ALTITUDE SICKNESS?

We were woken this am by Tim knocking to say Tom wasn't well. A worrying start to the am, but Rik decided to let both of them sleep in and we'd just have a later start to the day. They were both looking a bit rough round hte edges so we took it easy. Luckily Shigatse, our next port of call, is only a 2 hour drive away, across fairly smooth roads- it was bliss compared to yesterday and lots of sleeping took place. Checked in to lovely hotel, rested, had lunch in fab place that served a whole host of different nationality foods, then off to Tashi Lunpo Monastery on our own as Tenzin the guide had to go arrange our permit to Kailash. It was ok, but without a guide we got a bit lost and all the rooms looked kinda the same so we left, having taken photos of Chinese tourists taking photos of each other, and returned to our fav restaurant of earlier. Afternoon shopping and post card writing, back to hotel for rest, then dinner...back at our fav hotel! Luckily Tom is back to normal but Tim's suffering from the beginnings of a cough to go along with his cold, poor lad.

Tomorrow we leave civilisation and probably won't find any more internet access until we get back to kathmandu on August 13th. So don't worry about a long pause between blog entries. We should, all being well, reach Kailash on 7th or 8th of August, so think of us then, starting at 1000metres or so higher than we are now (we're currently at 3,800 metres) and going up to 5600 metres. Hope there's some spare oxygen somewhere! And that the sun stays out for our day time wanderings. So long, till the next missive....


Left- Bizarre statue at our hotel in Shigatse
Below- Tom and Tim at Tashi Lunpo Monastery


















































Rik & Tim in racing rickshaws back to the hotel

ON THE ROAD

Day 1.An early start, lots of sleeping in the car as well as experimenting with the drivers music (Chines and Tibetan pop and hip hop). Drivers name is Choden, and his title is 'Si- Shi-la, which means 'driver' and he cracks up every time we call him that. It was a very bumpy drive to our destination, Gyantse, as the roads are being repaired in 2 places so we had to take diversions through tiny ancient villages (medieval ages) on treacherous tracks, which Sh Shi la handled very well- thank goodness we're in a 4 wheel drive land rover!

Checked in to hotel and whizzed off to monastery just as it started to rain, or pelt down, accompanied by thunder and lightning! Quick trapse round and then to the Kumbum, an amazing stupa with 108 chapels all aorund it. Not all were open and had no lights so we had a candle (lent to us by teh staff) and a tiny torch to light up the walls and statues. And we made it onto the roof- slightly scary as there is no barrier around and it's quite high up- but fantastic view of the town and fort on the other side. We left before getting locked in- it was 8pm and hte monk in charge wanted his dinner) and wandered off to find dinner for ourselves too. The hotel's not brilliant- they haven't swept the floor in ages so slippers are essential, and the shower was dodgy looking (so we didn't try), but it was an ok night all in all.



our guide and driver during a rest break


The town of Gyantse with the fort in the background


A selection of transportation styles: truck, horse and cart, bicycle truck or tractor

More Lhasa

So far we've seen all the important bits of town- the Potala Palace, Sera Monastery, the Jokhang Temple, Drepung Monastery (though I opted out of tht one as my back was playing up), bits of the Barkhor market, assorted restaurants, assorted public toilets (and hte boys are adjusting well to squat loos), an art gallery and n art studio, and had 2 amazing meals (hte 2nd of which was on our last night and was arranged by Jigme in gratitude for our generosity and helpfulness- he arranged for the cook in his guesthouse to put on a special banquet of Tibetan food- it was incredible! and too much- dish after dish after dish! we ended up waddling out of that place barely able to walk!). It took us a while to vbe able to walk up to our rooms on the 4th floor without puffing but eventually we got over it. Sadly, our rooms had no view (unless you call a brick wall a view) but it was a lovely place to stay- called Kyi Chu Hotel, I'd definitely recomend it, and it's right on the edge of the Tibetan quarter so it's fab.

Our last night we did last minute shopping for road supplies- water, biscuits, sweets- the essentials of road travel. Handily, there's a chinese supermarket right near the hotel (I guess the equivalent of a 'Tesco Metro'). And an earlyish night for a fresh start in the am. zzzz...




The Potala with Tim in foreground


Rik at the Jokhang Temple


Debating monks at Sera Monastery


Our farewell/thank you meal from Jigme


The traditional goodbye photo with Jigme and our monk

Lhasa

1.
LHASA
Well, there we were on Saturday afternoon, having just arrived in Tibet, and had decided to go for a gentle potter up the road to get a cuppa from a restaurant I knew, and had just crossed the road when a flash of maroon went by. I did a double take when I realised I knew that flash of maroon- it was my monk buddy who I've know since 95. I hailed him and he grabbed my hand and started shaking it up and down grinning madly while we both gabbered away in outr relative languages trying to work out what on earth the other was saying. He'd say things that I thought I understood but couldn't remember how to answer, so he eventually gestured towards his monastery and led us all back there. I introduced the boys on the way (saying that Rik was my younger brother as I couldn't remember the name for older brother) but it got the message across. Luckily he had hte phone number for another fried who speaks great English and 5 mins later he arrived to do the translating. Which was good timing really as I had told my monk that Rik was a doctor and he'd suddenly sat at his feet and proffered his wrists for his pulses to be taken! Tom took over and tested his pulses and we just about managed to clear up his confusion by saying that Rik works at a Western hospital and Toma t a Chinese hospital (not quite true but it got the message across...again). So a bit of diagnosing later nd between them tehy'd sort of worked out his problem, for which he was extremely grateful. He ran off and reappeared witha thermos of sweet tea, after which we left and spent the rest of the evening with our other pal, Jigme back at the hotel. We'd actually arrived laden with goodies for him, including a laptop, an mp3 player, surge protectors, memory stick, digital camera, etc. It was like Xmas, and he was so embarrassed and happy and overwhelmed! He agreed to join us for dinner too so the boys got to spend more time with him. So that was their introduction to Tibet!



The boys and a monk

We're here...

We made it- we're now in Tibet. Actually we've been here since Saturday but we were so busy, seeing people, seeing sights, etc, that i just didn't have time to go anywhere near an internet cafe. so here I ma, in Gyantse, a 10 horse town, on a computer that wil only let me do things in Chinese, so I'm hoping an d praying that what I'm typing comces out ok. So please excuse hte typos.

We've had a great time so far- catching up with my pals, delivering presents, aclimatising to the altitude. All ok so far, apart from minor effects, suc as mild headaches, loss of appetite, sleepless nights, etc, and each of us has had only one of these, so I think on the whole we're doing really well. My back started playing up the morning we flew to Tibet (for those of you who don't know, I have a slipped disc which happened a couple of weeks before the trip) so I've been doing my exercises whenever I can, inlcuding on the roadside when we stopped for a pee break today.

Weather has been awful- just like being home. But yesterday the sun came out at last and today too. Mind you, we had a fantastic thunderstorm last night!
Wish I could write more, but it's 10:30 pm and I'm going to be locked out of the guest house if I don't hurry back. Not sure if there will be any internet access before we get to Kailash but if there is I'll try to write more and update you on Kathmandu and Lhasa. Bye for now :)