Helping out divers and home to England!

Hi everybody! 

This next posts finds me back home in the UK after 6 months absence! I'm currently in a rather cloudy Somerset at my Nana's house, ticking over until I meet up with mum back in Portsmouth on Saturday. More on that later though as my last month in Oman was great! 

I joined Matthew and Dad on a dive at Fahal island a week after my last post. It was great to be back diving again with them after so long away. We saw plenty of Moray eels en route along with loads of fish and amazing coral. The water was bathtub temperature for most of the dive, although thermoclines caused a few shivers form me in my short 3mm wetsuit! Nevertheless I had a great day out! 

Me taking the plunge off Fahal Island on my second dive of the day 

Me and Dad check out a "leopard print" Moray eel 

To stave off the boredom I arranged to help out at the Euro Divers centre where Matthew is working. I mainly helped out with the office work but there was plenty to do with helping load the boats and assist the guests with getting their equipment before their dives. I had great fun working there and made great friends with the team! There wasn't a day that went by without plenty of laughs! 

Taking a break from work at Euro Divers on the Marina

Back home with Dad I managed to get back into my running and even joined dad for a few spinning sessions at the Intercontinental Hotel. Their cooled training pool was a great place to spend the afternoon! Alongside the exercise I joined the monthly poker night with some of the guys from the compound and happily came fourth out of ten players! 

But my time in Oman was soon to come to an end. And two days before I came back to the UK I managed to head out with the guys and girls from Euro Divers for a few drinks on the beach at the Oman Dive Centre. Aswell as this being my leaving party Matthew had received his PADI instructor's certification and could now begin taking courses! Needless to say it was a great night and the best way to end my time in Oman. 

Me and Matthew enjoy the party on the beach at Oman Dive Centre.

I flew back to the UK a few days later, although every stage of my journey was delayed by an hour. To make my connecting flight in Abu-Dhabi I had to run about a kilometre to catch my flight to Heathrow! Back on UK soil it was a three hour bus ride to Somerset where mum picked me up to bring me back to Nana's. 

Two nights ago I managed a reunion with Sophie and Laura in Bristol! I was happy to see them again and catch up with them after our 3 month adventure in Nepal. I'll admit it was a bit strange seeing them in the calm of Bristol. The last time I'd seen them was when we waved goodbye on the corner outside the Utse Hotel in Kathmandu! Needless to say we had a great night and we'll be seeing each other again I'm sure. 

The gang's back together again! Me, Sophie and Laura just after dinner in Bristol 

So what's the plan for me now? Me and Mum start a bit of a road trip down to our house in France on Monday along with her friend Sophie and Oscar the dog. And that is where I'll be staying until late August when it'll be time to return to the UK and get ready for Uni! My "year to remember" is coming to an end but it seems like only a few months ago that I was on my plane to Israel. That was almost a year ago now! I've still got some time in France to make the most of before Uni starts in September so I'll keep you all updated as and when things happen. 

Thanks for reading guy! See you next time! 

Leaving Nepal and a "warm" welcome to Oman

Hello again everybody!

I'm back in a stupidly hot Oman (highs of 46 degrees today!) having arrived back from Nepal on the 15th. It is strange to be back in Oman after an incredible four months living in Nepal but it's nice to be back and enjoying some home comforts. More on that later though, let's start from my final week and a half in Nepal.

Our final lunch with Sophie and Laura was great, we all enjoyed spending one last afternoon together and remembering all our adventures over the past 3 months. I'd organised a surprise for everyone in the form of some custom made group patches to remind us of the trip. Everyone loved them and we now all have a truly unique souvenir of our time together. Soon though it was time to say goodbye and with a few hugs outside the Utse (where we all met 3 months ago) we left them to head back to our village. It seemed a bit surreal that we now wouldn't be seeing them again in Nepal but I'm certain we'll be seeing them again in the UK again very soon.

Laura and Sophie with their goodbye cards and team patches

Me, Rebecca and Ollie at Sophie and Laura's goodbye lunch

 Back in the village that night I went to a neighbour's house for a bit of a party with Susma and Rajan. It was a great night and my Nepali served me well once again, although I do think the hosts were keen to get me drunk on rice liquor....
Our last full week of teaching went very well and I was keen to have some final fun with class 7. Remembering that Dad had donated a world map to the school during his stay I decided to do a bit of a geography lesson with class 7. "Chris' world tour" went down very well and the accompanying game of "Jeopardy" (an American quiz show introduced to me by Rebecca)  got very competitive. I enjoyed myself aswell and Rajaram loved to see the kids having so much fun.

