Lhasa
On Saturday (30 September), after I got settled, I went for a walk. I was wearing my eye glasses because of my contact problem and the sun was really intense. So I found an eyeglass shop and got some clip-on's. They really sucked, but I couldn't see in the sun without them. Then I went for a walk around Potala Square in front of the famous Potala Palace. That palace is amazing!! I can't wait to check it out, hopefully tomorrow (Tuesday, 3 Oct). I also checked out some other hostels on the way and found one that I planned to move to the next day (called Dong Cuo HI hostel). I also checked all the hostels' bulletin boards which are packed full with notices of people looking to put trips together. Unfortunately they all want to go down to Everest Base camp and on to the Nepal border but I don't want to do that yet. I thought I found a couple of people for a trip out to western Tibet and talked to a guy about it, but that later fell through (today!). As I was walking back to my shitty hostel (called Banak Shol) I got a slight headache from the altitude. I took a couple of advil and half a diamox (altitude medicence) and felt better a little while later. Hung out in the roof top bar talking to people that evening.
On Sunday (1 October) morning after breakfast, I switched hostels. The new one is okay, but I think I will even switch again on Tuesday..... There really seems to be a problem with clean, non-smelling toilets and showers here in Lhasa. As I was checking notice boards at another hostel, and about to post a notice myself, I ran into a Canadian guy, Brian, that I met in Chengdu. Him and his friend are cycling from Lhasa to Kathmandu starting in a couple of days. I had seen him on my first day in Lhasa so it wasn't a surprise to run into him (especially since I was using the toilet at his hostel!). He asked what I was doing that day and I told him I had no real plans. He told me how he had just forked over the money to rent a jeep and driver for the day to go to a monastery outside Lhasa that he really wanted to see. He told me I was welcome along and he was already paying for it anyways. So me, Brian, and another British guy, Daniel, headed out of Lhasa with our Tibetian driver - who spoke no english, and us, no Tibetian - to the Tsurphu monastery about 70 km northwest of Lhasa. I knew nothing about the monastery so Brian filled us in on the importance of it on the way. The 2-hour drive was superb! About 3/4 of the drive was on a small gravel road up into this mostly tree-less valley surrounded by mountains on both sides. Beautiful! A mountain river ran down the middle of the valley to complete the perfect scenery.
When we finally arrived at the monastery I was really blown away. It was a beautiful monastery in a more beautiful setting, surrounded by high mountains on either side and further up the valley a snow covered mountain dominated. I was really, pleasantly surprised at how my day turned out. We explored the monastery and surrounding area for about 3 hours. Our high point, as verified by my altimeter, was 4,550 meters (15,105 feet), officially the highest I have been outside an airplane - and I was in a valley!! This high altitude was achieved with remarkably little effort on my part...... As this was only my second day at altitude I could feel it in the form of slight headache when we were hiking around. It actually turned out to be a good acclimatization day as we then descended back to Lhasa at 3700 meters. When we were at the monastery we met a girl who had taken the bus up there that morning and was going to stay the night at the monastery and do a hike the next day. I was really, really jealous!! I also really wanted to do a short 2-hour hike around the monastery (called a kora) but it didn't work out because of time and altitude concerns. As we were leaving I found out the girl was actually with a group of 3 girls staying there together who were most likely the only foreigners there. I think they were dissappointed when we told them we weren't staying (as was I!!).
The ride back into Lhasa was equally amazing passing through the valley filled with yaks, cows, horses, goats, and sheep. We passed many locals and recieved many eager waves. All in all, it was just an amazing trip that I literally fell into by luck. I gave Brian some money for the trip anyways since he forked over a good bit for the jeep. I spent that evening again on the roof top restaurant of my old hostel.
On Monday (2 Oct) morning I was supposed to meet some people at a restaurant to talk about a possible trip. It wasn't anything official, but I said I would stop by. I saw one woman I had talked to the previous day that I didn't like at the 'meeting' and opted instead to eat breakfast with the two Canadian guys and Julia (from Chengdu) who were at the same restaurant. Julia told me about her trip which she was leaving for tomorrow, and it made me really, really jealous as her trip sounded perfect to me (as did the group which is equally important). But I need more time to acclimate around Lhasa and I also wanted to try to go to western Tibet so it just wouldn't work out (which I'm really bummed about). I spent the morning posting flyers on all the hostels' bulletin boards in hopes of finding some people for a trip. It is a lot more work than I thought it was going to be to find a group of people for a trip that really interests me. I then went shopping for a down jacket which I think I'm going to have to buy now. I don't think my thick fleece jacket that I bought in Mongolia is going to cut it at nearly 20,000 feet in October.... Sucks that I sent my down jacket back in Helsinki, but it has been nice not to carry it around for the last 2 months. Then I went to explore the Barkhor (pilgrim circuit) around Jokhang temple. It was packed with souvernoir stalls, tourists, and pilgrims. It was pretty neat. After another walk around Potala Square, I headed back use the internet to see if I had hooked any leads with my flyers. I had not!!
