Today we had breakfast at 5 am to catch our early morning flight to Lhasa Tibet. Airport rules and security are very strict here. Technically I wasn't supposed to take any syringes in my carry-on bag (although insulin is okay!). Our guide wrote me a note in Chinese saying that my life would be in danger if i couldn't carry any needles, but luckily they didn't stop me. After our 3 hour flight, we had a one hour guided bus trip to a local restaurant, then on to our hotel. On the bus, our guide gave us all a white silk scarf which was our welcome to Tibet! Upon landing we were surrounded by bald rugged mountains, and not much else until we arrived in Lhasa. Our guide warned us about the things we couldn't do, like taking close-up photos of people, police stations and check points. He also wasn't allowed to discuss politics with us. We saw some yaks along the road and got to taste them for lunch - very yummy! The stories we were told showed us that Tibetans are very superstitious. Our hotel room had a lovely painted box at the foot of the bed, Tibetan decorations on the walls, and a lovely courtyard outside our window, which had a pathway and a couple of pagodas. The altitude is 11,000 feet. We were warned to walk slowly, drink lots of water, eat a light dinner and not to take a shower or wash our hair until the next morning. There were oxygen tanks in our rooms, a peaceful Oxygen Lounge with comfy chairs and soft music downstairs, and a doctor in the hotel, which some people on our tour needed to make use of. The Tibetan characters are very different from Mandarin Chinese, and in fact look a lot like Sanskrit letters. Tibet is run by the Chinese government, and we understood that perhaps all are not happy about this, but of course even the guides were not allowed to say this, so we can't know for sure.
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