Sadly Rebecca became very ill all of sudden on Tuesday so I ended up heading to Basuki for the final time on my own. That day was full of games with the kids and enjoyed my final visit, a shame Rebecca couldn't come with me though. We exchanged contact details with a few of the teachers during the final days of the week and we're both keen to keep in touch and supporting the school in whatever way we can in the future.

Before we knew it it was Friday again and we headed off to Kathmandu for our final weekend! I headed to Basant's office to pick up my passport and a few other bits alongside having a chat with Basant and say a few final goodbyes to his staff. We arranged to go out for drinks on my final evening as a final goodbye. Back at the Lhasa I discovered Ollie had joined his local village football team and Zoe was back in Kathmandu after her first few weeks teaching Tibetan Refugees in Pokhara. Before dinner I ordered a few customised T-Shirts as souvenirs before we all headed to Western Tandoori. After dinner we headed up to roof and traded teaching stories and advice for Ollie and Zoe before heading to bed around midnight!

The next morning we all met up at a great little cafe, "Phat Kath", for breakfast and Zoe and I had an hour and a half chess match! Most of my time that day was spent souvenir shopping for me and the people back home. Alongside prayer flags for my room at Uni I got a few books and some t-shirts for me aswell as a few other bits and pieces. It was western tandoori again for dinner and we were joined by Zoe's friend Ben (recently arrived from travelling in India) and his friend who was volunteering with him. After dinner we bought some beers and headed up to the roof of the Lhasa for the rest of the evening. Rebecca and I both got a goodbye card from Ollie and Zoe which produced a few tears. We've all become such a close knit group and we've all become great friends!

After a lie in the next day we all had our final lunch together at OR2K, Ollie and Zoe both got cards from me and Rebecca before we had to say goodbye to Zoe as she had to get the bus back to Pokhara. Ollie joined us on the journey to Logonkel and we said our goodbyes then. We've already agreed to meet up for drinks when I'm back in the UK.

On Monday I had a truly memorable moment in class 5. Ragaram was observing my class and he was surprised to see one particular student contributing so much. He said before I'd arrived the student had been very quiet and he credited me with getting him to speak up and share in the class. I was touched! Tuesday was our final day teaching so inevitably that meant games and a lot of sweets for the kids! Rebecca and I did a joint lesson with class 5 and 6 so we took them out to the bus stop to play "covertly". It's a popular Nepali game and the only way I can describe it is like a Nepali version of tag rugby. Rebecca and I got involved aswell and we all enjoyed ourselves, even if it got a bit hot! Throughout the day we kept getting flowers and cards from our students which was very touching. We were struggling to find places for all the flowers by the end of the day.

At the end of the day the students organised a farewell programme for us in the main hall. The students and teachers all thanked us for our time spent at the school and we got the chance to day a few words ourselves. It was a truly incredible experience to teach at this school and I was sad that it had come to an end. We got more gifts and cards from the teachers and students before we walked out of the gates one final time.

Rebecca with some of her students on our last day

Playing "Coperty" with class 5 and 6 on our last day

Rebecca and Surita

Me and Sunnil, one of my students and next door neighbours

Me and some of class 5

Me and Rebecca receive yet more gifts during our farewell ceremony, loving my hat!



Madhav sir says a few words



Me and Rebecca with the rest of the school teachers

 Our final day in the village fell on the "Dewari" festival. An event that sees families visit each other and goats are sacrificed for meat. I spent most of my morning splitting my time between packing and helping Susma peel garlic for all the food she and the extended family were preparing. I managed to watch the goats being blessed before their trip to the temple to meet a man with a Khukri.... Later on I discovered two headless goats by the water tap being skinned before being washed off in the shower block. Food was constant throughout the morning and afternoon and I tasted goat for the first time! Very tasty! I spent time with the HUGE extended family who had descended on the house and had a few final football games with the kids. Soon though it was time to leave and I had to say goodbye to my host family for the final time. I'll miss them terribly and leaving them and what has been my home for the past 4 months was a very strange feeling. I'll keep in contact with my host family and I'm looking forward to visiting agin in the future.

