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Breakfast still a bit weird despite a specific requests. I got pork and Daisy got egg but we got weird breads and biscuits.
Long drive from Shigatse to Lhasa along the Kyi Chu River Road as other roads, good in parts – rally driving in other [parts].
Booked dinner at Yeti. Took a quick late lunch at Hard Yak [cafe] of yak burger and fries.
Then went off to Barcor – went widdershins on main circuit at first to find monkeys.
This refers to the monkey that got broken in our pillow fight before we left Lhasa the last time; we were determined to find a like-for-like replacement, which we did. We also had realised that we needed a “speak no evil” monkey to complete a threesome.
First found “speak no evil” (starting price 145 down to market price of 26!). Then found the previous merchant who had sold us “bottoms up” but was out of the naughty broken one. However we were only five minutes down the road when she ran up to us with a fist full of monkeys including naughty.
Walked back to Snowlands, bought cake, then decided to seek some turquoise – got lost around Barkhor, got bearings, went back via Tremsikhang Market. Found jewellers, no real joy, finished circuit and found turquoise pillbox but nothing for Daisy.
Took cyclo home – great fun – though junctions felt chancy.
Dinner at Yeti – “char shu, sweet chicken, veg, chicken noodles and rice.
It’s hard to explain how much fun we had that day and how unexpected the fun part was. We had been somewhat dreading our return to Lhasa and looking forward to leaving Tibet, having completed our touring in Shigatse.
But we were better acclimatised now and the weather was much better by the time we returned to Lhasa, so our half day of free time in Lhasa felt liberating – we had no guide with us at last and (as far as we know) were exploring the place unsupervised. The Barkhor was great fun for just walking around, browsing and chatting with the locals. And we found the silly little bits and pieces we wanted, not least the monkeys, which still (February 2020) adorn a shelf in the Clanricarde flat.