Lhasa Stories


Potala Palace

We met out guide at 10:30 and walked to the Jokhang Temple, paid our entry fee, and jumped ahead of 100 pilgrims waiting in line for their turn to enter. I asked our guide about this and he said that pilgrims pay 1 Yuan (15 cents) to enter and we paid 70 Yuan ($10). We will walk through the interior in 30 to 45 minutes and pilgrims spend 3 or 4 hours, ...


Out of Lhasa

Drake had a very bad night. He felt like he was not getting enough oxygen and even the effort of taking a deep breath made him breathless. He ended up watching movies on the computer all night in order to distract himself from his predicament. He says he didn’t get to sleep until 7:00 a.m. So I let him sleep in and I met up with our guide at 10:00 to...


A Day On The Roof Of The World

We met out guide at 10:30 and walked to the Jokhang Temple, paid our entry fee, and jumped ahead of 100 pilgrims waiting in line for their turn to enter. I asked our guide about this and he said that pilgrims pay 1 Yuan (15 cents) to enter and we paid 70 Yuan ($10). We will walk through the interior in 30 to 45 minutes and pilgrims spend 3 or 4 hours, ...


Lhasa at Last

We ate breakfast at the hotel, met our guide and driver and headed out of town to the Dreprung Monastery 45 kilometers out of town. We drove along a valley floor for 30 minutes and then climbed a steep hill on a road that had more switchbacks than I thought was possible. We ascended from 3,600 meters above sea level to 3,800 meters and I could feel my...