Tibet part two

So where did I leave off...

Oh yes, so on Tuesday night after supper we (Xing Laoshi, some other students and I) wandered around Lhasa.  We looked around some of the city shops and we wandered into the Muslim districted and got a little lost.  Xing Laoshi swore he knew where he was going, but in the end we asked the friendly police for help.  It was fun seeing Lhasa at night though.  Xing Laoshi's a blast to hang out with.  

In the morning I woke up at 6 to see the Tibetans praying.  Many pray from 5 to 7 in the morning every day.

Later in the morning we visited the Sera monastery and watched monks debate.  One monk stands up, and the other one sits.  The standing monk asks a question and the sitting monk must answer.  There are also certain hand gestures that the standing monk does to show he agrees or disagrees with the answer.  It's quite theatrical.

In the afternoon we wandered around again and came upon a local temple.  It was really eye-opening.  Unlike the other, bigger temples we visited, this one was a place where the local's worshipped everyday. It was so exciting to see Buddhism on a more personal level.

On Wednesday we had a free day, so I got a lot of souvenirs and gifts for family and friends.  We also ate at a small side street Tibetan restaurant.   The owners were really surprised that westerners would come into their shop.  The owners didn't Mandarin, so we asked some younger customers to help us translate.  We had yummy noodles and butter tea, which tastes like melted butter.  However, I believe that if I could add some butterscotch flavoring and make it frothy and sweet it would make a really good butter beer.

Here's another temple we went to on Thursday, I believe.  This is the Jokhang Temple.

At the place we went to for lunch there were little kittens running around.  One jumped up on our table and started eating our leftovers.  Definitely not the most hygienic place, but the kitten's were soooo cute!!  Nom nom nom.

 On Friday we drove up to Shigatse.  Here's a photo of the beautiful mountains that we saw on the way up.

And here's a yak that we saw at one of the rest stops.  It was a little grumpy, so I didn't get too close.  It was very cold on the way to Shigatse.

We visited the Tashihunpo Monastery the next day.

In the afternoon we drove back to Lhasa.  Here's a random statue and lake that we saw on the way back.

 Here's another view of the lake.

We arrived back at Lhasa around 8 and left Tibet the following morning.  The next stop: Sichuan.  Will post pictures of the second half of the trip soon!