Lhasa

In the morning I had the free Chinese breakfast at the hostel, which consisted of Cong (tasteless rice porridge) and some veggies that had been cooked in oil and coated in soy. Not exactly what I felt like. My guts were now not feeling the best. After breakfast i went to the snowland hotel to work out this 'tour' I was booked on. Foreigners can not travel to Lhasa without a permit and they can not get a permit without being on a tour. You are only meant to stay in Lhasa for the length of your tour but everyone stays longer. I was booked in to a 2 day city tour which cost me around $AUS100 with a $AUS170 deposit. I was a bit concern that I wouldn't see the deposit again but it all worked out fine in the end.

At the snowland hotel they told me to call my guide and I could start my tour tomorrow. At this stage I thought my Dad and sister were coming to meet me in Lhasa so tried to see if there was an trips to Everest I could fit in before they arrived. It didn't look likely and I was a bit scared of Altitude sickness and wanted to spend a few days in Lhasa before trying to go higher.

After catching to my guide on the phone I went to the Potala to organise my ticket to get in the next day. While in the line I meet this really nice Chinese- American family who were very concerned about me travelling alone. It was nice they were concerned but I had found China a really easy place to travel alone and felt reasonable safe the whole time.

After getting my ticket for the Potala I headed off on the local bus for the Drepung Monastery. The bus ride was great fun being the only foreigner on the bus. The Lonely Planet made it sound like the walk to the monastery was really easy but after 30min walking up hill in the heat I was stuffed.

Stuffed after my hike!

The monastery was not what I expected and looked like Middle eastern houses. The Tibetan writing is also sand script which added to this middle eastern feeling.

Drepung Monastery

While at the Monastery I was able to see the Monks debate. The noise was so loud. I walked into a court yard and saw a few hundred monks debating. In the debates one monk sits on the ground and answers with other standings monks questions. At the end of a question the standing monk claps. Each pairs of monks do this at their own pace so the sound is amazing loud. I sat on the ground between some monks for about an hour. It was just such an amazing sight. The Tibetan language is much softer on the ear than the Chinese.

After the Monastery I went to a small Tibetan restaurant down the hill which only had Tibetan writing so I assumed it would serve local food. I really wanted to try some local Tibetan food like yak butter tea. The restaurant was run by a local woman and her three girls. I instantly really liked the family. The three girls were aged 13, 19 and 21.

Mum and Me


The restaurant was mainly visited by monks and they didn't seem to have served many foreigners. There was a fancy place next door aimed at foreigners. The rest of the afternoon I sent talking to the girls and eating. The 13 year old got her English text book from school out and tried to talk to me. At school she had to learn Chinese and English but spoke only Tibetan at home. I took some photos of the family and promised to come back in a few days to given them some copies of it. Me and the 13 year old

At around 6pm I made the long walk back to my bus. Apparently it was technically illegal for me to take the local bus and the bus drivers could have be fined for carrying a foreigner but I had no trouble and no one seemed to mind. That night I didn't do much just took it easy.