After yet more food at Madhav's house with Rebecca and Basant it was time to head into Kathmandu. As we left the village the sun was setting over the mountains and I got a lump in my throat as we left the village and incredible scenery behind. On the way back Basant gave us the location for our final drinks that evening before dropping us at the Lhasa. A few hors later we all me up at "Sam's Bar" for a final Ghorkha beer and goodbyes. Basant gave us a certificate as a congratulation for finishing our time in Nepal, apparently Rebecca and I had been given the "toughest" placement and he was pleased with how well we'd coped. Some parts had certainly been a challenge let me tell you!

A final Ghorkha beer :(

Me, Rbecca and Basant with our certificates from Basant during our final drinks

 Back at the Lhasa I gave Rebecca a thank you card and I got one in return. She stayed in Nepal for another 10 days to spend some time with her cousin who was visiting from India. It was truly sad to say goodbye to her after all we've been through over the past four months as she's become a truly amazing friend. I hope to see her again in the future wherever in the world that may be.

I flew out from Kathmandu the next morning on my flight back to Oman via Dohar (a seven hour stopover included). I felt like my Nepali adventure came to a kind of an abrupt end, over my last three days I finished teaching, left my host family and began my journey home. Needless to say my four months in Nepal have been a true highlight in my life, from living and teaching in rural Nepal through to an incredible trek in the Himalayas to a once in a lifetime visit to Tibet. I've had some amazing adventures and made some lifelong friends and I was sad that it has all come to an end. But I have some incredible memories from the past four months and I'll never forget my time in Nepal!

Now you find me back in Oman taking some time out to spend some with my family and enjoy some more time in Oman. The day after I got home I joined dad, my brother Matthew and our friends Neil, Chloe and Jack for a days snorkelling along the coast. It seemed a bit surreal, going from the Himalayas one day and snorkelling with a sea turtle the next! I had a great time out on the boat and enjoyed being back with my family.

Me, Dad and Matthew take a break from snorkelling

The sea turtle, we had to chase him for ten minutes before we could get this photo!

So, my plans for the near future. I'll be staying in Oman for at least another month or so and taking some time out to relax after Nepal. I'm hoping to be able to help out the dive centre from time to time to keep myself occupied whilst I'll also be putting together some gap year photo albums/scrapbooks together to take to Uni with me. Plans for the final few months of my gap year still need to be decided so we'll see what happens.

Thanks for reading guys, see you next time!

A relaxed week and a few goodbyes :(

Hi everybody! 

I'm back in Kathmandu once again and at the end of my penultimate week in Nepal! I have to say it's been a very relaxed week in the village this week. Rebecca and I have only taught for two days this week owing to a fair few days off during the week. Monday night was a lot of fun though, I ended up having a volleyball match with one of the neighbours in our front yard for an hour or so before giving Sissir a bit of a volleyball lesson (even if we spent most of it running up and down the hill after the ball went astray!).

Tuesday was the first day off as it was Nepali Mother's Day so I did everything I could to make Susma's life a lot easier for the day :). I washed up after breakfast and did some washing for her but she drew the line at me washing the porch (apparently it could be done another day). She and Sissir headed off to her mother's house for the day around 11 so that left me a chance to do some washing and do one final session of lesson planning. The rest of my lessons for the trip are now all planned and it was strange to see an end to my lesson plans...... Tuesday also saw me and Rajan head to a neighbour's house for dinner as Susma was staying the night at her mother's. We had a lovely meal and my Nepali served me well, the family were very impressed with my efforts :).

 Wednesday saw us return to Basuki for the first time since the month off. Our route up has changed somewhat with the building of some new roads, but most of them are now horrendous dust bowls! The humidity didn't help either, I must have drank a whole litre straight down when we arrived at the school! It was nice to see some of the teachers again and get back to teaching. We'll only be going there once more and then that will be it for our time at Basuki! 

