More from Lhasa

If you read our last e-mail this may look familiar...

Today we toured the many monastaries of Lhasa. The picture that I attached I did not take but it is the Palace of Potala. We had to walk up 340 steps to get to the top. This palace (prior one burnt down) was built from the 7th to the 17th Centuries. No pictures inside but the outside views were great. This afternoon we went to a nunnery and actually got to see, hear and take pictures the nuns do their chanting. I asked a nun a question and she asked me for a pen. Thinking that she was going to write something down I gave it to her. She thanked me, my pen was gone.Lhasa has an elevation of 12,000ft so we could feel the altitude. It is like being on top of Vail Mtn. The area is surrounded by snow capped mountains. The variety of transportation methods like that of many Asian areas is diverse. In the same minute you can see a bicycle with a hand brake, a tuk tuk (like a rikshaw powered by a bike), bikes with little trailers piled high with wood, pigs, people or any other industrial or natural product and of course new cars. Going through the markets is a real experience. Lots of beggars and vendors of everything from Yak dung to face maskes to yak butter (this is used as an offering in all the temples, placed in large Yak butter candles with 10+ wicks)jewlery, pots and pans, apparel, tea, sunflower seeds an lots more.

NOT IN E-MAILS
Not sure if we told you in the last post that we are off for Agra India tomorrow. Our hotel overlooks the Taj Mahal. We will have two lectures on the jet. First "Taj Mahal - The building and the Story of Two Lovers" and second "Relations between the United States and India"

D&B