This is what the itinerary said:

23 April Agra - Delhi Drive 202 km- Kathmanu, Fly Air India

Drive back to Delhi. On arrival, transfer to International Airport for Kathmandu flight. Arrive Kathmandu by Air India. Flower garlands receptions at the airport and transfer to hotel Annapurna.  PM: Free for orientation.

Depart from Agra at 5:30 am. So I had a 4:30 am wake up call. Ouch.  Actually, it was not difficult to get up since I went to bed so early.

So it is day 7 on my adventure and I'm still healthy, so far. Thank God. For real. I can feel him with me. I could not do this without him. So I'm not totally alone. I am truly enjoying the solitude when I get it. When I'm with a guide, he has my full attention, but I know I can rest and recover later.  I'm really looking forward to Kathmandu.

It's so early that the road a void of traffic.  Irshad goes through the intersections even with a red light.  Apparently you only to obey traffic lights during the day? When there is no traffic, you can go through a red light, but I think he stopped at a light at 6:30 am.

At 7:10 we stopped for breakfast. I see cheese on the menu!  I was wondering if this country had any cheese.  I ordered a  cheese omelet, a can of orange juice, English tea.

The places that we stop are no stress shopping also. I like that. There is lots to choose from and nothing that I need or want. But no one is forcing things in face to look at. For 40 Rs I got a very small stone set in black marble marble mother of pearl maybe. Taj Mahal souvenir. That's it. The only purchase of this trip so far.

10 am and we are in Delhi. Driving in this city is crazy.  Cars "float" all over the road. You do not stay in the marked lanes. You can just push bicycles or trucks over to get through.  If you drove that that in Atlanta you would get arrested for drunk driving.

On the back of the tuk tuk was painted "We Two" "Our Two" means a small family with 2 kids. Irshad saw another one that said "We Two" "Our 10". That is big family.

A commercial license that last for 20 years costs 3000 Rs.

We are getting near to the airport so traffic is a lot more congested.  The air conditioning was getting warm so we opened the windows of the car. Now that's a whole new experience.  To feel the heat and hear the noise, it feels like we are really in the traffic .  With AC it is quieter - you don't get that experience.

10:50 am - Irshad dropped me off at the Indira Gandhi International Airport terminal in Delhi.

He was a fabulous driver, good conversationalist, and knew exactly when I needed to stop for something.  He was very courteous, asked permission to turn on the radio, open the window etc.   And he was always on time, I mean, he was always early. He really made my visit to India a pleasure.

Thanks Irshad!

I'm on Indian Airlines flight 813 that leaves at 1:40 pm.

Check-in for my flight is not open yet so I sit at the gate and wait. I met the most amazing person: 

Keshav Raj Maharjan Google Mapmaker, IT Engineer

He said that any information that I could collect for Goggle Maps would help. Oh boy, now I've got an assignment to track the road for Google. I'm going t o run out of paper. But if it makes this trip easier for anyone else, then I have to seize that opportunity.

He said to go to www.openstreetmap.org. It is user-contributed, free downloadable maps, to GPS also.

Keshav said that Doodle's Bar - Thamel  is probably the place where Sir Edmund Hillary visited and where Dad had a drink when he was here in Kathmandu.

He said a postcard should only cost 10Rs, Magnet for 50Rs

11:15 and we are still waiting for the Kathmandu airplane. There is a "delay announcement" on the loudspeaker and they say my flight. We are supposed to take off at 1:40, now 2:15. Fine. Whatever. Time to write.

I do not like this Delhi International Terminal. No sign or notices or indications when you are at a gate where the flight is going . No information is displayed at the gate. Everything is announced and you better not miss the gate change announcement. So I'm at gate 2 with Keshav.  I go the toilet, come out and there is lots of commotion at Gate 1. It's my flight leaving. I did not see Keshav. They searched our bags, and sent me behind a screen to get patted down. Get on a bus, ride to the plane, get on. Finally I see Keshav get on the plane.

2:15 and I just boarded the airplane to Kathmandu. Talking to Keshav was a god-send. The gate changes so I was sitting at the wrong gate and he came to get me to go to the other gate. Very interesting about google map making. OK, I should shoud have brought my GPS. I have a difficult enough time keeping up with my phone and camera and chargers. I feel better that there are plenty of Western looking people on this flight. 1 hour and 30 min. Here's hoping the Mr. Hari is waiting for me. How crazy is this trip. Yup, nuts. See this through, and live to tell about it. And I'm also having a great time!  I'm feeling generally calm and a little anxious. New experience coming up.