Thursday was another day off so Susma dispatched me and Sissir down the hill on a shopping mission for soap and washing powder. Nice to be out in the fresh air even if a huge storm was blowing in! Monsoon season is beginning now and Thursday evening saw a rather large thunder and rain storm hit the village. Mind you, it was nice eating dinner and listening to the storm outside :). The storm continued through the night and into Friday morning so we got a bit wet walking to school. School seemed to have been optional that day for the kids (possibly on account of the rain) as attendance was well-down from usual numbers. My first lesson with class 5 had only four kids! Me and Rebecca decided to merge our classes and do a games session on account of the weather, after ten minutes a teacher popped in to say that school was to be cancelled that day on account of one of the founding members of the school passing away. After an assembly and minute's silence school was dismissed. 

Rebecca and I headed into Kathmandu soon after to link up with Ollie. This weekend sees the group come together on rather sad terms, it's Sophie and Laura's last few days with us! As a final farewell we organised a meal out last night  at the Utse with Basant and one of his staff, Jatak, along with Ram (our Nepali teacher) and Ratna (our guide from Langtang). Basant ordered a huge spread of food and we all had a great time sharing stories and experiences of our time in Nepal. It also gave us the chance to thank Basant and everyone else for their truly incredible support over our time here. We really couldn't have done it without them! The meal was also a chance to say happy birthday to Basant, and not to disappoint we'd ordered a chocolate cake! We all had a great time and it was the perfect "last supper" for the group and everyone that's helped us over the past 3 or 4 months. 

Today is our last chance to spend time together as a complete group before Ollie, Rebecca and I have to go back to our villages. So we're planning one final lunch together before we finally have to go our separate ways. It will be sad to see Sophie and Laura go after going through so much together and having such an incredible adventure! I'm so happy to count them amongst my friends and we'll all miss them. No matter though, we're already planning a group reunion in Nepal (when we all have money again!). 

The gang's all here! Thanks so much everyone for a truly incredible 4 months together! 

Our "last supper" :) 

As for me, next week is my final full week in Nepal before I fly back to Oman on the 15th. I can't believe it's coming to an end so quickly and I will be truly sad to see the back of an incredible four months here. But I'm trying not to get too emotional (yet) as Rebecca and I still have one more week to go. I'm not sure when I'll post next, it might be next weekend or possibly even when I'm back in Oman. Watch this space to find out how my Nepali adventure will end. 

Thanks for reading guys, see you next time. 

A day in Bhaktapur :)

Hi everyone, 

Been a long old week in the village this week, we've had our classes switched around so Rebecca is only teaching two classes a day now whilst I somehow keep teaching three classes? Not sure how they figured that out but we'll see how it goes. Time just seemed to pass very slowly in the village this week, no idea why but with hindsight (it's such a wonderful thing!) it's passed by fairly quickly and we were soon back in Kathmandu, and we had reason to celebrate! Firstly it was Zoe's birthday on Friday so we spent the afternoon in "The Garden of Dreams" in Thamel and played a little bit of frisbee before meeting up with everyone for dinner. Secondly, it's Ollie's first weekend back in the village after is first two weeks of teaching so it was great to have the group all together for a bit of a catch up. It was a late night for us aswell, probably didn't get to sleep until gone midnight (very late by Nepali standards!). 

Today we met up with some of Rebecca's friends who have been doing some charity work in Pokhara (having arrived in Kathmandu late Friday night having spent 13 hours on a coach!). We all went to the Farmer's Market just outside Thamel and had waffles and crepes for breakfast! After a look round the souvenir stands there we left Rebecca with her friends so they could catch up whilst the rest of us boarded a bus for the medieval city of Bhaktapur, forty minutes outside of Kathmandu. 

The city is beautifully preserved and is such a nice place to get lost in the backstreets, and with hardly any traffic much easier than Kathmandu! About a hundred meters into the city we got pulled into a side courtyard to help some local women spin some thread! Sophie and Laura got stuck in as there was only room for two to help. It was a great little window into the life of the people who live here, and the weaving machines were pretty cool aswell! 

Sophie lends a hand with some weaving

A few stops down we got the chance to try the city's iconic dessert; "King Curd"! Hands down the best yoghurt in the country and one of the best yoghurt a I've ever tasted, especially at 25 rupees (15 pence!) a tub. Later on at lunch we'd have it again but this time in clay dishes made in city itself. Local production all the way! 

Me and Zoe enjoy some "King Curd", delicious! 

