Lhasa

For many travellers arriving in Lhasa, the city is first of all disappointing. The common looking Chinese city with its department stores and shopping lane does not at all provide the "mystical Shangri-la experience" most people are looking for. To Flemish and Dutch people, things get worse, as (at this moment at least) the city could be held for a Dutch enclave, as Dutch is a language that can be heard on every corner, and even in some restautants, ("Mogen wij de rekening?") as one of the biggest restaurants here is Dutch owned.
But don't worry. When walking around in Barkhor, the Muslim quarter, the city looks like the stories told by travellers and books. It still smells bad, the streets are filled with garbage, and the smell of yak-butter is everywhere. Furthermore, this area has one of the nicest monasteries we've ever seen. The colours in the hard sunlight are simply beautiful, and against the background of mountain peaks and a clear blue sky, these sights make you forget about everything that could be on your mind and all you can do is shut up and suck in all these terrific views.
The hard sunlight may surprise you, as our first plan was to be out of Tibet before October as it could get too cold, but quite the opposite, it is pleasantly warm, ans the thermical underware still feels neglected as it has sunk to the absolute lowest levels of our backpacks. And sitting on one of the rooftop terraces, enjoying a beer in the sun, we must admit is one of those experiences you won't mind having again. It has its drawbacks of course, as I (F) have become very ill the first night from some sandwich on such a terrace...

But Tibet is not just about Lhasa, as from here, you can book tours to several other sites and sights. But it's expensive, as they count in cars, not per person. So We asked for a four day tour, which would cost us about 450 euro. So we did what so many people do; we wrote a note with our plans, copied it 12 times and hang it on the notice boards in all hostels and travel agencies. a day later, we're five, and we booked a tour of 400 euro. Excellent news of course, as we were going to pay that 450 just by ourselves if we had to (2 months of plain white rice...) . So tuesday we're of with a couple of Sri-Lankan Australians and an Hungarian. We'll see Nam-Tso Lake (the highest lake in the world), Yumdrok Lake, Shegatse and Shyantse. We're not doing Everest Base Camp, as we don't have the time (you can't arrange any permits during the weekend, so we can only leave on thuesday, and our flight to Shanghai is on Saturday). But I'm sure I will see the Everest within a decade, possibly with some more people (winkwink Lennert).