Big Trouble In Little Lhasa...

It's the 7th June today which is the highlight of the festival, and there were plenty of people in town. I must admit, I was feeling really wiped out due to lack of sleep and being at high altitude, so had an easy day.

After a bit of a walk around, it was off for a good coffee (or two) at The Summit Cafe, and then off to meet the rest of the group at 5pm for a Kora around the Potala Palace.

Here's a few pics I took:

The main square:



The incense burners were working on over time. They burn Juniper - so it smells of Gin every now and then:



And a close up of one of the burners:



The Potala Palace:





It's worth adding at this point that there is a massive military and police presence in Lhasa. In fact – there are military people with guns everywhere, and there are more security cameras than you'd find in a casino.

As we're walking back to the Hostel to meet up, I got my camera out to photo the street. About 100 feet away a group of 10 army guys are marching down the street and as soon as they see the camera start shouting and running towards me.

The guy in charge grabs my camera and starts shouting something in Chinese. So I grab my camera back and show him the picture saying I was only taking a picture of the street – and in all fairness the light wasn't good and you could hardly see them. Next thing – he grabs my camera back and says I have to wait, while he starts talking on his radio.

After a few minutes an even more senior guy appears on a bike and wants to see the photo. He keeps saying “erase, erase, erase” and after a few minutes I realize I'm going to have to erase it, so reluctantly I press delete. Which should have been the end of it.

But he starts scrolling through the pictures and picks another picture at random (which has no soldiers in it) and starts saying “erase, erase, erase”. The annoying thing is: it was a really awesome photo of the main square in Lhasa and I really didn't want to lose it.

So I try to reason with the guy, but he just keeps saying “erase, erase, erase”, and then starts laughing at me. I tried again to reason with the guy, but he just kept laughing at me – which was rather frustrating.

But in the end I figured, if I didn't delete the photo the chances were he would keep my camera, so I pressed delete. And then he gave me my camera back. I did take a moment to explain how annoyed I was, and that I write a blog and would be covering the whole incident for everyone to read – which he found highly amusing for some reason.

But at least I got my camera back.

When we turned up at the hostel the guide was a no show – so we did a walk around the Potala Palace, and then went for...Indian food...you can't beat a good curry... :-)

Halo effect at the Potala Palace:



Some "interestingly" named shops:

Shigatse...again...

Today we were taken for a look around the Shigatse Monastery, but at a cost of 85 Yuan (about 8 pounds 50) my enthusiasm for monasteries was starting to run out, and I decided to give it a miss.

But then, I had second thoughts and decided to take a little peak before deciding whether to get a ticket. So I sneaked in through the main gate and no one stopped me so I just carried on.

And it turned out to be a really amazing place. There were loads of pilgrims walking around, and this was a lot more than a monastery: it was a small town with monasteries inside it.

Here are some pics:

Spinning the wheels:



Monks shoes:



Monk's going for lunch:



Holy symbol carved in the rock:



Pilgrims:



So glad I decided to take a look – but sneaking into a monastery – that has to be bad karma right...my name is Tim – I'm just trying to be a better person...so I left a donation at one of the other monasteries we visited...

And then the fun begins. Everything is super controlled in Tibet. On the road back to Lhasa they have all these check points, and your supposed to go through the check points at a particular time. Which means – if your ahead of schedule the van pulls up at the side of the road and you have to wait.

Check out all of these vans waiting for the check point time to arrive:



And your not allowed to go wandering off - even if there's something you really want to see. Although to be fair – this hadn't been explained to us.

At one of the stops – I got totally bored and decided to stretch my legs. When I spotted a little village I set off to take a look. Everyone else had decided to explore as well, and the tour guide went ballistic as it was against the rules.

And here was what I saw:



But being stuck in a car in the searing heat isn't fun. So before the next check point I asked if I could walk down the road - which I was allowed to do – on the condition I didn't step off the road (yes - really).

So each time the car stops I jump out and head down the road. At the last stop, I could see the check point about 100 yards ahead, and wondered what would happen if I reached it before the van. So I set off at a fair pace, but just as I'm about to make it, the van comes screaming up and I have to get in...

Making a break for the check point:



Here's the check point:



And finally – we made it back to Lhasa and went for dinner and had...Indian – you can't beat a good curry... :-)

Some random Tibet shots:

















And the local transport: