Lhasa

We arrived in Lhasa Tibet 5 days ago and have pretty much adjusted to the altitude, minor headache and general malaise being the sum of it. Lhasa at 3700 M (12,300 feet). We have planned a five day trip to western Tibet towards the Nepal border, visting towns, monestaries and Everest base camp along the way. Splitting the cost of the Toyota land cruiser with an American engineer and his Mandarin speaking, Buddhist, Chinese wife. Should be fun.

Rail trip on the new train line was nothing short of fantastic. We had a 6 person sleeping compartment to ourselves throughout the 36 hour ride. The last part of the trip started across the barren Tibet plateau at daybreak and led through three passes that were above 5000 meters, the highest at 5231M (17200ft) about 5000 feet higher than the summit of Mount Robson in the Rockies! Strangely the passes were gradual climbs through country reminiscent of the rolling foothill grassland pastures of southern Aberta, except the livestock consisted of thousands of domestic yaks and the ranches were the compounds of the Tibetan herders. Not much snow at all and temperatures of about 5 C. Our compartment had numerous oxygen outlets that made the elevation more bearable. The barren northern plateau is a wildlife preserve and we saw plenty of wild asses (as in donkeys), wild Yaks (2000 lbs), antelope and birds of prey. Much of the track runs on trestles sunk into the permafrost. Some tunnels were over 2km in length. If my calculations are correct, the cost of the line was some $56 billion US.

Lhasa (pop 200,000) is a great town. While it has a Chinese majority, huge numbers of pilgrims from the far reaches of Tibet swell the permanent population. They come to pray and and give offerings at the many monasteries and temples in the region. I believe many of them have never seen a Westerner, and it is hard to say who gawks harder, us at them or them at us. They are dirt poor and full of joy and never quit smiling, singing and chanting. Our hotel sits on the 1.5 km circular street that surrounds the ancient Jokung Temple, the most revered of temples, and one that all pigrims must circle in a prayer march as part of their devotions. I estimated that about 150,000 pilgrims passed under our hotel room window yesterday between 7 am and 7 pm.What a view. Strange to start your day by walking out your hotel door into a timeless religious procession. The costume of the various Tibetan sub groups is spectacular.

Weather has been fine, lows\highs of 0-13 C. Food is Tibetan, Indian, Chinese and Continental and super delicious and cheap. Favorite has to be the "Yak sizzler" the most tender and mildly flavored melt in the mouth steak you can imagine.(at about $4.50 Can. with Lhasa beer). Now we are off to upgrade our cold weather gear for tomorrow's trip. I'll probably choose the North Face and Patagonia gear (and I defy you to tell it from the real thing at one tenth the cost).