I've now spent 3 days in Lhasa and I don't feel like I've really seen much of Lhasa (aside from the Tsurphu monastery outside Lhasa) nor gotten any closer to finding a group of people to go on a trip with. Hopefully my luck in both these areas will turn around soon.
On Sunday (1 October) morning after breakfast, I switched hostels. The new one is okay, but I think I will even switch again on Tuesday..... There really seems to be a problem with clean, non-smelling toilets and showers here in Lhasa. As I was checking notice boards at another hostel, and about to post a notice myself, I ran into a Canadian guy, Brian, that I met in Chengdu. Him and his friend are cycling from Lhasa to Kathmandu starting in a couple of days. I had seen him on my first day in Lhasa so it wasn't a surprise to run into him (especially since I was using the toilet at his hostel!). He asked what I was doing that day and I told him I had no real plans. He told me how he had just forked over the money to rent a jeep and driver for the day to go to a monastery outside Lhasa that he really wanted to see. He told me I was welcome along and he was already paying for it anyways. So me, Brian, and another British guy, Daniel, headed out of Lhasa with our Tibetian driver - who spoke no english, and us, no Tibetian - to the Tsurphu monastery about 70 km northwest of Lhasa. I knew nothing about the monastery so Brian filled us in on the importance of it on the way. The 2-hour drive was superb! About 3/4 of the drive was on a small gravel road up into this mostly tree-less valley surrounded by mountains on both sides. Beautiful! A mountain river ran down the middle of the valley to complete the perfect scenery.
When we finally arrived at the monastery I was really blown away. It was a beautiful monastery in a more beautiful setting, surrounded by high mountains on either side and further up the valley a snow covered mountain dominated. I was really, pleasantly surprised at how my day turned out. We explored the monastery and surrounding area for about 3 hours. Our high point, as verified by my altimeter, was 4,550 meters (15,105 feet), officially the highest I have been outside an airplane - and I was in a valley!! This high altitude was achieved with remarkably little effort on my part...... As this was only my second day at altitude I could feel it in the form of slight headache when we were hiking around. It actually turned out to be a good acclimatization day as we then descended back to Lhasa at 3700 meters. When we were at the monastery we met a girl who had taken the bus up there that morning and was going to stay the night at the monastery and do a hike the next day. I was really, really jealous!! I also really wanted to do a short 2-hour hike around the monastery (called a kora) but it didn't work out because of time and altitude concerns. As we were leaving I found out the girl was actually with a group of 3 girls staying there together who were most likely the only foreigners there. I think they were dissappointed when we told them we weren't staying (as was I!!).
The ride back into Lhasa was equally amazing passing through the valley filled with yaks, cows, horses, goats, and sheep. We passed many locals and recieved many eager waves. All in all, it was just an amazing trip that I literally fell into by luck. I gave Brian some money for the trip anyways since he forked over a good bit for the jeep. I spent that evening again on the roof top restaurant of my old hostel.
On Monday (2 Oct) morning I was supposed to meet some people at a restaurant to talk about a possible trip. It wasn't anything official, but I said I would stop by. I saw one woman I had talked to the previous day that I didn't like at the 'meeting' and opted instead to eat breakfast with the two Canadian guys and Julia (from Chengdu) who were at the same restaurant. Julia told me about her trip which she was leaving for tomorrow, and it made me really, really jealous as her trip sounded perfect to me (as did the group which is equally important). But I need more time to acclimate around Lhasa and I also wanted to try to go to western Tibet so it just wouldn't work out (which I'm really bummed about). I spent the morning posting flyers on all the hostels' bulletin boards in hopes of finding some people for a trip. It is a lot more work than I thought it was going to be to find a group of people for a trip that really interests me. I then went shopping for a down jacket which I think I'm going to have to buy now. I don't think my thick fleece jacket that I bought in Mongolia is going to cut it at nearly 20,000 feet in October.... Sucks that I sent my down jacket back in Helsinki, but it has been nice not to carry it around for the last 2 months. Then I went to explore the Barkhor (pilgrim circuit) around Jokhang temple. It was packed with souvernoir stalls, tourists, and pilgrims. It was pretty neat. After another walk around Potala Square, I headed back use the internet to see if I had hooked any leads with my flyers. I had not!!
I've now spent 3 days in Lhasa and I don't feel like I've really seen much of Lhasa (aside from the Tsurphu monastery outside Lhasa) nor gotten any closer to finding a group of people to go on a trip with. Hopefully my luck in both these areas will turn around soon.
posted by Dustin at 1:33 AM
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