Our guide Sang Bo met us in the morning, and we took a cab to Potala. The trip costed 10 yuan ($1).

My first impression?

The Potala isn’t any particularly extraordinary building. But as we ascended the 1000+ steps (good thing we had a couple of days to acclimitize), the view of Lhasa was extraordinary.

The early morning sun heating the neatly aligned tiny houses and buildings across a peripheral landscape, interspersed between little lakes to a backdrop of mountains in the distance.

It was just phenomenal.

We went from room to room inside the palace. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos inside.

It was not much of a visual trip so to speak, as the actual palace itself was not particularly fancy, but it was still interesting to see some of the tombs and stories of various Dalai Lamas who lived and died there.

I was actually feeling a bit ill in the PM so skipped the Summer Palace (pic left), but heard it was cool as it was where the Dalai Lama was before he escaped. The clock on the wall was supposedly still at the time when he left.

I actually spent the PM in bed with some cipro. I did feel better after, and managed to munch down a yak pepper steak in the evening. It was delicious. I definitely will get another one of those if I am back.

I also did some final shopping and got hold of a bigger jacket for Mt Everest.

We spent the evening investigating further flights out. Looks I’ll be flying from Kathmandu to Calcutta (Kolkata) where flights back home work out cheaper.

I’m still a bit worried about the HDD, even though fingers crossed so far it’s been ok. I just have to minimize usage and since we’re off to 5k feet from tomorrow (Nam Tso Lake) then Everest BC. I doubt the equipment will hold up at that altitude.

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Photos coming soon…

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• October 27, 2009 — Tibet Day 2: Jokhang Temple, Sera Monastery, Interesting Food, and Blind Massage
• October 25, 2009 — Hello from Tibet

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We woke up at around 8:30 am in order to meet Sang Bo, our recommended tour guide, to go to the Jok’hang Temple and Sera Monastery.

Even though I was up by around 8, I was pretty drowsy.

One thing about sleeping at high altitude is that it’s harder to sleep. But once I’m asleep, I’m zonked out. Our room was also freezing cold, but with the lack of a heater you wonder why. The staff at the Cool Yak did claim we have heating, and there were some issues last night including Carl and Vicky having all their laundry done ‘dry’, costing them 180 yuan for the lot (like $25!). Think it would cost less having it hand washed by an immigrant at the Mandarin Oriental.

The hotel staff also tried to change our price, and our room, but thankfully Sang Bo set them straight. We have a triple room with 3 beds, so Scott and I are using the middle bed for all our stuff.

Going back to the cold weather, my hands are freezing as I type this. Good thing I got a pair of gloves I bought off a street vendor in Chengdu for 12y ($1.50).They came in handy, especially in the mornings. We had the free breakfast in the hotel, which looked more like dinner: sauted vegetables, sausages, spam, etc. Hey, at least it wasn’t just yak and butter milk.

I also still can’t figure out how to get out of Kathmandu on the cheap. The cheapest option would be to take a train or bus to New Delhi and fly out from there, but for various reasons, that would be a last resort. However, most flights out of KTM just seem ridiculously expensive.

In fact, I also raised the question of: should I even go to Nepal, or turn back at the border and fly out of Lhasa? It would be a bit goofy to do that, but flying out of Lhasa would save me alot. Question is can I stand a 24 hour car ride back from the Nepalese Border, and would I miss anything fun there.

The other consideration I must make is having already paid my share of a 4×4, I am unlikely to get my money back even if I cut my trip short. The travel agency said they were happy to drop me off at the airport I would not get a refund. I figured since I already paid, I might as well make the most of it. Mount Everest B.C., Shigatse, and the monasteries along the way will probably make an interesting trip, and the trek out and going up to Lake Nam Tso in 2 days at 5k meters would truly be an epic adventure.

So I guess I just have to figure out (1) what do I need so I don’t freeze my ass off on the way up Mt Everest, and (2) what would be my route back to HKG?

Jok’hang Temple: I actually was fascinated by Jok’hang, and the religious aspects there. It was an intersting view when combined with the chinese military personnel. We also went to the Sera Monastery and saw monks doing their lessons and training new monks. The way they did it was interesting and got some very cool video footage.

After lunch we went to a local hangout where they served tea and local noodles. Scott found a fly in his soup but we probably shared the same broth. I am sure there was a fly leg or wing somewhere in mine. But to top up catalyzing the process to an eventful crouching toilet trip, we had butter tea for the first time on a roof top restaurant near our hotel, which tasted more like a strong soup of some kind. I also had some banana lassi, which I am sure contributed to further toilet contractions.