The airline served a nice meal. I got veg (instead of the chicken). The spice was just right so I ate it all. We got the smallest water bottle that I have ever seen. Took some great pictures of the snow-capped mountain tops peeking over the top of the clouds.  How cool is this:

Looking out of the airplane window as we are landing in Kathmandu, I see terraced plots within hills.  The buildings are not too dense.  All very quaint looking.  We are surrounded by mountains everywhere!   Whosh. Very hard landing.   31 degrees C now.

Ok, Part 1 of this 3-part trip is over, and Part 2 is beginning. Part 1 (Delhi, Jaipur, Agra) was for posterity to repeat what my Grampa saw. Parts 2 (Nepal/Tibet) and 3 (Kashmir) are for me to have another adventure. Because I don't want to go home.

The sign says "Welcome to Nepal. The birthplace of Lord Buddha".  Hmmm, why is that lady behind me in the picture wearing a mask??  Could it be pollution?  Could it be Swine Flu?  That's all part of joys of traveling.

First thing you see in the Arrival Hall in the Nepal, Kathmandu airport is tables where you fill out Visa forms. Keshav directed me to the last table with the English forms.  They ask all the traditional questions.

You must have a picture, or was that 2 pictures?  I heard them tell a girl that they could take the photo for $14 USD.  They only take US dollars (no Euros, no Rupees) and the cost of the Nepal Visa is:

Transit Visa for 1 day is $5 USD

Tourist Visa for 15 days is $25, for 30 days is $40, for 90 days is $100 USD

Very thorough.  The additional $198 USD that I paid Himalayan Tours before I left on this trip covered the cost of the visa application and to expedite and obtain the approved Arrival and Exit visa papers in one day. He took my application and said I would get my passport back the next day. OK.

8 pm I went to the coffee shop for a little dinner. Spaghetti Napolitain - I hope that is tomato sauce. Cost was

1 Spaghetti 375 (about $4 USD). 

3 bottles of water for 270 Rs (about $3 USD) 

Sub Total 645 + 64.50 Service Charge + 92.24 VAT = 802 total.

Whew, I am so tired. At least I only ordered one thing off the menu tonight. I am getting the crick in neck again now. Sleep on a big pillow tonight. I forgot write down cost for a liter of water is usually about $1 USD, but sometimes $0.50.

I found some souvenir t-shirts also. Green and orange colors and they say "Top of the World" $5 USD each. They also had some leather bags, but I wish it was a little bigger. Postcards were 10 Rs each.

10 am depart tomorrow. Wake up call at 8 am.

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This is what the itinerary said:

24 April Kathmandu Patan

Sightseeing tour of Kathmandu City once called "Kantipur" or "City of Glory" visiting Kasthamandap, Temple of the Living Goddess called "Kuman" or "Kumarni" Hanuman Dhoka, Kal Bhairab - God of Terror.  Taleju Temple of "Swayambunath" or The Monkey Temple. This Buddihist stupa is majestically set high upon a hill over looking the Kathmandu valley.

Lunch on your own and can had at one of the many good standard restaurants around town. Our guide will recommend the same.

After lunch we visit Patan city, one of the three queen cities the other two being Kathmandu city and Bhaktapur. Patan city is the city of fine arts and we visit Durbar square, Krishna Mandir, Mahavihar-Golden Temple of Lord Buddha, built in the 12^th century. We also visit the Tibetan Center. Page 793. Map 777.

Breakfast at the hotel is from 7 to 10 am. I made it around 8:30. It was a very big beautiful buffet with everything that you could want.  There is even a omelet station.  I had a big bowl of thick porridge. Yum - very good. Also some green beans and grilled tomatoes.

I slept great last night. Slept deep. I had a great night sleep because I've realized that there is a lot less to worry about than I've been imagining. That revelation makes the trip a lot nicer when I don't stay awake worrying like I did in Delhi. It is a very very hard bed with big pillows that squish down . I need to stretch my neck is so stiff. Think I went to sleep around 8 pm and I finally got out of bed at 7am. Oh yeah. That's what I'm talking about. THAT IS A VACATION!

I took a malaria pill this am.

9:30, no make that 10 am departure from the hotel.  Hari Nakarmi was there at 9:45 and I was waiting in the lobby. Surendra, my personal Kathmandu city tour guide was also there.

