Before another full day on the road from Shigatse back to Lhasa we had one more monastery to visit but none of us wanted to go inside. Bob led us around the outside of the place with all the morning worshipers as they loop around spinning the endless prayer wheels and leaving offerings at shrines. If was far more interesting than touring the interior. We left Shigatse around 11 after a quick brunch.

I’m starting to feel bad for our driver. The roads are good but the speed limit is, well, limiting. We retraced our route from two days ago passing the lakes and then stopping for lunch. V and I started listening to Jon Krakauer’s ‘Into the wild’ – by the end of the trip we only had 40 minutes left to listen to. It’s a brilliant book.

The views were beautiful and the weather better than on the way out but the trip was uneventful until two hours outside Lhasa. Slow news day so I’ll explain. We stopped at a speed checkpoint and after having the time slip checked started off. A shiny new 4×4 behind us tried to pull in front of us on the inside and scraped his wheel arch against us. What ensued was a protracted argument between the drivers and discussion with the police. The driver of the other vehicle (clearly at fault from our viewpoint) was insisting that we had reversed into him ! The issue would have been easily resolved if the other driver wasn’t a friend of one of the policemen at the checkpoint. There was almost no damage – probably would have polished off – and in the end the police agreed with our camp. Ooo the excitement.

Arriving in Lhasa our guide informed us that the dive we had stayed at before had rooms and that the other options would either be full or expensive. We caved and were delivered to the Banakshol where we discovered that the only rooms available were on the road. I was not prepared to accept two nights without sleep and decided to keep looking for accommodation. Our guide was not happy (he must have a comm agreement with the hotel and/or he just wanted to go home – but we needed him and our permit to secure a room). Pissy and very tired from 4 days on the road we eventually settled on the Yak Hotel and the most expensive room so far in China (£20/night). The disorganization over accommodation soured the end of the trip for us. We were not given options or at least warned that we needed to book beds in advance in the more reasonable spots. If fact I was told that booking was not required. Oh well. At least we will be comfortable for our last two nights in Tibet.

[Pictures: None from the phone]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

[UPDATE] Have uploaded a whole bunch of photos but they have not been tagged or categorized.