I realized the other day that I never followed up Trina's list of favorite things with my version. Also, we have been recently reminded that if there are 2100 photos why is it that we have only posted a few pictures. So, this post is to list out my favorite things but to also announce that I have uploaded some new pictures. I suspect that Trina and I are going to have some similar answers to the favorite things but maybe that speaks to the experience. I will skip the runner up but try to provide more explanations. Here goes:

Favorite thing about Lhasa: Barkhor Square – When you do research about Tibet and traveling in Lhasa, almost everyone speaks well of Barkhor Square.  I am sure if you did a search on Barkhor Square you would get a million hits.  Every description is probably correct.  Barkhor is everything that I expected and read about yet still managed to be unexpected in so many ways.  We spent every night that we were in Lhasa walking around Barkhor Square and never got tired of it.

Least favorite: Chinese Oversight – The Chinese Government presence in Lhasa was definitely noticeable.  Even in my favorite spot, Barkhor Square, there were “officials” on the tops of the buildings with telescopes and telephoto cameras keeping a close eye on the pilgrims and Tibetans gathering in the square outside of the Jokhang.

Favorite monastery experience: Jokhang – As I have blogged about previously, Jokhang was in a word, amazing.  It is probably the single greatest travel experience that I have ever had.  Being in the pilgrim line and moving from room to room was something that I will always remember.

Least favorite: Showing up at Sakya Monastery to a closed Assembly Hall – We travelled a couple hours off the main road for the specific purpose of going to the main assembly hall at Sakya Monastery.   When we showed up bright and early the next morning, we were very disappointed to see that the Assembly Hall was closed to renovation.  However, when we saw that there were pilgrims that showed up to find out that the Assembly Hall was closed, it put things in perspective.  At least we didn’t walk there.  

Favorite encounter: Trina and I agree here.  The best encounter with Tibetans was a spur of the moment experience where our car was blocked on the road in a small village.  I hopped out of the car with the Polaroid camera and started snapping photos.  The kids were ecstatic to be in pictures.  The moms were proud to have the photos.  The dads seemed to think that I was a little crazy.  At the end of the day, it was the authenticity of the encounter that made it so memorable.

Least favorite: I don’t think that I had one, but if you forced me to pick it would be the seemingly constant jacking that we took on hotels.  Posted prices were either ignored or intentionally grossly high so as to “trick” you into thinking that you are getting a good deal.

Favorite wow moment: Chenresig in Jokhang – It was one of the those jaw dropping moments, where the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you just know that you are seeing something special.

Runner up: Being at the bottom of the waterfall at Tiger Leaping Gorge - I know I said that I was not going to do runner ups, but in this particular case I just have to.  The waterfall at TLG was the first wow moment in the trip and also took me completely by surprise.  It was a great beginning to the trip.

Least favorite: My only bout of food poisoning happening at a 4 star hotel – After leaving Tibet we decided to treat ourselves and be wowed by staying at a 4 star hotel in Guangzhou.  The result: Food poisoning from the breakfast buffet.

Favorite kora: Reting monastery – The kora at Reting has to be one of the most peaceful places on earth.  It was quiet and beautiful.  It is said that the Dalai Lama has declared that should he ever return to Tibet that he will not call the Potala home but instead he would make Reting his home.  After walking the kora there, you start to understand why.

Least favorite: I didn’t have one.

Favorite surprise: Tiger Leaping Gorge – I always knew that TLG was going to be nice.  I was just not convinced that it was going to be worth the 2-3 hour ride in the wrong direction.  Trina pushed for going from almost day one of planning.  Admittedly, TLG was everything that I thought it was going to be and more.  It was the perfect beginning to our trip and well worth the effort to get there.

Least favorite: Hotel Deposits – In many of the hotels that we stayed at in addition to the hotel rate we had to put down a deposit that was sometimes more than the cost of the room.  Considering that in most hotels there were more things broken than working, this seemed ludicrous

Favorite tidbit out of the Lonely Planet: The Barkhor Square walking tour- I agree with Trina on this one also.  The Barkhor Square walking tour was such a treat.  It took us to some off the beaten path places on the Barkhor that we would have never seen otherwise.

Runner up: I have to make mention of the Thorntree.  For those that don’t know about the Thorntree, it is the online boards on the LP website.  The thorntree is probably the single best place for information on travel on the Web.

Least favorite: Any food recommendation.  For as good as the lonely planet is on everything else, they seem to come up short on food recommendations.

Favorite vendor: The husband and wife team that owned a small store where we used the computers for internet access.  They were always happy to see us and never seemed to jack us on prices.

Least favorite: Just about every hotel that we stayed at except the Banak Shol.  As stated above, it seemed that we were constantly getting jacked on price and on top of that most of the places invariably had something stop working during the course of the one night that we stayed there (e.g. hot water, cold water, water in general, toilets, electricity, lights, etc)

Favorite food: Hot noodle soup on cold mornings – There were a few occasions where we were able to order what our guide and driver were getting for breakfast.  The spicy noodle soup concoction was great on cold Tibetan mornings.

Least favorite: The hotel breakfast buffet that gave me food poisoning.

John