We arrive 3 hours ahead of schedule, approximately 5:30PM Tibetan time (which is actually in the same time zone as all of China, as illogical as that is). Our guide is a sweet, if quiet, Tibetan man named Siring. He meets us at the exit of the station right on time, and we spend a little bit of time filling out paperwork to enter the TAR (Tibetan Autonomous Region). I'm happy we didn't leave anything out. How terrible would it be to finally arrive in this beautiful region, and then be forced to leave!
The ride to the hotel, by the Gichu River, takes about 20 minutes amid traffic as chaotic as traffic anywhere else in China. The hotel is nicely appointed, which compensates for the less-than-attractive construction going on outside of it. None of us have any symptoms of altitude sickness, which I'm grateful for. We greedily grab 3 quick showers - done Japanese style to conserve hot water - and then head out to dinner. It was, um, interesting, especially when we get to the part when I pull a whole rooster's head out of our "chicken and mushroom" stew. I'm sticking to Nepalese food from now on.... j/k. Sort of.
We're exploring two of most sacred temples in Tibet tomorrow, so it's an early bedtime for me.
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