At the end of the street where the hotel was located was a Pink building.  It was a Palace where the king lived, but it is now a museum. Narayanhiti. 

We turned left and drove by a very tall walled complex, the "America Club". I don't think it was the Embassy, just a protected place where American can relax maybe?

Interesting information from Surendra (I love it that he started our tour with political information).

216 square miles and population of 1.5 million in 2001 maybe.  Population of Kathmandu is 3.2 million. Population of Nepal 25.9 million.

Religion:

Buddhist 20%   Christian 1.5 %   Muslim 3%   Hindu 70%

But officially, this is the breakdown

Buddhist 7.5%   Christian 1 %   Muslim 25%   Hindu 85%

There are 75 ethnic groups in Kathmandu.

There are 601 in the government assembly. The old constitution was scrapped. Now they are writing a new constitution.

The multi-party democracy here "does not work".

The Maoist is the largest party, but biggest Nepalese Congress party won.

"There are many corrupted political members."

The Maoist insurgency started 12 years ago because of "bickering of political parties", he thinks.

They have had 23 governments within 15 years!

He said "We don't know how to have a democratic government . We don't know democratic culture."

"If this situation persists, then bring the King back" he says.

Last year all the political parties said to get rid of the king. They promised a big change. That has not happened. Many criminal groups have started operating. Maoist are now in power. They created VCL - young Communist (democratic) League. The VCL are threatening and intimidating people. There is also UML United Marxist Leninist Party and "Youth Force". YCL and UML clashes.

"Maoists have not developed the morality on how they will be integrated."

Inflation is 14.1% in Nepal, the growth rate is only 3%. The economy is collapsing.  He says.

I was very curious about what what the people thought about what was going on with the government.  Surendra was very interesting.  I got the impression that he was telling me what he believed.  He was very correct with his impressions and information - it was right in line with current Economist magazine articles. I paraphrased this from the magazine, click on the links for the whole story.

Nepal's political crisis - Two armies into one won't go
May 7th 2009 - From The Economist print edition   http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13610863

The Nepal Army (which supported the now deposed dictatorship king, Gyanendra) refuses to follow the government of the new republic, led by the Maoist leader, Dahal (aka Prachanda). Under the peace agreement, the Maoists ragtag bunch of guerrillas was supposed to be integrated with the proper army. The army will have nothing of it, so former Maoist fighters are still holed up in United Nations-supervised cantonments.

How fierce will the Maoists be now?
May 7th 2009 | KATHMANDU - From The Economist print edition  http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13610927

The Maoist prime minister, Dahal (Prachanda (fierce) resigned on May 4th. Dahal was protesting against a move by the president, to reverse his sacking of the countrys army chief, General Katawal. Unless President Yadav relents, the Maoists say they will not rejoin the government. The debacle has jeopardised an already flagging peace process.

General Katawal deserved the boot because of his insubordination in how he handled the more serious problem: over how to dispose of the Maoists former fighters. Under the terms of the peace agreement, some of the 23,000-odd corralled must be recruited into the army. General Katawal (with Indias blessing) has resisted these reforms. The Maoists rhetoric is certainly worrying. So is the thuggery of their storm-trooping youth wing. The leader of a mainstream leftist party known as the UML, Kumar Nepal is touted as the next prime minister, and says they clearly want to capture power.

We parked the car and walked up to the "Swayambunath" or The Monkey Temple.  This temple in Kathmandu, Nepal is one of the most revered temples in Asia. It is famous for its stupa which has Buddha eyes painted on each of the fours sides near the top of the stupa.

There are two ways to get to the level where the stupa and monastery is located: 100 steps up on the Western side or 300 steps up on the Eastern side. We are going up the western side. 

We enter and see the World Peace Pond build by the FSMC Action Group in 1998. It says "May Peach Prevail on Earth".  Amen to that.  The water in the "pond" was very low and very dirty.  Looks like it represented a peace process that needs a big cleanup.

Walk up the stairs and on top by the stupa you have a beautiful view of the city of Kathmandu and Patan.  Surendra gave me a short lesson on religions and the history of the area. He is nice and very interesting.  I jotted down what I could:

Lord Buddha was born in Nepal.  563 BC in Lumbin (?)

This whole valley was a lake.  A huge Lotus flower bloomed.  And he continued with a beautiful story. More story and more story. The valley drained.

It is called the Monkey Temple because there are about 9000 monkeys in this area.  ( I can't remember seeing more than 2)

The 2 eyes are an omnipresence. Painted in all four directions.

