To Lhasa: Success!!! We see the Potala Palace

April 27, 2007

We get up early, anxious to get back to "civilization."

We use the hot water in the thermos bottles to make our breakfast and wash. The toilets down the hall are disgusting...there is no way to flush the squat toilets and there's a mess everywhere. We carry our gear down to the courtyard and retrieve our bikes from a storage room. None of the plentiful staff are to be seen this morning. The courtyard gate is padlocked, but the aluminum slides and roll up door at the front of the restaurant are unlocked so we make our escape.

It's still cold and a bit hazy, but it does not snow or rain today. We ride through wide valleys full of agriculture, snow capped mountains on both sides. Traffic is getting busier, we meet up with crazy drivers again. No major hills and we make good time and get our first glimpses of the Potala Palace from about 20kms away. We cross a bridge over the Kyi-Chu River and suddenly we are in the city.

We have chosen the Banak Shol Hotel to check out first and take a fairly nice room with a bathroom and hot water...better still it's on the first floor. After securing a room, we cycle on about 1.5km to the Potala Palace for a couple of pictures with our loaded bikes. Then we return to the hotel to settle in, clean up and have lunch at the hotel restaurant. Patrick has his "golden arches" yak burger, Rachel takes the "protein" lasagna .... after oodles of noodles and rice, both dishes are very nice.

In the afternoon we make our first visit to the Spin Cafe that Patrick has corresponded with on the Thorntree Bicycle Forum. Pazu is from Hong Kong and cycled to Lhasa and now trying to start a business catering to bicyclists. He gives us a "welcome" drink of Vietnam style coffee (no charge) as we talk bicycling.

Next up is a trip to the post office to mail seven DVD's to Nathan and our first visit to Barkha Square and it's kora. A kora is a ceremonial walk clockwise around a sacred site. Hundreds or thousands of pilgrims follow the kora swinging prayer wheels in one hand and counting prayer beads in the other.

There is so much to see, we will surely be back many times.