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9/30 In the morning (and again in the late afternoon) we did some
more rounds around the bokhor circuit doing some people watching and
looking at all the unique outfits and hair styles. Really cool. I
like the tibetan cowboy with colored wool braided into their long
hair. In the afternoon we visited the massive Potala Palace, the
previous home to both the Tibetan king and Dali Lama before they were
forced to flee in 1959. The outside of the palace is quite impressive
and inside is cool too. Lots of incense, yak butter candles, and some
massive things of solid gold.
In the evening we went in front of the palace to see it lit up at
night and watch a music and fountain show and have some beers

In front of the palace, the chinese have made a huge square and built
a huge monument...a freedom monument to commemorate how the chinese
gave the tibetans freedom...haha...totally the otherway around.
Hmm...Tibet went from a free independent kingdom to being controlled
by China (extremely atheist china at the time, so religion which is
the most important to Tibetans was banned and monks and others were
persecuted) and now China has imported 2 million of their Han people
into Tibet and their customs and rules. Not to mention all of those
soldiers going around. You can definitely feel that the chinese feel
quite superior to the tibetans and treat them as less. Perhaps a bit
like the segregation of blacks in America. We thought it was quite
the slap in the face to the tibetans to have this huge "freedom"
monument built in front of their most important religious building and
have a huge chinese flag waving in front of it and now on top of the
palace. We would love to ask the Tibetans what they really think of
the chinese occupation, but we can't bc we could get them in trouble.
As we sat having our beers and looking at the palace and then back at
the huge tall, white freedom monument we thought it would be great to
spray paint "F China, Free Tibet!" on it, but thought better of it.
But all those hippy/yuppies back home that have the free tibet
stickers really know what they are talking about. You can't help but
feel sorry for the Tibetans and being occupied by China and having
their culture removed by moving in all the Hans and by scaring them a
bit by bringing in all the soldiers.

10/1 Got up early for the 4 hour drive to Namtso Lake, the highest
and either largest, or 2nd largest salt lake in TIbet. The road there
went through some amazing scenery, along some snow clad mountain
ranges and yak filled valleys. We even went by a big 7000m (23,000ft)
peak that was not hidden by the clouds and shimmered white amongst the
blue sky. We also stopped at one of the many ricket old suspension
bridges that the tibetans and their sheep and goats use to cross the
glacial blue rivers. We had a lot of fun and made the locals laugh
quite a lot by using the suspension bridge as a trampoline. Also on
the road, a 245km drive one way, we had to stop about every 20 to 30
minutes for security checks, police checks, millitary checks. Really
crazy. To get to the lake we went over a 5190m pass (17,025ft). From
the top of the pass you could look down on the lake shimmering an
irridescent blue. Bc the air is so thin and the sun so bright, the
lake shimmers especially brilliant. And to add to the unreal blue of
the lake is the blue sky above it and the snowcapped peaks all around
it. It's a huge lake and you can't really see the end of it. We
drove down to the lake where Leon, Arie, and I took a hike along a bit
of the shore and then up a hill to get a better view of the lake and
to hike amongst the prayer flags strung out everywhere. The lake was
at about 4200m and the hill at 4700m, so Aries and Leon got a bit
sick. Luckily I have still not had any problems. I guess a bonus of
growing up in Colorado is my red blood cells respond quickly. I was a
bit winded climbing, but not bad at all. Just like I would feel back
home at 13,000 feet or something. A couple of the Japanese in our
hostel that are doing the same itinerary as us are really suffering.
They are using Oxygen bottles and stuff even at the hostel to try to
get over the AMS.

Tomorrow we leave for Shigaste and then the Everest Base camp the next day.