roof of the world

back in lhasa... last night we stayed at a monastery called Samye monastery.... it was begun i believe in the 13th century by a king named Gurumchi... now, i'm not sure about the date or the spelling... this thin mountain air sucks up all my brain cells.... it was absolutely the most beautiful, remote place i've ever visited..... i have so much to write about it, but not enough time or energy.....
we were lucky enough to be there during the Cham festival, which a celebration of the monkey king.... it is only once a year and luckily we were able to see alot both yesterday and today. the people were amazing. tibetans are by far the friendliest people i have ever encountered. it is kind of hard, because we were in such a remote place, i felt like a bit of an intruder, but people were so kind and hospitable.... i'm not going to go on and on about how "lovely" the people are, because i don't want to sound like a doof, but seriously, they were amazing. eric and i couldn't sleep and so we went for a walk around the square.... people were out singing and dancing and it was so cool to watch. they were singing and dancing traditional tibetan songs, which i later learned are all buddhist scripture and stories.... being the nosy tourists we are, eric and i of course wanted to take pictures.... luckily my camera is good without using a flash, cuz i wanted to take a picture, but not be intrusive. well, seeing as we are the only two western people out there, we stand out as is..... the second i took out my camera we were swarmed by curious observers amazed at the technology. they wanted me take their pictures and then thought it was so cool when i could show them the picture immediately.... some of the boys especially liked when i'd zoom on their faces.... i realized then that they probably don't look into a mirror that often, so maybe they weren't just amazed at the technology, but they really liked looking at themselves......
tomorrow we have an easy day... visiting some grasslands and then to some hot springs... i can't wait for the hot springs.... the first three days i was sick as a dog and even though i'm feeling better, it'll be nice to relax for a day....i wish i could write in more detail about everything i've seen, but its in my journal that is at the hotel and like i said, in this mountain air i can't remember shit right now......
tibet is by far the most amazing place i've traveled so far...... i've never been in such a remote place as we were yesterday and it is absolutely mind blowing to be in that situation.... does that sound horrible cheesy and cliche? oh well, i'm not sure i can really put into words what this place was like... maybe when i get my pictures up it'll better illustrate what i'm can't say....... its time for bed now, hope everyone is doing well............
peace
nicole my photo site for future photos www.flickr.com/photos/morningmilk8/
oh and everything is in chinese so i can't spell check... excuse any errors