IN LHASA

Fantastic flight to Lhasa over the Himalayas and we were blessed with perfect weather to get a great view of Everest (see photo from plane window!). Chinese airways a bit rickety, and the seats are so close together I could hardly fit in. In flight food was laughable apart from what looked like a bag of sweeties… I popped one into my mouth only to discover it was yak jerky, yuk jerky more like :-))

Arriving in Lhasa everyone concerned about altitude so a beer free disastrous meal in the hotel, yak tongue and yak tripe on the menu, had a bit of the former (tasted like smoked duck) but gave the latter a miss.

The next day off to the Potala which has got to be one of the most impressive buildings in the world, really takes your breath away as you come round the corner and see it for the first time, weather a bit cloudy but still managed to get some good photos, see below. I was quite keen on all things Tibetan as a schoolboy and had read Seven Years in Tibet, so it was really exciting to wander round the palace where Henrich Harrier had had his meetings with the Dalai Lama.

First we looked round the Dalai Lama’s apartments on the top of the White palace (the rest of it is closed by the Chinese) and it was spooky to see microphones all over the place listening to what we were saying. This is the most politically sensitive area as it is where the last and current Dalai Lama’s held court. On the left of the throne is a portrait of the 13th Dalai Lama but notable by its absence on the other side is the corresponding portrait of the 14th Dalai Lama.

The off to the red palace where you can wander around all the chapels showing throne rooms and resting places of all the Dalai Lamas since the 5th who built it all in the 16th century.

Off to The Jokhang in the afternoon which is the most holy temple in Tibet. Very few western tourists here, place is filled with Tibetan pilgrims walking clockwise around the temples with their prayer wheels, or even prostrating themselves all the way round and Chinese tourists, blissfully unaware of the irony of wandering around temples their parents tried to tear down (bit like German tourists visiting St Pauls…).

Spent the afternoon wandering round the old part of town, absolutely fascinating once you get away from all the stalls selling tatty prayer wheels to the Chinese tourists. One of the few decent things to buy here is a thanka, a religious painting on cloth done by the monks traditionally. Difficult to separate the authentic ones from those mass produced in Nepal. However, trusting the lonely planet guide I visited a shop they recommended and bought a beautiful geometric Thanka, used to aid in Tantric meditation – the more usual ones showing Buddhist gods were not to my western taste. So, lets hope I can get it home in one piece.

Tomorrow we start our main trip with a very gentle 50 miles of flat riding and three nights of camping. Which means that the next update will be a few days away.