In the photo, notice the pile of bedding. There is no heat in the room, or the entire building, but the bed covers are VERY WARM and there was electricity! It was very very cold outside. So it's a cold walk to the bathroom.

I got up around 6:30 to use the squat toilet. That was a very good idea.

The bed was hard and the covers were extremely warm. I had to take my sox off it was so hot.

Breakfast 8 am. We were served Tibetan bread and an "omelette" - a thin egg the size of the bread. I needed to put jam on the bread and sip of water to get it down.

Depart 9 am, no make that 8:55, and we are on the road.

I lost my wonderful soap. I wish I hadnt lost the soap. Such is life. Deal with it. Boy did I screw up buy bringing all this "just in case" stuff that I probably wont need. But that is why it is called "just in case" stuff. I should have left my case in Delhi and packed a little bag for this trip. That case is very heavy, but I suspect that some of those back packs are also very heavy. Anyway, I carried it down the narrow stairs this morning.

Im feeling fine again today thanks to my drug of choice: I popped two Tylenol this morning.

My toes are going to freeze today. We have heat in the vehicle. No air conditioning, but we do have heat. Heat is good.

I am really in awe of these mountains. They are much more spectacular than the Rocky Mountains in the USA. Were at 12 thousand, going up to 16,000 feet today. Then its all downhill from there. If we all can survive today, then we have survived the top of the world.

9:30 am GPS reading

My car companions are so cool! Peter, Mille, and Huub. They insisted that it was OK for me to sit in the front again today.  I am taking photos and writing as much as possible so we can all remember this experience! 

Everyone seems to be doing fine with the climb and the altitude so far. I have to keep reminding myself to keep breathing in big breaths to get as much O2 as possible to avoid headache. Some other folks arent fairing so well. Some people in the group did not have a good sleep last night. They were up with sick feelings and a good barf helps you feel better. Oh yes, the always-keep-handy barf bags are even being used in some of the cars. Were going higher still.

If youre thinking about doing this trip look at getting a prescription of Diamox. Some people had it and did not need it so they gave it to others in our group and it seems to really help but you have to request more pee stops

Too funny. So our driver doesnt speak a single word of English. We see and animal. Peter points to it and says "Yak?". The driver says "Yup."

There is no green anywhere. Its all sand barren landscape on the mountain side around here everywhere. The dirt road has rough washboard bumps. It seems like it will be paved soon. I saw a cement mixer.

9:45 - Ten minute stop to take photos of a village . Stone house with a running stream. There is a layer of ice on top of the stream.

Photo by Karen Clapp

The children here in Tibet have are very kind and not pushy at all. Not a single person begging so far has done or said anything to insult or attack me. That experience with the vulgar and rude boy at Angor Wat is forever ingrained in my mind changed the whole feeling of the visit.  Here the children hold out their hand, realize that they are not getting anything, then just stand there and look at you.

There are fields here. What are they growing? There are prayer flags in the fields. Chinese flags fly on the corner of the buildings. Some buildings have the Tibetan prayer flags on poles in the corners.

We are climbing, but it is gradual. Were still on a dirt road. Occasionally well drive by piles of rocks along the road:

Then Ill see a group of workers seemingly in the middle nowhere. Here's a group having some lunch:

The use the rocks to construct the drainage curbs at the side of the road. Here's a photo of the carefully constructed curbs on each side of the road.

After building the curbs, the next step is the pave the road!

I see beautiful snow-capped mountain range behind the sand mountains!

11:00 am GPS reading

WOW! That stop was AbFab! The strong wind almost knocks you over. The flags flying in the wind. The feeling of standing at the top of the world. But the road and landscape is not what I expected. Barren is all I come up with at this time. At this altitude.

That was invigorating when we stopped at all those flags. The strong wind so you just want to get photos and just get back in the jeep. Actually, it is a Toyota Land Cruiser. 4 wheel drive and have definitely needed it. You drive on road, then ahead on the road you see stones that block the road. You are forced to turn down to a very bumpy secondary temporary road, turn, then get back up on the main road.

We passed two bikers, as in "bicycle", not "motorcycle". We saw the first one on the highway, then more followed.  So weve seen 4 bicyclists so far. 11:15 am now. They are definitely not riding road bikes.  The road is washboard dirt and stone so you need hearty mountain bike. We saw all the bicycles in this one area. I appears that that they have a designated "start point". I'm guessing that start point is the banner placed above the road in the distance in this picture:

So we go downhill from here. We snake our way around the valley:

So far, it looks like everyone in the car made it without feeling ill effects. You can definitely tell the air is different.  The air is very very dry. It feels like the skin on your face is tightening.

