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Last stop in China

Music from the CD shop started at 0900. The must have well-policed regulations about noise here. We took breakfast back at Sunshine Café, having scrambled eggs with ham and a fried egg with hashbrown (sharing halfway in our usual fashion). The Yunnan coffee was nice. Transport to Kunming, our last stop in China,  involve a […]

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Moving south

Today we moved south on to Dali, also in Yunnan province. It was disappointing to find that there was still on hot water when we woke. We washed using hot water from a vacuum flask and tap water. We taxied to the bus station and found a large IVECO van heading to Dali. Kim wasn’t […]

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Jade Dragon Snow mountain

Going up to 4506m The plan for the day was to go up to Jade Dragon Snow mountain. We found the bus stop to get there but the bus had just departed. It took about 40 mins to fill up till we could go but we remained productive by checking the bus schedule for our […]

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Moving on to Yunnan

Flying via Kunming We woke at before 0500 and got ready for our 0700 flight. On the way, I tried getting money from the ATM again after having failed a few times last night. At the stop for the airport bus, we were accosted by a taxi driver who offered a ride to the airport […]

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Tummy bug

Diarrhoea and Pandas Kim and I both woke up with diarrhoea this morning. Mine was a little less severe than his but in both cases, it wasn’t serious enough to cancel the day’s outing. We had organized a taxi to take us to the Panda Breeding Research Centre. The journey of about 35 mins cost […]

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Sweet oxygen

Rodent I was woken in the middle of the night, not by the altitude sickness, but this time by a rat in the room. It was crawling or chewing on plastic bags. Probably the ones that we wrap our clothing in. We woke at 0600. There was not hot water in the bathroom and cold […]

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Thoughts on leaving

Last of Lhasa We reached the Airway Hotel around 1630 and were allocated a different room. This time it also offered a view of the Potala but from a slightly different angle. We took a cab, along with Denise, to Barkhor for some shopping. We bought a door knocker, a horn (musical instrument) and a […]

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Tashilhunpo Monastery

Tashilhunpo Monastery It was another interrupted night sleep due to the altitude. We had a breakfast of toast, fried eggs, milk and coffee at the hotel. We have some sightseeing to do in Xigaze before the drive back to Lhasa. The first sight was Tashilhunpo Monastery. It is the monastic seat of the Panchen Lama […]

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Friendship Highway

Friendship Highway Today we move to Xigaze or Shigatse. Things went more smoothly at breakfast. We weren’t charged today but instead were given a refund. They were very gracious about it. I made an egg sandwich with the bread roll and added a bit of soya sauce for flavour. Once in the Landcruiser, we picked […]

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Two great monasteries

Drepung Monastery Due to a miscommunication, we had to pay for our breakfast at the hotel. It was a simple Chinese breakfast of warm congee, steamed buns, bread rolls and hard-boiled egg. The steamed buns were tough on the outside and tasteless on the inside. It seems to be the way it is done in […]

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