Day 5: Lhasa again!

We were on the road heading toward Lhasa at 6:00 a.m. - - the sky was filled with stars and constellations I'm not familiar with but Eileen is. It was mesmerizing with not a cloud in sight. We headed out early so we could avoid road construction; that's not to say we avoided bad roads, just the construction! See the photos to see what kind of road we travelled on one small section! We passed by the most beautiful lake (I'll have to get the name of it; it's one of only 4 lakes in Tibet) with snow-capped mountains all around. Absolutely stunning! To top it off the lake exhibited the most beautiful shades of blue/aqua! Just gorgeous. And high: we were at about 5100 meters (just under 17,000 feet).

I never thought I'd be so happy to get back to Lhasa but I'm thrilled! Our hotel is pure luxury compared to what we've had complete with a hot shower and a flush toilet! So nice! Eileen and I rested the first afternoon of our return, reading and getting organized. We had dinner at 7:00 at Tashi 1 in the back packing district and enjoyed our bobi (tortilla-like bread with cream cheese sauce and chicken/vegetables placed inside) and french fries! These fries are wonderful and we've been there twice for them. It's communal eating at big tables so there's great opportunity to meet other travellers and learn more about other people's journeys. At our table came a gregarious group of people in their 60's from both Norway and Sweden. They were joined by 3 of their adult children so we were a big table. Lots of laughter and conversation some of which was forbidden about Myanmar; we touched on that only briefly. That is not covered on the news here so the only way to learn about it is to read the headlines on Yahoo. I am unable to open the news articles but am able to at least read the headlines. There is little to no information on the outside world here. Actually, there's no real news about Tibet at all. After discussing my Scandinavian background with the travellers and being told I look Swedish, we left to shop. Then to the music bar for some Lhasa beer. They remembered me from the other night when I was there with Son and Hoe so welcomed me with a hug and kiss. One of the guys sells jewelry so he pulled out his stash and showed it to us on one of the tables. Eileen bought a few things, I bought a silver ring that has a rotating piece in the middle that has a Tibetan saying. I can't read it but know that it says (phonetically): Ohm Ma Nee Bay May Hung. It stands for "all of humanity" and symbolizes prosperity and purity. And it's just a really cool ring. Tres Tibetan.