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March - October 2005

Intrepid Season 2005 - China, Tibet, & Nepal (part III)

Brett Voegele
2005-11-19 14:41:04

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to be the final bit of convincing she needed, as she stated she didn't want to ruin the trip for others. Wrong!

We set out for Samye Monastery, about a 4-hour drive from Lhasa. We had one brief stop and all seemed well. However, at the next break on top of a pass I was approached by the passengers in the third Landcruiser (I'd been riding in the first) and told that the woman saw a van going the opposite direction, made our driver stop, grabbed her bags, and left the trip...no goodbye, no signing herself off the trip, nothing. So much for not wanting to jeopardize the trip for others! After a few phone calls to people back in Lhasa we continued on our way, though over the next few days everyone in my group perked up when my phone beeped indicating a text message - all were interested in the continuing saga. We finally signed her off the trip and she was free to find different transport that would allow her to take her dog to the border. Down to 9.

We continued on and made our normal stops at Gyantse (where there was no power in town and we probably had the worst meal imaginable), and then two nights in Shigatse. While in Shigatse we did our standard tour of Tashilhunpo Monastery, but we also took the time to go visit the carpet factory. We saw women spinning the wool, and several women in a large room sitting in front of looms weaving the carpets. I'd seen it once before, but it's always amazing to see the smiling faces at work, the efficiency, and the beautiful end results.

While driving from Shigatse to Sakya we looked out and saw a large gathering of people and tents, so we drove over to see what was happening. It turns out that it was a horse festival, and it was fantastic. The horse riders themselves were dressed very colorfully - as were there horses, and those Tibetans in attendance also seemed to have dressed up for the occasion. We ended up wandering around the gathering ...