The Roof of the World!

Greetings from the Roof of the World! Yes, we're in Tibet! We have to keep pinching ourselves to remind ourselves that we're in Tibet! Yeay! SOOOO excited to be here. The city of Lhasa sits at 3700m or about 12,000ft - that's 3 times the height of Ben Nevis (in Scotland, you non-Europeans) and about the same size as Mt Adams in Washington State (near Portland). So, we have been acclimatising and chilling out, touring some of the city a little. The very impressive Potala Palace looms high over the city. It is a monster of a place, and is apparently 13 stories high, but I'm not exactly sure where they measure that from as it is perched on a hilltop. We did a tour around the palace which was unfortunately under renovation so only half was open to the public. The Potala Palace is one of the most sacred, holiest places in the world. It used to be the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas until the recent one was banished to India by the Chinese government. So, we toured through some of the Dalai Lama's residences and saw some impressive tombs. The 5th Dalai Lama had the most incredible stupa, adorned with loads of precious stones and about 3700 kg of gold. And down below, hundreds of pilgrims were all circling the palace in a clockwise direction, spinning their prayer wheels as they walked. An interesting trip to the holy palace - it was seriously impressive!

For those concerned, Martin is doing better regarding his tummy problems, but he is taking it easy on the food front - nothing too fancy and exciting - just dull noodles and pasta with veg. Can't have him being ill at Everest! ...which we are trying to organise at the moment. It'll be an 8 day trip in a Landcruiser with a group of 5 of us heading to Base Camp at 5200m (about 17,100ft) and spend 2 nights in a tent up there - very excited about that prospect. Might be a little cold though! *Stub and Mush