OMG 3 more day of these bumps! What have I gotten myself into????  I'm not sure that I can do this!!!!

11:45 I see a road sign that said to go straight to Tingri. This is not for the faint-hearted. 150 miles of of these bumps today. Holy sh--!

11:35. We stopped and all 5 of us jumped out for a well-timed break. Boys on the left, girls on the right. Mille and I found a great squat spot. Were basically out in the open, dirt mountains and endless seas of sand stone and rocks and boulders. Im sure that no one saw us. Whew! Wet those stones.

11:50 GPS reading:

We are currently stopped. Im not sure why. Doesnt really matter. Im still feeling fine, but I can tell that I am tired.  Im getting very hungry. Thank goodness I have these frosted mini wheats and some water. I hope lunch is coming some time soon.

12:20 were still sitting here. We need to read the odometer in the morning tomorrow so we can get on idea of what distance is left to go. This is not such a good display of their beaurocracy. We are already in China, so why cant we pass?

The konundrum with the passports to enter the country was also not so good way to show foreigners how this country works. It will eventually get settled, whatever is going on.

12:45 finally moving again.

2:15 we are on pavement!

The pavement didn't last very long. We were right back on the dirt roads...

2:17 stop for lunch. GPS Reading at lunch

Here's a picture of the "restaurant" where we ate lunch:

This is what it looks like inside:

Photo by Karen Clapp

Im sitting here in the restaurant looking around the room at everyone waiting for their food to come. We are a battered and beaten group of people. That was a rough ride today and this is only the second day of driving!. The first day it was so treacherous we had to go so slow we didnt get so beat up. This second day, our car fell behind when we stopped for a pee and photos of Everest (?).

The noodles came first for lunch. My fried rice was OK. Im not incredibly hungry, so Im learning to eat less. (actually it is the altitude that takes away your appetite).

There are 5 locals here pouring over a "Tibet" guide book. They found the map in the book and one man was reading out loud some of the city names. The pictures are also interesting to them.

Oh yeah, the bathroom out back was worth a picture. Two raised rooms, a rectangular hole cut in the cement. I heard sometimes there is big pile of frozen shit below. Lovely.

Our guide said that we will have dormitory style rooms again to night. I cautiously inquired about a single and he seemed to indicate yes. Well see. I think Ill put out everything that I need for next two nights in my small bag. But maybe shouldnt leave the suitcase in the car? Ill ask him tonight.

4 pm and were back on the road. We have 3 more hours of driving, I mean riding.

Sign: "Tingi County 66 km"

We have one more Army checkpoint to go through so that could take awhile depending. We are not supposed to take photos at the checkpoints.

Sign: "5186". There are cement markers along this road. "5185" marking kilometers.

Man, I sure hope the next three days arent like the first two.

About 5, we stop at Army checkpoint around marker 5130. It was quick. We had to all go inside, they had a printout of our names, show your passport and visa they checked off your name on the list.

The km numbers are going down. There is snow all over at 5110 km.

5:25 pm we crossed the Bridge Luo over the Luo River.

6 pm - Arrive at the LA LUNGLA pass.  GPS reading at the 5081 marker:

Photo by Karen Clapp

So compare the photo above, to the real palace below.  This where the Dalai Lama, Tibet's true leader lived until he fled the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959.

My visit to The Potala Museum:

We stood in line less than ten minutes. You have to put your stuff through an x-ray machine and walk through a metal detector.

10:05 we enter the Potala Palace, I mean the Potala Museum.

 

Walk up steps, up, up, up.

 

 

 

At the top of the steps, you buy you ticket to enter.  It is a very fancy 3-dimensional photo of the palace.  I think is 100 Yuan.

 

 

 

 

This is the door that you go through to enter the museum.  At 10:35 are we're inside so no more pictures.

After you go through these doors, there are "golden handprints" on the left wall.  Then you go up some stairs, then you are in a big 1,600 meters square pavillion the "Deyanshan" (in Tibetan "East Celebrate Square").

3 wood stairways to the "White Palace". The middle stairs was only used by the Dalai Lama. White Palace is where Dalai Lama lived.  It also administration offices and meeting hall.  Many beautiful wall paintings.

