Lhasa to Gyantse

It's been a pretty good day, though a long one driving. 6 of us are crammed into a landcruiser and...well the roads are better in Tibet than I expected at least! We left about 9:30 from the hotel, but had to get some groceries (and cans of emergency oxygen! awesome!) and recharge mobiles, etc so it ended up being about 10:30 before we were on the road. The first cloudy day in Tibet - good and bad as it meant our days in Lhasa were beautiful and bright blue but the view over Yamdrok-tso, one of the 3 holy lakes in Tibet which is this incredible colour of turquoise, was a bit cloud-filled. We could get the idea but...still...would have been nice to see it in its bright blue glory.

We had lunch at this Tibetan restaurant which is no doubt catered to screw tourists over - way overpriced (ok I'm getting to the point in travelling when I say "$3 for lunch!! get bent, that's a rip off!"). But oh well I'm not particularly fussed about it. I also would have sprung for the extra 20 kuai ($3) to have a private twin room with bath, western toilet, and own shower but got vetoed on that one too.

Other highlights of the day include seeing yaks, goats, a special kind of dog called the Yamdrok dog, some very scraggly looking sheep, and the odd cow. We went to a glacier as well (just to get out and take some photos).

And then the landcruiser broke down...

...ok not really it just developed a very odd rattle and ended up stalling us in the middle of nowhere for 30 minutes or so as they tightened the nuts on the back tyre.

Now we're in the town of Gyantse and I'm taking a brief reprieve from my travelling companions. Still getting along well with Heather and enjoy the company of Aaro, one of the Finnish guys, but the other one - Kai - I am *really* struggling with. I know some of this is cultural/language but he is sooooo arrogant, unfriendly, rude, and is frequently pissing me off 3 times today in fact - he took a cup from a shrine and pretended he was drunk (and you just don't disturb the shrines!), he taunted little kids with this stuffed animal (am sure he saw it as playing but they were screaming out for it and he was just laughing and waving it in the air...of course that toy probably cost more than their parents' combined monthly salary), and then he asked me to shut the car door in front of this very shy tibetan boy that came over when our car was stalled (as if the kid was suddenly going to reach in and grab his stuff) and then proceeded to shove his camera in the boy's face, paparazzi-style, without asking the boy's permission.

(So this is the character building part of the trip I guess, the one where I learn how to play well with others finally)*

Tomorrow we have 2 monasteries (though I'm starting to get monastery fatigue, these are apparently 'big ones') and head to Shigatse for the night. It's only a 90 minute drive "or so" - give or take sheep on the road. Might have internet access there too, it's supposed to be a pretty big town

*Ed. note: I am reviewing what I wrote at the time as I upload this in Nepal...as you read on you'll realise that I don't actually learn to play well with others. And the roads in Tibet are not better than I expected.