The high life

We flew into Lhasa yesterday and after an extremely loooong time being processed through the ever so clean and quiet customs and immigrations at the airport were met by our Tibetan guide, Tenzing and driver Chinchizli (I think his name is!). It was an hour long drive from the airport to Lhasa and very beautiful as we drove alongside the turquoise Yarlung River. Stopped for one photo opportunity at the famed rock carving of Sakyamuni (the historical Buddha), then it was on into Lhasa and our hotel, the Kyichu Hotel. Our room is very comfortable and spacious but the window looks out onto the grey breeze block building three feet away next door!

Smithy and I went for a little excursion to a nearby supermarket where we had fun buying coffee, whitener, biscuits, water, and some fruit. Then we had to work out where to pay...I finally forked over the princely sum of 38 Yuan for all our goodies (there's about 6Y to the Aussie dollar). We treated ourselves to an icecream each which we ate outside the supermarket. It was fun trying to figure out from the wrappers what the flavour might be. I swear there was one that was made from peas! I scored well, choosing one with chocolate ripples through it but Smithy dipped out on her purple one with what looked like it had nuts in it. Nope! Purple icecream in purple coating! And it tasted not quite like an ice cream!

Then it was back to the room for bit of a lie down. The altitude is really noticeable here - 3600m+ - so any exertion makes you puffed and the heart race. We both had headaches too but mine went overnight. Smithy woke up with one and has had one all day today. Which was bit of a shame as it was a major sightseeing day today.

First the Jokhang Temple, the most sacred monastery in Tibet. We joined the throngs of pious Tibetans moving clockwise in and out of the many many tiny chapels, all with their butter lamps burning. Very moving and completely fascinating. It is very difficult to convey the age of the buildings, murals and statues we were looking at. Some dated from the 7th century! Coming out of the Jokhang we joined the circumambulation of the Barkhor, the circuit around the Jokhang which Tibetans walk endlessly as part of their devotions. Stalls line the way and we had a great time peering at jewellry, clothing, musical instruments and so much more. Even more fun was watching all the people in their traditional dress as they went around.

From there, we were driven to the Potala Palace. We knew it was big, but boy is it BIG! It looms over you as you stand at its base. Incredibly, this 115m high, thirteen storey building was constructed without a single nail. Again, its sheer antiquity is overwhelming. We were touching wooden beams carved 1000 years ago! Sadly, the Potala is a mere museum piece now. I can't imagine how it would look and feel if brought back to life with monks and ministers all scurrying up and down the very narrow steep stairways.

After a tasty lunch with a panoramic view of the Potala it was off the the Sera Monastery, about half an hour's drive north of Lhasa. We saw how the scriptures were handprinted from wooden blocks and watched the monks debating points of Buddhist doctrine. Again, looking round all the chapels with their centuries old statuary was amazing.

So that was our first day of sightseeing. We had to have another little lie down to recover from it all before venturing back to the Barkhor to buy some T-shirts and to have dinner.

Apart from the Potala Palace and the Tibetan quarter around the Jokhang, there is absolutely no character to Lhasa - Tibetan or Chinese - it's just a metropolis, but one with very clean streets and relatively quiet traffic!

We have one more day in Lhasa then it's off on the open road to Everest Base Camp and then westward to Mt Kailash.