Alongside the desserts the architecture of the city was amazing, all manner of wood carvings covered houses and temples alike and the details were impressive. At the centre of the city stood its Durbar Square, an area with plenty of amazing temples and shrines all interact lay decorated in stone and wood carvings. Alongside seeing the sights our visit to the city was also a hunt for some souvenirs. For me, I wanted to find some special photo albums to put all my gap her photos in. I was in luck, Bhaktapur is one of the main centres for the production of "Lokta" paper. This paper is made from the bark of trees above 2000 meters and the end product is used in all Nepali official documents because of its durability and it's unique property of never being able to be creased! I picked up two great locally produced albums and came away a very happy man, I can't wait to fill them with all my photos when I get back home! 

The east end of Durbar Square 

After lunch in Durbar Square we headed to another city highlight; Potter's Square. Here local potters churn out all many of clay products from water jugs, yoghurt bowls and even money pots! The process is open to view and you can even have a go yourself. After forming the products are set out around the square to dry in the sun. It was really interesting watching the skill of these potters, no way could I do it!

Potter's Square

An artist at work

 After a final walk to the bus stop we caught a bus back to Kathmandu at around 4:30 after a great day out. After a freshen up at the hotel we headed out to dinner with a new member to the group; Zoe's friend Ben, just arrived from India. We went to Northfield Cafe for another great dinner and traded advice and stories from our travels so far. We've all crammed a lot in let me tell you! 

Whilst it's been a great weekend there has been a bit of sadness building up. Zoe and Ben leave for Pokhara on Monday to start volunteering projects whilst the "Oyster Group" (me, Rebecca, Sophie, Laura and Ollie) now only have one more week as a complete group! Sophie and Laura now only have one full week left on their project before they fly home a week on Monday! It will be so sad to see them go after an amazing months together but we have one more weekend to enjoy with them before they depart for sunny old England. 

The end is approaching fast for me and Rebecca aswell, two weeks on Tuesday our time will be up aswell and before we know it we'll all have scattered around the world! I've been lucky to become part of such an amazing group of people and share this amazing experience with them and I'll be sad to leave Nepal behind in just over two weeks :(. But two weeks still remain and I'm intending to make the most of it! 

That's it for this entry guys, thanks for reading! 

First week back and a day out in Patan!

Hello again everybody!

I'm back in Kathmandu once again after a very quick first week back in the village. Me and Rebecca arrived on Monday afternoon following a very cramped taxi ride with Sophie and Laura along with all our bags. After settling in back at home we headed to school the next day, which consisted of one VERY long meeting about new school timetables for all the teachers alongside other school things. We still have the same timetables as before but now we both have new class members as everyone has moved up a year following annual exams. Attendance was sporadic this week (I only taught 5 kids on Wednesday!) but we're optimistic that numbers will pick up next week. Still, had some great fun with the new classes and we're looking forward to carrying on. Zoe also spent Thursday and Friday in the village with us to get out of Kathmandu and take a look at the "real" Nepal. 

Bit cramped? The girls "enjoying" the taxi ride back to our villages

Rebecca and Zoe join class 5 for my creative writing class :) 

Me taking that lesson 

The first week back flew by and we were all soon reunited in Kathmandu (minus Ollie, who is spending is first weekend in his village). Today we had a huge day out to the nearby town of Patan, a former seperate city state to Kathmandu during the reign of the Malla Kings, on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Our first stop was Nepal's only Zoo! We spent a few hours wondering around and soaking it all in. The leopards and Bengal tigers were a particular highlight but the huge variety of birds were also pretty amazing. Strangely for Nepal though there was a Hippo in one exhibit.... 

Our next stop was Patan's infamous Durbar Square, an amazing place to see original Newari architecture. After lunch we headed to the incredible Patan Museum. Housed in a former Malla Palace the museum came about as a result of a joint restoration project between the Nepali and Austrian Governements. It opened in 1997 following the restoration housing an amazing array of sculptures and other artworks depicting Bhudist and Hindu deities. The displays also help visitors understand the meaning behind the sculptures and their relevance in each religion. I'm not an "arty" person put the displays were very interesting. One particular display explained the incredible "lost wax" sculpture casting technique (unique to Patan!). The process allows for incredibly detailed sculptures to be designed from the inside out without the risk of using molten metal. The clock tower at the end of the museum offered a nice breeze (it's getting hot here now!) and view of Durbar square. 