White Palace top floor - the interior palace of Dalai Lama. There are East and West Sunlight Halls. The South side had a tall, tall window where the sun shines in, thusly named "Sunlight Hall".  It was very luxurious.

 

The "Red Palace" contains the Dalai Lamas' tomb pyramids, halls, and Buddhist Temples. Many treasures including 8 tomb stupas of Dalai Lamas: Dalai V, Dalai VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, and Dalai XIII .

You are shuffled through one room at a time.  It is very planned out.

Room 021 Cham Khang. 8^th Dali Lama. "Jamkang Maitreya Buddha Chapel"

Room 020 Loilang Khang. 7^th Dali Lama room. Huge big golden mandala in this room.

Room 019 So Sum Namgyal. Collection of Buddhas from the 4^th century. Rooms also has book for chanting. The Confession Buddha.

Room 018 Cheme Dedan Khil (The Eternal Happiness). This is the Center of the Red Palace. It was built for the 8^th Dalai Lama.

Wisdom Buddha is red, Confession Buddha is white, Energy (power) Buddha is black

Room 017 Lama Lhakang

016 Serdhang tashi Waiker Khan. Tomb of the 8^th Dalai Lama: The Gelek Sibar. He build the Summer Palace in his lifetime. This is the "best one gold (not bronze) and turquioise Phagpa Lhakang (The Enlightentened Chapel).

013 SerdSasum. Hgonga Khang. 9^th Dalai Lama Tomb. He dies when he was 11 years ond. The tomb is very tall, gold with turquise stones.

Walk a bit

012 Dukhor Lhakang The Wheel of the Time Chapel". Bronze

011 Thubwang Lhakang was closed

010 was closed

009 Zegya Lhakeng. Zegya means "100 days of history of the Buddha". Each statue has a story.

Before they built the red palace, the king studied here. It was built in the 7^th Century. There is a statue of the king, his wife, and sons in this room. It was cave, and it became a building.

"The Chogyal Drupuk" means The Cave of the Religious King.

The wood stove was used by the princess of China.

Kunsang Jedrokang "Good to All Chapel"

Room 006 Lima Lhakang The Alloy Steel Chapel. . Collections of Buddhas white, blue and black. All colors.

Downstairs, down more to the Big Assembly Hall. They are cleaning the scriptures here. They do that once year.

Room 004 Lamrim Lhakang The Path of Enlightenment". Walk into Rigzin Lhakeng "The Knowledge Holder Chapel".

The Buddha here taught the oldest sect of Buddhism. He was 1^st of the seven monks in Tibet.

What differentiates a "Palace" vs. "Monastery" . A monastery needs three things: monks, praying stautes, and ? to quality as a monastery.

There are 8 more manifestations of Buddha in this room.

Room 002 Serdhong Zamling Gyenji Khang (Gyanchilc) . 5^th Dalie Lama tomb and Stupa is in this room.

126 m high, 7.6 at the base. 3721 kg of gold and 10,000 precious stones.  WOW!

Also 10^th Dalai Tomb with the stupa on top.

Room 001 I cant read. 11^th Dalai Lama Tomb. Trungrab Lhakang. "The Chapel of the Holy Born". 1th to 4^th Dalai Lama. The 3^rd Dalai Lama was mongolian. He was the only one that was from Mongolia.

11:20 exit. We can take pictures again.

We had to go up stairs to get up to the palace, but after you exit, you walk down ramps.  Down, down to a parking area surrounded by shops.  Connie, Sven and I could not find the bus in the parking lot, so I had an hour and a half (until 1)  to wait and write.

I was in the palace about 1.5 hours.  Tourist season starts tomorrow (May 1). You can only be in the Potala for one hour maximum. 

I walked across the street to get some photos of the palace.  There were people praying in front of the Potala.  They lay flat on their stomach and reach out to the building, then get up, pray, and repeat.

There is a man looking over me watching me write this right now. OK, now Im collecting a crowd. There are many nice people looking at me writing. An older lady makes a comment to some others standing around. She is spinning her prayer wheel. She sat down right next to me, very close, touching my right arm. Still spinning her wheel.

12:20 the older lady is sitting right next to me chanting and spinning her wheel. I moved over a little bit, but its a very small bench. Two young girls stopped to look at me write.

Our guide was Not Good at the palace. Group broke apart. I ended up with an English speaking guide with a man and another woman. It was a lot better then our guide. I hope I can find our group later. Now there is quite a group watching, so I need to keep writing

I gave my pad to the young girl gazing at me. She took my pen (in her right hand) and wrote "My name is Kunsang". She asked if I knew about her home town "Ngari" she wrote the name of the town in my book. Its in "West Tibet" she said. Her homeland. I could tell she was missing the place and very homesick to go back.

