It was in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, that we teamed up with our comrades-in-arms for the next week-and-a-half. Independent travel isn't allowed in Tibet due to government regulations (and if there's one country's regulations you don't want to be defying, it's China's) and so any foreigners who want to see the place have to be signed up with an official guide. Initially it was just going to be Jen and I with our guide but at the last minute four other travellers jumped on board: Dutch woman Clara - who was coming to the end of a seven-month journey through Asia, Swiss-Welsh (yeah, I know) Sylvia - who had been teaching in China for the past two years, and Polish couple Wojtek and Joanna - who had coincidentally been living within a couple of miles of us in London for several years and who, also like us, were on a year's travel. We were grateful for the extra personnel for two reasons - firstly, they were great people, and secondly it halved the cost of our trip from "will have to sell our first-born child to the Chinese government" down to merely "insanely f@*cking expensive." Travelling in Tibet is not cheap.
Lhasa quickly became one of our very favourite cities - the fascinating Old Town was a vibrant, colourful living museum of Tibetan culture with ancient temples - particularly the city centrepiece Jokhang Temple - and bustling markets where you could lose yourself for hours and even days at a time. The people were friendly and welcoming without being pushy and many still dressed and lived in the traditional Tibetan way. The food was tasty, the beer cheap, and Chinese soldiers armed with automatic weapons lined rooftops to show - as if there was any doubt - just who was in charge. It ticked all the boxes.
While the Tibetan quarter was where we spent most of our time, the newer Chinese city which has developed around it was also a nice surprise - pleasant and attractive, if a little manicured and manufactured in places, it was a class above similar kinds of "new" Chinese towns you would find in other parts of the country.
The most famous attraction in Lhasa is of course the Potala Palace - the former winter residence of the Dalai Lama (not that you're actually allowed to mention him, or even have photographs of him in Tibet, of course). It's one of those buildings that takes the breath away - built into the hillside overlooking the city, it dominates the landscape like few other structures I've ever seen. I'd seen pictures of it before but not one of them did it justice. Neither will these, but here are some anyway.
Oh, and it even had more Chinglish.
Other key sights included Norbulingka, the Summer Palace...
...and attending the daily monks' debate at Sera Monastery, just outside the city. They would signal the delivery of each new argument with a big step and a most confrontational slap of the hands in the direction of their debating opponent - the monk equivalent, it seemed, of "you got served." To say the boys in red get passionate would be to put it mildly.
Things Jennie will remember about Lhasa:
1) The welcoming female monks at the monastery in Lhasa - this lot allowed you to take their picture, how nice
2) First taste of Barley Beer - yum!
3) Pilgrims completing a prayer circuit around the Barkhor and Jokhang Temple - they looked like human caterpillars
4) The smell of incense from the big burners all over the city
And that was that for Lhasa. It was a shame to leave the city, but deeper, wilder Tibet awaited us.
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