On Saturday the 16th we flew from Kathmandu to Lhasa, Tibet, China. We had a very easy hour flight on Air China and arrived in a very modern airport about an hour outside Lhasa. The drive from the airport to Lhasa was beautiful and I have some great photos to post soon. Tibet is a beautiful city. The food is great, the people are nice, the scenery is stunning, and the city itself is beautiful, colorful, and full of character. Tourism is a mainstay of the economy but people don't hassle you here and you can sit and enjoy the scenery or get directions or help if necessary. The weather is beautiful. Cool and clear, about 70 during the mid day and chilly at night and in the morning. The sky is so clear and blue that its breathtaking each time you look around. Every photo I take is a great shot just becasue the background is so beautiful. My lame photography skills are compensated for by the scenery =) By the time we flew in, went through customs, stopped at a bank to change money, drove out to Lhasa (stopping along the way to see a 7th century Buddha carved into the side of a mountain), it was after 4pm. We had a couple hours to wander around (my roommate Vicky needed to buy a new backpack because the Chinese customs cut hers open and its not repairable and I needed new sunglasses because I scratched mine). Then we had a nice group dinner. We tried yak meat (pretty good actually) and yak butter tea (really awful) and momos (steamed or fried little dumplings with different fillings - very good) and 'altitude relaxation tea' (which I really liked even though I normall don't like tea and it really seemed to work because I was so relaxed and tired I could hardly walk back to the hotel before I collapsed in bed and fell asleep! =) ) Some noticeable things from our first day in Lhasa - - The chinese influence here is shocking and impressive. The infrastructure here is amazing. My cell phone works here, the highways even out in the middle of nowhere are large and clean and impressive. There are none of the issues with electricity and phone service that we had in Kathmandu. The curbs are all neat and tidy and the city is immaculately clean (some of that is the Tibetan people but some is the impressive services of the local government) And somehow it seems eerily forced. It looks bizarre to see huge street lights and turnabouts and billboards in the middle of rural Tibet. And the huge, modern, Chinese office buildings and car dealerships seem out of place in Lhasa (my roommate says part of town looks a lot like Shanghai). It seems as if some of the infrastructure and cleanliness and buildings are for show. But once you get to the Tibetan part of town or out in the countryside you still can easily find the Tibet culture. That is not gone and the conveniences of the infrastructure are quite handy. - The people are very nice and friendly for the most part. They are helpful and friendly but don't hassle you when you walk down the street. - The prices are good and fairly cheap as in Kathmandu. Nothing is as cheap as Thailand I don't think but its still a great deal to buy things like winter jackets, backpacks, jewelry, pashminas, and food. - Security was tight getting into China. Our bags were all handsearched. And we were warned no pictures of the Dalai Lama would be allowed, even if they were in a tour book etc. One of our group had a little trouble getting through but we all managed fine. Our tourguide is great and made everything smooth. - Both Chinese and Tibetan are spoken everywhere but we're getting by ok with English too - Garlic is supposed to be good for helping adjust to altitude so I'm indulging quite a bit but my roommate doesn't seem to mind. And you really do need to drink a ton of water here. I didn't drink any for about 2.5 hours and I started to feel a little bad. But if you keep up on drinking water all the time and don't overdue it, most people are fine. I'll write again Sunday and I'll post some pictures before we leave Lhasa on Thursday.