Another photo.  The birds are free, but are the people?

The back of the palace:

The side of the palace:

1 pm and we are back on the bus. We stopped at Bank of China so people could exchange money.  A sign in the bank said "If amount is less than RMB 20,000, please use ATM."  Several people had no problems using the ATM.

Back to hotel at 1:30.  Watson and I got a really good bowl of noodle soup and sweet milk tea at the hotel restaurant. 10 yuan. Yum.

I went up to my room to lay down for a minute.  I had electricity, but still no light in the bathroom.  I'll deal with that later.

3 pm, no make that 2:30 pm depart for our tour of the Sera Monastery.

If you get lost (which I have found really means "if you find another English speaking guide that you want to follow around), then meet at 5:30 pm by the bus.

Here is the back of the ticket to get in. I included it to show how everything (including road signs) is always written in 3 languages: Tibetan, Chinese, and English.

Some information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sera_Monastery

This is original Sera monastery, about 5 km north of the Jokang in Lhasa. After the Chinese took control of Tibet in 1959, it was reconstituted in Bylakuppe[1], India, near Mysore. The original in Tibet continues as a working monastery.

Sera Monastery at the foot of Tatipu Hill is located in the northern suburb of Lhasa City. It is one of three famous monasteries in Lhasa along with the Drepung Monastery and the Ganden Monastery. The Sera Monastery is dedicated to the Gelugpa or Yellow Hat Sect.

Built the monastery in 1419 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The monastery was named Sera which means "wild rose" in the Tibetan language, because the hill behind it was covered with wild roses in bloom when the monastery was built.

The monastery is magnificent and covers an area of 114,946 square meters (28 acres). Its main buildings are the Coqen Hall, Zhacang (college) and Kamcun (dormitory). Scriptures written in gold powder, fine statues, scent cloth and unparalleled murals can be found in these halls. Colorful debates on Buddhist doctrines are held here and these employ a style distinctive from those at Lhasa's other famous monasteries.

On the sign at entrance of the Sera monastery:  "no hullablooing, curveting and slapsticking" Too funny.

My deciphered scribbled notes:

Founded in 1419. It is one of the 3 major Gelugpa, or Yellow hat Sect in Tibet.  The founder of the Galugpa (Yellow Hat) Sect found this Sera Monastery.

There were over 5000 monks at one time. Now there are about 300 monks. This place was a college at one time.

It has a assembly hall, three colleges, and about 33 houses.

The first building that we stopped at had a beautiful Sand Mandala.  It was about as big as the one that they made when the Dalai Lama was here in Atlanta October, 2007.   To see how that one was made go to About the SAND MANDALA Construction Process

 

The monks here arent really real monks ?!?. They may have been "re-educated" by the Chinese and they may understand everything that you and the guides are saying.

Next Inner Relic Printing House. I paid the 5 Yuan to photos.  They use a block of wood about 24 inches by 3 inches.  The inscriptions (words of the song?) are carved into the block.  They roll ink on the block of wood, then place a long, thin strip of paper on it and quickly rub the paper to absorb the ink.  It's a very fast process.

The man nearest the my window in the photo is printing the first side of the paper.  The man in front has a boy (with a red hat) helping him place the paper on the block so they can print the other side.

Now we are going to the "Sera Je College" building. 

The main room is in the middle there is big altar and there are are long rows of seats covered with cushions in the main

There are rooms all around that we can see.

Inside the dimly lit room to the left, flourescent lights flicker like candles in the Protector Chapel.

Next to the Shakyamuni Buddha The Present Buddha. There is a lot of turquoise very pretty. He has a smiling mouth and smiling eyes.

The next room has statues: Shakyamum Buddha, the 1,000 armed white Parasol Buddha, Gyaltsab-Je and Kedup-Je Tsongkapa,  Amitabha (he has longer ears -means he is more enlightened).

The guide tried to explain that Buddhas have 34 marks of Buddha-hood to show "enlightenment".

Next we see the Wisdom Buddha red in color.  Black is the "power Buddha"  and White is the compassion Buddha.

In this monastary they have a "Debating Courtyard".

We entered the courtyard and watched for a very long time.  What a very unique experience.  There were about 70 monks.  They were organized in  groups with about 7 to a group.

