Lhasa at Last

Wow! What a welcome. Our guide was at the station to meet us, his name is Tansin and he will be with us every day as foreigners must have an escort through the country. He had a white silk scarf for both of us which he said was the traditional way to greet visitors and the scarves bring luck. Let’s hope he’s right but let’s hope we don’t need it! As he drove us through the town we were amazed at the colours everywhere. The light is so different at altitude that the colours seem more vibrant, more vivid. The town is full of colour too, the shop fronts, flower displays, so you are hit with a riot of colour as you make your way along in the car. It is also spotless. Much cleaner than any other part of China we have been to (you can argue amongst yourselves about whether it is China or not but we needed a Chinese visa to come here!) We found our hostel - another HI Hostel and we are back in a dorm as we can’t afford our own room here. We are sharing with two lads from Beijing and two from Taiwan and they are all falling over themselves to help us and talk to us. They are so sweet. We had a nice meal in The LOVE restaurant then we went for a wander. We turned down some side streets that seemed to have a market and we ended up going around the Jokhang Temple which was one of the items on our list of things to see here and we never knew we were so close! It is a real sight to see, 100’s of people walking in a clock wise direction around the Temple in traditional clothes carrying prayer wheels in their right hand and rosary beads in their left. All around is like a huge treasure trove of stalls selling beautiful jewellery made from silver and turquoise, amber, coral as well as wooden beads. There are beautiful silk scarves, traditional handmade bags and clothes, hats and singing bowls. Oh if only we had more money! HI Hostel Room rating: 1/10 a horrible, noisy dirty room Location: 8/10 - great - fairly central Staff: 3/10 - not great Value for Money: 7/10 - £5 a night each Other comments:the showers and toilets are worse than public toilets. you feel so dirty when you come out it’s better not to use them Stay again? no way - not in this hostel Guest House Room rating: 7/10 comfy beds and nice clean sheets Location: 8/10 - great - fairly central Staff: 9/10 - Could not do more for us Value for Money: 8/10 - £12 for a room of our own Other comments: get rid of the dog on the roof! Stay again? Maybe, it’s a lovely place Overall area experience: 10/10 Lhasa is a small town full of colour and character and on the whole, friendly people.