een Zwiterse schoonheid met ronde borsten. De dame in kwestie heeft hierover twee boeken geschreven. De weg naar Tibet is de eerste ...

... mountain scenery outside, gave the palace a wonderful mythical air. After a delicious lunch in the centre of Lhasa, we carried on with our tour, now visiting the Jokhang temple and monastery which is located right slap bang in the middle of downtown Lhasa, which is a curious mix of Tibetan pilgrims who come to pray at the shrine and Chinese soldiers dressed in khaki who constantly patrol the surrounding streets. Our guide continued to explain more about Tibetan ...

... and our fellow travellers, so we're doing what we can to help the cause. You see, I told you we have been good boys. Our parents would be proud. Wind down We've spent the last few days in the city generally taking it easy. We've stared at more pilgrims (pilgrims who have stared right back at us), we've dodged more beggars (beggars who didn't want to dodge us) and we've visited both the Jokhang Temple and the Potala Place, using the roofs of ...

... say that Tibet was the best place that I have ever visited. I really loved it and I felt something really magical there which I have never felt before anywhere else. It is a real shame that the Chinese are there screwing things up. If I was you I would get there before everything changes and the Chinese start to change everything. It is also not to touristy as well and only the good tourists go, not the place for the typical package tourist which is great.