The Roof of the World

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So we have spent the last couple of days bumming around Lhasa, checking out the sights and feasting on 25cent chocolate and yak burgers.

First up we saw the Jokhang, the most important and oldest temple in Tibet. It is full of pilgrims offering money, katag (white prayer scarves) and yak butter for the candles, and smells of the juniper smoke that is offered into the air. It is very dark and windy and filled also with chanting monks in burgundy robes - really atmospheric and like a whole different world. We followed the pilgrims round all of the tiny chapels where there were hundreds, even thousands of statues made from wood, gold, silver and precious stones - just jawdropping! We climbed to the roof and had great views over the city and across to the Potala which stood majestically on the hill.

The Potala is the traditional residence and tombs of the Dalai Lamas and stands imposingly in red and white stone over the city. Obviously there is no Lama in residence at the moment but there sure are plenty of tombs! The 5th Dalai Lama's tomb has over 3.7tonnes of gold on it!! The statuary is even more impressive - there's more than enough gold in the place to pave a yellow brick road right the way to Europe I reckon! The detail and quality of the building itself and the intricate detail of every room is en par or even better than anything we have seen so far. Unfortunately we couldn't climb up to the roof but the views from the sides across the city to the mountains were pretty special.

We've also spent ages wandering the windy cobbled streets of the Barkhor, the old part of town. Last night we followed the pilgrims as they circled the Jokhang and then headed off to a tiny Muslim restaurant where we had delicious Muslim noodles and nice, sweet tea.

We also made some friends, and had a great meal of yak burgers and beer with them the other night - tonight we are meeting up again so it should be fun.

Tomorrow we set off on another jeep adventure (seems to be the only way to do things around here), this time with three crazy Americans via Gyantse, Shigatse and Everest Base Camp. They're bringing along the best of American Country and some Michael Jackson cassettes so it should be a laugh and a whole lotta fun!

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