Lhasa Tibet

I travelled to Lhasa from Kathmandu with a few friends, at the time there was an abundance of travel agents promising to provide a trip and many of these fell through for one reason or another. I was fortunate, as one of my friends had lived in Kathmandu previously and knew a travel agent. Whilst that effectively secured out trip, we still had to spend 4 hours in the China embassy applying for a visa. Our package was a China South West airlines flight from Kathmandu to Lhasa, a 3 day stay and a 4 wheel drive road trip from back from Lhasa to Kathmandu via the original Friendship Highway.
Arrival at Lhasa airport was an absolute free for all, with the airport arrivals area and subsequent customs checkpoint being absolutely manic. Once through customs we met our guide in Lhasa airport and were loaded onto a minibus which took us to the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
What a place, set in a valley surrounded by stunning mountains with the imposing Potala Palace, looking out over the city. An abundance of shops and markets with an array of unusual items being sold and the obvious, statutes of the palace and Buddas of all shapes and sizes freely available. The street food was off the charts, my motto has been “if its hot, its normally ok”. A visit to the Potala Palace was amazing however, what made Lhasa for me was the people, be it a rickshaw driver or a market trader, a smile was never far away. If this place as suggested by many, has been oppressed since the annexation of Tibet by China in 1950, I can’t imagine how wonderful it must have been before 1950.