View of Patan's Durbar square, the museum is on the right 

A stone sculpture of Vishnu (a Hindu god), in the museum. This one was retrieved from an art gallery in Austria after being sold by a Nepali art dealer in the mid-late 1900's. 

Tonight we've had great fun together. We ordered takeaway pizza from Roadhouse Cafe and relaxed on the roof of the guesthouse. We're all going our seperate way for the morning tomorrow; Sophie, Laura and Zoe are going to a yoga class, Rebecca is going to an Easter Sunday church service and I'm going on the hunt for some souvenir inspiration. But we're all meeting up for an Easter lunch before we head our seperate ways for the week. 

That's it for this entry guys, next weekend we're planning a visit to beutiful Bhaktapur so stand by for some amazing photos! Happy Easter everyone (eat lots of chocolate!). 

8 days in Tibet: Day 7-8 - Back to Nepal

I have to be honest, the last two days got very boring. Over two days we spent about 24hours driving! But Tibet had one last treat for us before we returned to Nepal. On the way back we stopped at the first mountain pass to be treated with fresh snowfall across the whole panorama! This was a great goodbye from Tibet, honestly one of the most beautiful countries I've ever seen! 

Road Trip! Gotta love these guys :) 

Amazing what 6 days and some snow can do to a landscape :) 

Wild donkeys on the plateau 

We're now all back safe and sound in Kathmandu and we're going to be very busy. Today me and the girls are preparing to head back to our villages tomorrow whilst Ollie has his Nepali lesson and orientation in preparation for starting his 2 months of teaching. Whilst we're all excited to get back to teaching we're all realising how close the trip is to ending :(. Sophie and Laura only have 3 weeks left before they head home whilst Rebecca and I finish a week after them! Still, I have a month left of this trip to go and I hope to make the most of it :). 

That's it for this entry guys, thanks for reading! 

8 days in Tibet: Day 6 - More palaces?

Our fist stop of the day was the Potala, the Dalai Lama's winter palace. It dominates the Lhasa skyline and has over 2,000 rooms (we could only see 35% of them!). After climbing the "300 steps" to the upper courtyard we entered the palace itself. Sadly photos were forbidden so again you'll have to take my word for how incredible it was! The place used to house the Tibetan government before the Chinese occupation so seeing both the political and religious areas of the palace was fascinating. The palace also contains more tombs of previous Dalai Lamas, most of them covered with between 3,000-4,000 ounces of gold and jewels! 

The Potala, an amazing building! 

The courtyard, the black material over the door is made of Yak's wool 

After a lunch break we headed to another very special place, the Dalai Lama's summer palace compound. Alongside temples and previous summer palaces was the one built by the current Dalai Lama. He designed it himself and construction was finished in 1956. It was a beautiful building and all of it was open to visit, including his bedroom and meeting room where he would receive guests and pilgrims. Sadly he only got to enjoy this palace for 3 years before he fled to India to avoid a Chinese plot to kill him. The clock on the staircase is fixed at 9am, the time he left the palace. 

Me outside the current Dalai Lama's summer palace 

Taking a break on the pond in the Summer Palace compound 

After the palace we had a few hours for some souvenir shopping before dinner. Sadly our tour of Tibet was at an end and we now had 2 days of solid driving back to Kathmandu!

8 days in Tibet: Day 5 - Welcome to Lhasa

We had a long day of driving on this day, but the viewpoints were worth the drive. We saw amazing valleys, stand-alone 7,000 metre peaks and glaciers. The highlight though was a huge alpine lake (638 square kilometres!) and the viewpoint at a high pass above it. Here we got a special treat, getting up close and personal with the lion-like dog that is the Tibetan Mastiff! This is a very rare Tibetan breed of dog and at the moment will set you back £60,000 if you want one! 

Me at the viewpoint overlooking the valley, check out all those prayer flags over my left shoulder! 

Rest stop! Nice to be out of the van and check out the mountain! Over 7,000 meters high this one.

