Our group visited Jokhang Temple in the morning, but only briefly as there were stacks of pilgrims lined up around the building to pay their respects. Karma guided us through, explaining some of the more important statues & although we didn't get into the room housing the three most important, we could see from the outside what people travel enormous distances to see. We wandered about the temple grounds taking photos before heading off to Potala Palace at our allocated time. A limited amount of tickets are sold each day to visit the Palace & everybody is allocated an entry time. [View Full Entry]

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Our car was one of only two to pay the extra money & detour to the Yamdrok Tso lookout, which was well worth the additional payment. The deviation took us up a winding road to a pass & back down again & only added a couple hours onto our journey as it was about 50km each way. I sat in the very back of the Landcruiser again & read a book Betsy had leant me called Some Like It Haute. Fortunately, there were no problems with altitude sickness for me today & we arrived at Lhasa for late afternoon. We were [View Full Entry]

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Originally, the itinerary had us staying in Gyantse tonight & doing a long drive to Lhasa via Yamdrok Tso & Karo La tomorrow, however due to road works, we are now staying in Shigatse an extra night & taking the short route to Lhasa in the morning. There has been a lot of controversy over this change as some group members have heard from other travellers that it is possible to get through the long way via a small off road detour, which should be no problems in our Landcruisers. Much of the Tibetan landscape is similar & it would have [View Full Entry]

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I felt much better this morning, managing to eat most of my breakfast, except for the drowned in oil, pitiful excuse for an omelet. The sweet Tibetan bread was very nice & I was thanking God for the Vegemite because it would have been pretty plain without it. After a shorter drive on a much better road than yesterdays, we arrived in Tibet's second largest city Shigatse. I sat in the very back of the Landcruiser the whole journey I'm not sure if it was the fumes or the altitude, but I began feeling sick again around lunchtime. After arriving in [View Full Entry]

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Today was a long travel day on a tough, unsealed road. Our first stop on the Tibetan plateau was at Lalung La pass (5200m), where we had some spectacular views of the Himalayan range & Shisabangma, the highest peak in Tibet. We stopped for a very average lunch in Lao Tingri & afterwards some of the group took a walk to view Mt Everest from a local lookout. Monika, Betsy & I found a little shop & purchased a variety of goodies to satisfy our chocolate cravings. I started feeling sick mid afternoon & couldn't decide if it was from the [View Full Entry]

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Today's trip to Tibet began with a very early 4:30am start, although my eyes had flown open at four as I was paranoid about missing the bus. Originally advised to be in Thamel at five o'clock, the late working travel agent revised the meeting time last night to 5:30am, giving me a whole thirty minutes extra sleep. I'd decided to catch a taxi as the keys had been locked in the Mukti car for two days, however Goma came down at five, key in hand & dropped me in Thamel almost twenty minutes ahead of schedule. I'd had a pretty woeful [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday marked eight weeks at Mukti & began with an early morning walk to the ATM at the Baluwater department store. Unfortunately, I was unable to make a large withdrawal as I'd forgotten to transfer extra funds into my credit account! Oh well, it was a nice walk… The public primary school had a pupil free day & I managed to get about a dozen of the children across to the National Dental Hospital for their biannual checkups. The NDH only do free checkups for children under than fifteen years of age, so Mukti will need to take any children needing [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday morning I took the children to Lucent Kinchin Boarding School, so I could talk to Bijay about extending my Nepali visa. His brother works in the Immigration Department & we arranged to meet with him on Wednesday morning. It was Bijay's wife's birthday & they gave me some tea, sweets & a tikka as part of the celebrations. In the afternoon Jessica & I spent five hours cleaning out & rearranging the kitchen cupboards, because food is still being stored in the first aid room & we wanted to get it into one area. It took so long because not [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday marked the six week point of my stay at Mukti. I took Jessica to the supermarket/department store for an afternoon outing. Shanti accompanied us & afterwards we ate ice cream & watched all the shoppers, before heading back to Mukti. The two 'shopping' men came this afternoon with the bulk of my purchase for the children, however some of the shoe sizes were incorrect, so we have to re-measure & they will return another day with the correct gear. There was no school on Wednesday so Pradip, Jessica & I visited the library, stopping by the Ratisson Hotel to get [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday Goma, Kabita & I had discussions about building a shelter in the backyard. The Mukti house is situated on quite a large block, but unfortunately the back area is overgrown with weeds & there is a lot of rubble that has been dumped out there by previous tenants. We want to make an area where the children can play outdoors whatever the weather, as they are currently confined to the driveway, the rooftop or inside if it is wet, which being monsoon season is currently for most afternoons. Goma has a quote to concrete the area & erect an open [View Full Entry]

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