We headed off to Kathmandu airport about 10am to catch a 1pm flight into Lhasa (Tibet) after picking up an extra bag for a few rupees to carry our souvenirs. At this stage we had our bikes with us and were liable for excess baggage. Checking in was OK until the Chinese official turned up and we finished up having to pay full excess. Splitting it between the 6 of us, it finished up at about $40US each. Thankfully Raw Travel had included an allowance which covered part of it. Emmigration into Tibet (China) was a lengthy process with Ian being picked on for the full bag search, but we did make the flight.
The 3.5hr flight was uneventful with some good views as we approached Lhasa.
We were picked up by minibus for the one hour drive from the airport into Lhasa. As we approached the city we were impressed by the wide thoroughfares, lack of traffic and some modern buildings. A dramatic change from Kathmandu.
The other observation was of the number of armed chinese soldiers around. Any significant chinese building had a couple of armed sentries posted outside. There would be many photos of the military but that is strictly verbotten under pain of having your camera's photos deleted if you were lucky enough not to have the camera destroyed.
We arrived at our hotel which was well located in the Tibetan quarter of Lhasa on a wide boulevard with limited traffic access. As we went up to our 2nd and 3rd floor rooms we all immediately felt the effects of altitude as we laboured up stairs.
We spent the late afternoon exploring around the Tibetan quarter before dinner at a nearby restaurant.
No comments:
Post a Comment