The roof of the world

Ta shi de lek from Tibet! We are finally here on the roof of the world. It is an amazing place. We got in after a 48 hour train ride from Lhasa. The train was interesting, crowded beyond belief, a bit dirty but great views. I liked to call it a social experiement in different personal space boundaries for different cultures.

We have been in Lhasa for 2 full days now. It is a great feeling to get somewhere that you have been thinking about for so long. It really is the roof of the world and my body and brain are working hard to increase the red blood cell count so I can live safely and comfortably at this altitude. Everyone here seems so friendly and ready to greet you with a smile as you pass by (or by sticking their tounge out which is also a form of greeting). I feel like I am going to be able to learn an enormous amount from the Tibetan people, their culture, way of life and religion. For one, they put so much quality and craftsmanship into the work that they do. As I sat in our room at the Yak Hotel I was noticing that the border along the walls is hand painted, and that was probably done in every room in the building.

While we were at lunch yesterday, we were joined by three older Tibetans. As the three of us were talking at our table and ordering, I noticed the older man, about 60, sneak his hand over and grab our Tibetan phrase book. We then handed over the other books that we had brought with us and they were a great ice breaker. They seemed to really enjoy the pictures and we truely enjoyed our conversations with them. We were able using our best guess at pronounciation to ask their names, where they were from, and Marya showed some pictures of her family. It was such a fun interaction.

Today we checked out the Barkor. It is a square and a kora circuit by the Jokang temple. Many pilgrims walk the kora daily and pray in the temple. The circuit is also lined with small boothes seeling various fun items, almost anything you can think of. It was a superb chance to work on our bargaining skills as they were definitely put to the test, I was actually a bit tired when we left. We went to an amazing Indian restaurant which is on the edge of the kora, but since you need to walk the kora clockwise you are required to journey the whole of it to get to anything on the end, if that makes sense.

Tomorrow we start the largest chunk of our journey, our trip to Mt. Kailash. We are heading for WEstern Tibet, considered one of the most remote places in the world and definitely in Asia. We will be in that area for 15 days approx. The main attraction with be visitng out of the way monestaries along the way, seeing some remote villages, trekking the Mt. Kailas kora (considered one of the holiset mountains to many eastern religions), and spending a relaxing day at Lake Manasorovar and the hot springs before heading back to Lhasa. We won't have internet on this part of our jounrey but I will be thinking about you and all and hoping everything is well.

I'm crossing my fingers that this will post as everything on the website at the moment is in Chinese.

Miss you tons.
Peace and Love
J