Xueya Hotel Lhasa

... An added bonus was a view across to the Potala Palace the most impressive place in Lhasa. Also visible from the roof were the Chinese military personel armed and scattered across the roof tops of other buildings overlooking the square and on the ground groups of 6 were marching up and down through the crowds .Meema told us later that in 2008 tourists were stopped from coming to Tibet yet 2007 had a lot of tourists. This year more are allowed but there was a stop during the ...

... a wide variety of Chinese music. Think Olympic Games and you will be close. The video attached is what welcomed us. It was nice to see tourists and locals just hanging out together, although it was very difficult not to burst out laughing at some of the oh so serious poses the elderly and middle aged Chinese men used for their holiday snaps.

For those interested in an update on the elderly Americans , and the big bust up. Well nothing happened. They threatened to leave ...

... thanks to my companion on the train, who had managed to conceal the Lonely Planet guide book in the spine of his rucksack (yes even the LP guide book is banned!). A few days earlier an American studying Tibetology had given me some advice on books that covered the subject in a balanced way and had mentioned how surprisingly good the history section of the LP was.

So in the compartment I shared with five Chinese tourists, I curled up on my bunk, with the Lonely Planet ...

Well at long long last I have been able to get onto travel pod. For the large part, it seemed it was banned on computers in China, for the first time though i've been able to get on.

Now for the low down - we have now long left Nepal and shall now briefly fill you in. From Pokhara Izzy and I got ourselves sorted for a trek in the Himalayas. We decided to do the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek, which was described as the most intensly scenic route in the Himalaya ...

... if he did not want to eat with me!

I dropped my pen on the floor. UGH! I have developed a habit of dropping things on the floor since we have arrived in China. It never happened before and only happens now because people spit everywhere. UGH!

One strange thing that we have seen in China is the talking calculators. They are so bizarre!

We walked to the park in front of Potala. It is after dark (9:00) and the lights are on. The is music on and a ...

... Lamas. The places are so colourful as they are adorned with all the 5 colours of the prayer flags that indicate red for fire, orange/yellow for earth, green for water, blue for sky and I'm afraid to say I have forgotton what the white represents. There is also the cold to contend with. It wasn't too bad last night but nowhere has any heating and it has been snowing a bit yesterday and today so thermals, coats, hats and the rest is the order of the day.

... spot after the other. We also explored a Hermitage covered with prayer flags on the way back, The area was beset with many funeral stupas and was a bit eery in a sense that we felt we should not be here. Smoke from a small house on site and a glowing butter lamp behind a large prayer wheel were the only signs of use and intensified the "The Hills Have Eyes" or "Blair Witch" feeling. We mused that this place was probably one of the remote sky burial sites, the ...

Lhasa ist sehr interessant und hat super gefallen. Die Stadt ist in mehreren Hinsichten sehr gruen ;-) Wir haben diverse Tempel besucht und viel ueber den Buddhismus gelernt. Der Potala-Palast ist einfach gigantisch! Da wir nun fuer laengere Zeit ein Trekking im Himalaya machen, ist dies vorlaeufig unser letzter Blog-Eintrag. Wir freuen uns, euch in einem Monat ueber dieses Abenteuer zu berichten. Bis bald....und tschuess.....!

... nomads had been camped on my first visit. But the nomads were gone. Rings in the grass showed where their round tents had pressed down all summer. Ashes in their fire pits were undisturbed. We had missed them by a day at most, perhaps only a few hours. In these high September peaks, snow was already in the air. On a distant pass, we saw two men in dark clothes. They looked back at us, briefly, and then went over. I tell you, I was there. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jh tml?xml=/arts/2007/12/15/sm_shambhala.x ml&page=3

... Pat are left wondering why anyone would want to be a monk. All they seem to do is sit around temples in a daze, chanting, banging drums and lighting incense. I guess we just don't understand how one can devote ones whole life to a religion in such a way in the hopes of reaching enlightenment by the constant repetition of a physical act (chanting, banging drums etc). To us it seems like such a waste. I never thought this about monks before ...