day 176 – i spent the morning at the hotel an said goodbye to hokuto (he was flying back to chengdu). i had two more days in lhasa by myself, but the guide had to go to the airport with hokuto, so i just spent the afternoon wandering around town. i wanted to take some photos of the police and military posts outside the temples, but i was really afraid that they’d get angry at me.
day 177 – the guide was supposed to meet me in the morning but she didn’t show up. i walked down to the travel office and it was empty took. so i walked around lhasa and took photos. i’d sussed out a tattoo place that advertised in english and found their shop down town. i got two tattoos (one full tattoo and one addition to an old tattoo).
i found my guide and told her off for not being there. she apologised and made excuses about family business. i’d wanted to go to potala today, but now i couldn’t see the inside of the palace. i wasn’t too angry about it, since the entrance fee was so expensive, but i was a little disappointed at not seeing the palace up close.
i bumped into the japanese group again and one guy (whose name i don’t remember) went with me that evening to take night photos of potala palace. we got some good photos of the district and palace with the lights on, but it started raining and we were forced to retreat back to the hotel. i switched to a single room, took a shower and got some sleep.
day 178 – everyone left today. my japanese friends were headed out of lhasa and deeper into the tibetan countryside. they were making the journey to the nepal border and would cross over. i was flying back to chengdu (having failed to find a train ticket out). we all said goodbye and spent an hour writing on the hotel walls (a bit of a custom, the walls were covered in travel graffiti). we took photos together, swapped email addresses and said farewell.
i had an extra hour or two to kill, so i made a quick, last minute dash to potala. i took some more photos with matilda and then returned to the hotel to meet the guide. we drove to the airport and i got my flight back to chengdu.
when i arrived in town, i decided not to return to the same hotel. i wanted to stay in a different part of town. so i went to a hostel that was right next to a cool night market and walking zone. it was late, so i had meat on a stick and some beer at a nearby stall, booked my train to xian and got some sleep.
day 179 – my train to xian was in the evening, so i had the whole day to kill. i didn’t want to spend too much money, so i found a nearby cafe which had wifi. i had fun talking to the girls who worked in the cafe. one girl said she liked my bracelet (a cloth tie around my wrist i bought in vietnam) so i took it off and gave it to her. she returned later with a wooden chinese bracelet which she gave to me. it was a nice gesture, so i stayed in the cafe all afternoon enjoying their coffee, free music and free wifi.
note from diary: although i’d rather not spend too much time online, i like the fact that i have a computer and can keep up with friends & other things. especially at night, it’s good to chat, play chess, KoL, edit photos and update my blog. i get to travel and meet new people without feeling isolated from the rest of the world.
in the evening i caught the overnight train to xian. i had beer and bananas (what a great dinner!!) in the dining cart and spent the rest of the evening watching movies and listening to music on my ipod.
day 180 – i arrived in xian and got a rickshaw to the hotel, ate lunch and walked to the nearby shopping mall. i had a look around and found a store close to my hotel that was selling headphones. one pair of headphones was really nice, and quite cheap, so i bought them and returned to the hotel.
