It was our English tour guide’s birthday and he decided he wanted to go out in Lhasa’s New Town to celebrate.
DocBok
I am Bok, a British-born expat living in China. I was born in Lancashire but identify as a 'plassie-Scouser'. I spent my youth growing up in Cumbria. Here I developed a great taste for exploration, climbing mountains and camping in the wilderness - a taste for travel that has defined my life.
Tea Shop in Lhasa
We still had some free time before meeting back with the tour group for our night out in Lhasa New Town, so we decided to wander Old Town for a while.
Jokhang Temple
Regrouping After my girlfriend and I rejoined the tour group we went to visit the Jokhang Temple. This is one of the most important temples in Tibet, which is evidenced by the many people constantly praying outside the temple.
Potala Palace
Thangka Lessons from an Artist
I wanted to write about my visit to the Norbulingka Palace, but it wasn’t very memorable. It was a nice place to visit, with well maintained and beautiful gardens. However, I don’t have any pictures left of the place, and without that there isn’t much to write about.
Sera Monastery
After a stressful morning we returned to our hotel and waited for the rest of the tour group to wake up. Next on our tour we were to visit the Sera Monastery and see the monks perform their daily debates.
Up Early to Queue in Lhasa
On our first day in Lhasa we found out that because Yi was Chinese she would need to get up early in the morning to queue for the tickets to Potala Palace. They also needed one other person to go as well, so obviously I volunteered.
Tibet: Arrival
Last summer we visited Tibet (西藏 or Xīzàng in Simplified Chinese) with Young Pioneer Tours, a part of China, yet not so simple for foreigners to visit. The rules to get in are constantly changing and China often temporarily blocks foreigners from entry.
Hotpot Weekend in Shanghai
There are many varieties of the infamous hotpot in China. In general they all consist of the same basic idea: dipping cold things into soup and boiling the flavour into them.
Huangpu (Whampoa) Military Academy
While in Guangzhou we visited the Huangpu Military Academy (黄埔军校 or Huángbù jūnxiào) on Chuangzhou Island. We were dropped off at the Huangpu docks where the academy gets its name. Then we paid a total of 2 RMB (around 19 pence) to get on board the boat to the island.