Originally emailed Thu, 29 Apr 2004 11:28:14
I’m tired. It’s been a long day, full of a bumpy bus ride up a dirt switchback mountainside trail that resembled a snake. Ever wonder what a vertical kilometer looks like? It’s bloody far – which to Tibetans means it must be the perfect place for a monastery.
A bunch of us went up to Gamden Monastery today, which is set on a hill about 1 1/2 hours south of Lhasa. The Chinese destroyed it during the Cultural Revolution, but now most of it has been rebuilt. We also discovered the “slot squat” toilet, but you may be reading this over a meal so I’ll just leave that to your imagination.
Lhasa has been an amazing time. Here are a couple of my own highlights:
- haggling for gifts in the Barkhor Square
- surviving the hill climb to the Potala Palace
- eating momos, dumplings filled with veggies and yak meat
- drinking chang, the barley beer local tipple
- gazing endlessly at the mountains surrounding the city
- listening to beggars chant the alternate mantra: “hullo munny hullo munny”
There’s soooooo much going on. Claudia’s been doing a great job posting up stuff, along with loads of photos, on her RTW blog
I’ve just been taking it easy, so the blog’s all hers. Check out what she’s been posting though – and especially the photos. Tibet almost seems to have been made for cameras, and she’s been snagging some great shots.
Tomorrow we load up into Land Cruisers and bump our way towards Samye Monastery. It will be a few days before we have internet access (or showers, for that matter).
For now though, I’m going to bed.
Love, chang, and big honkin mountains.