We then had dinner at a ‘Japanese’ restaurant served by Tibetians. Except for the name there was absolutely nothing Japanese about it. There was no japanese food in the menu, the closest being yak momos (dumplings). But I will admit, it was some of the best food ever. After dinner, Carl, Vicky and I decided to go for a blind person massage, which costed 80 yuan ($10) + 20y tip / hour. I had a dude called Tsetong I believe. His English was great, and the massage itself was pretty good. My back was killing me still from the train ride here a couple of days back so it was good to get this, especially before our 4×4 trek for 8 days, starting the day after tomorrow.

We start at 8:50 am tomorrow, as we will be heading over to the Potala Palace. So yet another early night. I think my cold is getting better, but my immune system is definitely working to its max from different angles here.

Related Posts:

• October 28, 2009 — Day 3 in Tibet: Potala Palace / Summer Palace
• October 25, 2009 — Hello from Tibet

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We’re now at 11,750 feet in Lhasa, Tibet. We just got off the 48 hour train ride from Chengdu. The train ride was ok because we took a soft sleeper. We also managed to get our whole group of 4 into the same cabin, even though after about 2 days you start feeling a bit cramped. I am not sure if we will manage 3 days. The train was ok, even though the electricity sockets did not work in the room, and it was far from being a ‘pressurised cabin’ as they advertised. In fact because of my mild cold from Chengdu (the air pollution does not help), every time we descended by 300+ feet, I would feel my eustasian tube block and I’d have to release it through diver tricks. Pretty painful!

Chengdu itself wasn’t that interesting IMO, so I am not sure if I will go again. I did try alot of sichuan spice, went to the Panda Zoo and climbed Le Shan and saw the giant buddha. It was not as impressive as I hoped it to be. The city is too expansive, too large, and personally I just found it hard to locate anything. We spent like 2 days hunting for Diamox and Dexamethasone for the Tibet trip as it was not in stock anywhere. After about 3-4 hospitals we found a place called Global Doctors that were run by an Asian-Australian venture, but they had a $30 USD charge for meds. Let’s just say I stocked up beyond Diamox and Dexamethasone…

We stayed at Sim’s Cozy Hostel, which I highly recommend. It’s actually voted one of the best hostels in Chengdu, and at 160y a night ($20 split between Scott and I), it was a pretty good deal as we had our own private room with our own private shower. There was also wifi in the room. The hostel was great especially for organising tours, including heading to Tibet and sorting our permits etc. Sim and Maki, a couple from Singapore and Japan, set it up like a Japanese place, and had an awesome garden too. I would stay there again, despite the hostel being super busy, they did a good job.

So with Tibet: The whole trip is working out to be pretty expensive. Cost around 4000y for just the tour guide, the permit, the 4×4…. actually that’s it. The soft sleeper ticket costed around 1k, and I spent around a further 1k for gear like the meds, warm clothing, food, sleeping bag, etc. This price is also for managing to arrange a group of 4 on a 4×4 tour. We will be travelling with Vicky, a Taiwanese ex-Siemens consultant, and Carl, an ex-yahoo marketing partner, and they are both very cool people, so the next 11 days here from Tibet through Nepal should be okay.

But my concern now is getting from Nepal back to Hong Kong. I really want to do Mt Everest base camp, and it won’t make sense to turn back to Lhasa from there as it’s just around the corner from Nepal. Kathmandu is supposed to be a really interesting place, but it’s looking ridiculously expensive as flights seem to be in the 5k yuan region (like $700-$800). Other options include going enroute New Delhi, or flying back to Chengdu first, but both add alot more toll to the existing trip.

Having been here now for about 6 hours though, all the gear actually came in use. I’ve started the diamox when we hit around 14,000 feet on the pass to Tibet on the train because I was feeling light headed. It was a good idea, as the next morning I felt fine, but Carl who we were travelling with had a bad headache and felt like he wanted to vomit. Having said that when we got to around 15,000 feet (!) I did feel a bit dizzy and nauseated. The descent, as Carl described, was like removing kryptonite from our systems.

It’s pretty cold here in Tibet, and it doesn’t help that I’m still in mid phase with a cold. Have had a running nose but I’m dressed up pretty warm, and just probably need more sleep. Tomorrow we hit the Potala Palace and a couple of other places, so I should hit the sack soon. We are staying at a place called the Cool Yak Hotel (because the Yak Hotel was not cool enough).

Related Posts:

• October 28, 2009 — Day 3 in Tibet: Potala Palace / Summer Palace
• October 27, 2009 — Tibet Day 2: Jokhang Temple, Sera Monastery, Interesting Food, and Blind Massage

Related posts:

1. Tibet Day 2: Jokhang Temple, Sera Monastery, Interesting Food, and Blind Massage
2. Day 3 in Tibet: Potala Palace / Summer Palace