At least one monk is standing in each group. He seems to be controlling the topic of discussion. They are having "philosophical debates" They clap when a point is made. "Stop Ive made my point " they gesture.

Some monks are very quiet, other monks are very animated. They know we are watching. Each monk holds a string of beads. Is some of this for our entertainment? Or is this what they really do when no tourists are watching?

There are 15 men in one group. 3 are standing. Maybe one is challenged and voices get louder. Its not a clap, its a slap. The right had is drawn back and quickly slaps the left hand in a forward motion.

They are sitting on cushions. All feet are covered. No saffron color robes here. All red, burgundy color robes. A lucky monk gets to lean up against a tree. The ones standing appear to drive the discussion and get the sitting ones to respond and speaks.

Oops, I see the sole of a foot!

Per Ali (a practicing Buddhist in our group) they are discussing the Darma.

They are from the Gelukpa or is it Gelugpa Sect or lieage of Buddhism.

All Dalai Lamas are from the Gelukpa.

Photo by Karen Clapp

Next we go to the Assembly Hall of Sera.  On the front of this building is a white banner with blue medallions. The door is shut and locked so we can't go inside, but on the on the left wall of the porch is the Circle of Life Mandela. The guide spent a long time explaining that beautiful story. 

Here's a picture of  (glad to be in China) Rebecca with the Circle of Life in the background  --->

So were back to the hotel.  I ask the guy at the front desk to help me get a light in the bathroom.  They sent an electrician.  He had to replace the entire light fixture and I finally had a light! 

For dinner tonight a bunch of us met in the lobby around 7.  Emily, Joup, Karen, Carol, Watson, Sara, Claudia and I ventured out. I got steamed Mo Mos this time. Oh yeah, also a beer. That led to more lively conversation.  Also more bathroom trips in the night....

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After the monastery, we had some time for shopping. Oh boy.  I was set on not buying souvenirs, but I went with Watson because he wanted some help looking for a hat. We walked along the bazaar by the temple.  We found brown, tan, also blue. Finally near the end of the street the perfect hat in black. He got it for 40 Yuan (about $7 USD). Good price. And the t-shirts. 2 for 75 Yuan, so about $7 each.  Dark green color with a very detailed embroidery of the Potala and it says "Tibet" on the front. Like I need another t-shirt. We stopped into the grocery the Claudia pointed out.  Why is it that I cannot seem to find the delicious goodies that other people find. Finally I spot the dried kiwi and pineapple. That will be my snacks for my stay on the houseboat.

This Tibetan man is smiling because he is very happy that Carol is buying this really cool boots!

Dinner tonight the best BIRTHDAY evening that I could have ever imagined.  Huup found this fabulous restaurant and arranged everything.  It was very close to the hotel.

Rama kharpo Hotel and Restaurant  http://ramakharpo.hotels.officelive.com

Tel: 13659505918   email: lobsang63@hotmail.com

(The location of the restaurant is labeled on the map of the neighborhood above.)

As soon as I walked into the restaurant, I was presented with a silk scarf. That the first of three throughout the festivities of the evening.  Beer (On Top of the World Beer) was flowing the food was delicious.

They prepared many different dishes.  It started with chicken noodle soup.  Then there was a beautiful buffet dinner including 3 different types of vegetable mo mo's, a meat mo mo, and 5 other dishes: meat & potatoes (yum), and the others were vegetarian, Chow Mein, etc, Egg with roasted tomato.  And dessert.  I should have written down the name of the cookie. It was made with some kind of grain.  Then yoghurt with strawberries. That was a beg treat. I had to put some sugar in mine.

The entertainment was also fabulous. The Dutch sang a very funny birthday song. They asked me to pick 3 instruments. They sang a verse then pretended to play the instrument between each verse. It was a hit.  And the Germans - they really surprised me by lifting me up in the chair (3 times!) after they sang.  Sara presented presents: a writing pad with rice paper ( I really needed that!) and a beautiful necklace. And a bracelet from Watson.  Thank you!!!  After singing, there was traditional Tibetan dancing.

Thank you so much to everyone on this trip for a very memorable birthday! This journal is now my present to every one of you so can also remember this awesome journey.

After note:  The pad of paper was very interesting to write on - It took awhile to get used to it. There are pieces of things incorporated into the paper.  It was great to remember that night every time I wrote.

I repacked tonight to put the heavy stuff in my carry on bag so my suitcase is less than 20 Kilos.

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