Lhasa

Hi Folks

Sorry its been a long time since I've posted. At certain places in China they don't seem to allow this site.....censorship and all that I guess.

Well I've come along way since then...we are now in Lhasa the main city in Tibet. Very isolated but the Potala palace and general city vibe are great. I'm about to have a Tibetean language lesson to help us through the rest of the trip and we're going to see people painting Thankas (pictures of buddas etc).

Since I last wrote we've since been to a bunch of Amdo Tibetean monestaries and had fun meeting the people.....they're so inquisitive, they come up and poke certain bits of you to see if you're the same as them. We have this guy Tom in our group who is about 6ft7 and they're all facinated by him....he's a real celebrity. We also stayed with a Nomad family in their winterhouse (2 very small rooms) on the grasslands near Langmusi....it was great....no electricity and all the meals they made we're on a Yak dung fire....amazing....such hard workers but characters all the same. We also went into a school near there and met some kids and spoke english with them. So much poverty....on average a family earns approx. $250 USD a year. Despite that they seem extremely happy and content with their way of life.....i guess cause they know no other life. Also.....have been eating Yak...mainly in the form of burgers....very tasty!

Well my lessons are nearly about to begin so I must run. If you need to contact me remember my hotmail address......kim_e_ward@hotmail.com.

I'll update you before we leave Lhasa for the road to Kathmandu!

Kim xx