We were not allowed to take photos inside the temple but I did take this one.
The Potala was a typical Buddhist temple with lots of gold Buddhas and candles with yak butter as wax. I soon discovered from my guide that Tibet was very rich in gold and other natural resources. One of the many reasons why the Chinese want to keep control of Tibet.After the Potala I was meant to meet my guide at 3 pm to see the Jokhang but he cancelled on me. It was clear that you get what you pay for in guides and as I didn't pay very much for my guide I was not going to get much of a tour. So instead I worked out with my Dad and Sister, Steph, that they were not coming to Tibet as it was too expensive to organise from Australia and instead I would meet them in Xian on 10th of June.
That arvo i got my train ticket and went to the Jokhang with the Russian lady Galina. While walking around the Jokhang we got lost and ended up in the Muslim part of Lhasa. It felt a bit odd to be surrounded by Muslims in Lhasa, Tibet but everyone was really friendly and you saw monks and Muslims talking together.
On the way back to the hostel we looked for some tours for Galina to go on as she really wanted to go to Mt Everest. While looking at one of the local notice broads I found a flyer for the "Vegetarian house" restaurant which I had read about in the book Trish gave me. The restaurant claimed said it was ideal for people worried about cancer and many other illnesses.
The flyer for the restaurant.
Back at the hostel I meet up with 3 dutch girls {two of whom where a couple} and 2 American guys. I told them about the Vegetarian house and asked if they wanted to come. But it was the dutch girl and one of the American guys last night so we headed off to a yak dinner instead.
The dutch girls
One of the dutch girls and an American guy who have been living together in Beijing for the past year.
Lee, the American and Me
So we all went to this restaurant down Beijing road which served yak meals. After dinner we headed out for a few drinks. First at a bar owned by two Canadians which is the only bar owned by foreigners in Lhasa.
At the bar we meet up with a Tibetan guy who took us to a local Tibetan nightclub called Queen. We danced the night away with locals,who all seemed to enjoy our company. At one stage we had all the locals copying our dance moves. I didn't drink due to the altitude but the club must have had oxygen pumped in cos we were all dancing like normal and jumping around, while for the past few days in Lhasa I couldn't even walk up stairs without getting out of breath.
Us dancing in the nightclub
The locals dancing in the club
We made our way back home at 3am. I had to get up at 9.30am to go to Sera Monastery. The others were going in the afternoon to see the Monks debate but I had already seen it.
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