The glacier at the back of the mountain in the previous photo 

My new best friend! Me and an amazing Tibetan mastiff 

Enjoying the view of the the alpine lake 

We arrived in Lhasa around 3:00pm and checked in to the hotel. After lunch (handmade noodle soup - yum!) Norbu took us for a walk through the streets to visit the Jokhang temple. In this temple is one of the the oldest and most valuable Bhuda statues in the world. Made of solid gold, it was brought to Tibet by a Nepalese princess as a dowry when she married King Songsten Gampo. The view from the roof gave us our first proper look of the famous Potala, the Dalai Lama's winter Palace. Dinner gave me a chance to try the famous local beer, "Lhasa". This beer has altitude in mind, it's only 3.8% and is very tasty (and affordable; about £1 a bottle!). Day 6 would be our last day of sightseeing, but we'd be getting to know all about the Dalai Lamas! 

8 days in Tibet: Day 4 - A lesson in Tibetan Bhudism

We got to lie-in until 9 that day, very welcome! Our first stop was the Tashilhunpo monastery on the outskirts of town. You have to pay to take photos inside the monastery so that's why I don't have many photos of monastery visits, take it from me though the insides are pretty amazing! 

Tashilhunpo is one of the oldest and largest monasteries in Tibet. It was built in the mid 1400s by the first Dalai Lama and could house 3,000 monks. Sadly only 300 remain at the monastery following a series of restrictions placed on monk numbers following a series of protests against Chinese occupation in 2008. The Inside the monastery buildings was amazing, alongside hand-painted walls there were the tombs of past Dalai Lamas, some of them decorated in solid gold and jewels! Norbu was incredibly knowledgeable about everything, he ran us through everything from the Tibetan funeral procedure (known as "Sky Burial" as dead bodies are cut up and left on a mountainside for eagles to eat and carry their spirits to Nirvana) to Tibetan history, including how the great Tibetan king, Songsten Gampo, united Tibet under Bhudism in the early 1400s. 

Tashinlupo monastery 

After our two hour tour we drove to our overnight stop at Gyantse before visiting another monastery; Gyantse Pachu. This was much smaller than Tashinlupo and built in 1418 by the Panchen Lama (senior to the Dalai Lama in a religious sense - the Dalai Lama's role (before the Chinese occupation) is to be the political and spiritual leader of Tibet, whilst the Panchen Lama is its religious leader) and a local chieftain. Most of this monastery is still in its original construction despite parts being badly burnt during the cultural revolution (when China became communist). The most interesting part of this monastery was its collection of books and scriptures. The monastery holds nearly 1,000, all between 500 and 900 years old. But most amazing of all is that they are all written in real gold ink! Most of the books had also not been read for almost 300 years and are unlikely to ever be opened again. These were true Tibetan cultural treasures!

A shelf of some of the books inside the monastery, we all chipped in to take photos in this room 

An example of the gold writing 

Us at the monatary's Stupa 

After some photos by the monastery's impressive stupa we headed back to the hotel. That night was special for Rebecca, it was her 19th birthday! After dinner we surprised her with a huge cake at the restaurant. This day had to be one of my favourites of the the Tibet trip, I learnt loads and had great fun with everyone. Day 5 would see us arrive in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa! 

8 days in Tibet: Day 3 - Everest Base Camp to Shigatse

Early start that day but we caught up on sleep in the van on the way to EBC, helped a lot by the blankets provided by the hotel staff which we spread out in the back of the van. We drove across the plateau as the sun was rising, looked a lot like the surface of Mars! Thankfully we all weren't too badly affected by the altitude, only a few headaches and 10 minutes when my hands just wouldn't move! We reached EBC around 9am with amazingly clear views, Norbu told us it was only this clear around 3-5 times a year! 

Me at EBC, truly amazing views of Everest!

About to tie up our prayer flags at Base Camp 

Throwing up our mantra cards, make a wish! 

Me and Ollie 

Team photo :) 

After a warm up Jasmine tea in one of the tents we did a few rituals for our families and friends back home. First we wrote their names on a string of prayer flags and strung them up in the middle of base camp, the mantras on the flags would bring good luck to them. Secondly we did the same thing but on small mantra cards. We threw them up in the air together, made a wish and the wind scattered them all over base camp. Rituals complete we took some photos before heading back to the hotel for lunch. 

After lunch we drove 6 hours to the town of Shigatse, Tibet's second largest town, to stop for the night. After showers Norbu took us to a local restaurant for dinner, I ordered meat dumplings on soup (delicious!), and briefed us on the next day. This would be the start of the sightseeing part of the trip.