Mandala Hotel

Hi All,

  Today we began our official tour of Lhasa with two more tour members, David and Ronnie; one French and one Swedish.  Both are tall young men who have been traveling around Asia for several months though Ronnie took some time off to visit Alaska recently.  Both are completely fluent in English.  We will tour with them to the Nepal border.  Until now we have been doing an independent tour with the same company and same tour guide.  We’re glad that we had the extra time for our bike ride and drive to the Ganden Monastery.

  Our morning tour was the Potala Palace, the Winter Palace of the Dali Lama and the burial place of the Dali Lama starting with the 5th Dali Lama.  We have also visited the Summer Palace.  After that we visited the Jokang Temple which is the most crowded place I have ever been.  More about those places in following emails.

  Here are some photos of the beautiful Tibet scenery.

Ru