Lhasa

The hotel is good, it has good food, showers, internet access and the world cup. Its very clean and traditional but the toilets are very very smelly. However, they do your laundry for free. Squatting in a smelly toilet is bearable if you are just doing a quick pee but can lead to constipation longer term, I am just not designed for using the toilet while squatting.

There are about eight 18 to 22 yr old Americans here to do volunteer English teaching and that's far too many for the size of the orphanage so there is a bit of competition to get to teach a class. I have been asked to help with the physical therapy for the disabled children and I am happy to do this expect I have absolutely no experience and they showed me once then buggered off and left me with the kids. The kids are sweet though and they know what they are supposed to do so they show me. The American kids tell me that its illegal to teach English in Tibet, I find this a bit strange but they are quite serious about not taking to strangers about why I am here. They told me certain places are bugged and undercover policemen will try to ask for information on the context of apprearing friendly.

Yesterday (Saturday) we went on a trip to Namtso lake. Lhasa is at 3,500m and Namso is at 4,700m, since I arrived in Lhasa I've had a mild headache but Natmso was like having a mega bad hangover for a day and a half, not good and the toilets there were the worst I have ever ever seen. However, the lake is pretty and we enjoyed the scenery. Its given me second thoughts about Everest Base Camp (EBC they call it here) as its even higher at 5,200m so I might just wimp out on the overland trip. Also, it seems that the trips are not really organised by recognised tour companies, you just put a sign up on the hotel notice board and collect a group of people, hire a jeep and go.

The road to Namtso was excellent (Chinese) and we saw the new railway link to Chengdu due to open on 1st July. On the road, we passed convoys of Chinese army trucks, 10 or 20 at a time, I think mostly they are doing contruction. I think this place would benefit from good roads and railways, sure it will make the place more commercial but the poverty here is harsh and I'm not sure now that I am so sympathetic to the Dalai Lama it looks to me like he lived in luxury while the rest of the people lived in extreme poverty. On Friday we visited the Potala Palace, its a museum now, there are a lot fo buddha statues behind glass and tombs of the previous DLs, you can see people outside on the pavement prostrating themselves in prayer. A lot of praying goes on here, the woman who cleans the rooms even does it at 7am in the morning before she starts cleaning.