Grant_2

Diary Entry 2 - Exploring Lhasa

Today i started exploring Lhasa, the traditional Capital of tibet. I am staying at one of Lhasa's nicer hotels, The Lhasa hotel, it is a 4 star hotel, that is located Norbulingka, in the western suburbs of the city. It has 450 rooms and accomodates up to 450 guests at a time. To be honest, i didnt think the hotel was going to be that great, but i was quite suprised as i walked into the front reception. It just looked like any other 4 star Novotel Hotel that you might stay at. Very Impressed!!

From a distance, the city looks horrible, more like some sort of industrial zone, placed on the top of the world. But my mum always told me, never to judge a book by its cover. It when you start exploring the streets that find out what the city has to offer. Hundereds of small streets, filled with markets stall selling foods, rugs, clothing, not like some sort of market you would find in bali, that sells t-shirts saying "no i dont want a massage", they were selling traditional clothing made bby tibetans, that was so cheap. I picked up some tibetan piece flags, they just look like 7 different pieces of cloth tied to a piece of rope, but, tibetans believe, if you hang them in a special spot in you home, they will bring you good luck and happyness for every. What initaly amazed me the most about this city, was the fact that, for hundreds of years, the country has experiences so many hardships and horrors for china. Mass murders, destruction of religious relics. yet, these people are among the most hospitable, frindly and happy people that i have ever met. This is a picture of a typical tibetan house that you would come across in tibet. Everything is so colourful, from a distance, the city looks so gloomy, but when you get up close to it, everything is so colourful. Again, as i started my hike down on the main roads in Lhasa, i came across a small cafe, that sold mainly Yak Butter and barley wine. Tibetans do not eat odd toed animals. I tought the cafe was amazing, again, it was so colourful and neat.