On the Yangzi Explorer, heading for a 3-day cruise of the Yangtze River. (Different Yangtze spellings are apparently not a thing). The first morning, I thought “wow, beautiful morning mist on the river”. Actually, unfortunately, turned out to be good ol’ fashioned air pollution.

We’re eating pretty well. The Chinese *really* know how to do duck.

At the Summer Palace in Lhasa.

My grilled yak steak. It was very........yakky.

The view from the top of Potala Palace was great.

At the Oxygen Lounge in Lhasa. Mmmm, breathe in.....out.....in....out.....

Victory over Potala Palace！The 432 very steep, narrow stone steps (plus long expanses of steep, upward ramps) were daunting enough, but added to the 12,000+ feet of elevation, it became quite an ordeal. Check out the many zig-zagging stairways up, toward the right of the first photo. But....made it - there’s life in the old boy yet. Unfortunately, all the really good stuff inside - this is, after all, the historical, ancestral palace home of nearly 400 years of Dalai Lamas - was off limits to photographs. Suffice it to say, it was spectacularly ornate. The last pic shows the last very long set of steps; the steep angle made it closer to a ladder than a staircase.

We were taken to an area where the student monks “debated” each other, the standing monk would question the seated one about matters of theology and culture, and would then theatrically agree or disagree with the answer. The cacophony was wonderful, I’ll post video when I can. I actually have a number of fun video snippets which will likely have to wait until we return, for the usual internet bandwidth reasons.

This wonderful guy was about 5 feet tall. He was also rockin’ a pretty cool pair of New Balance sneakers.

Walking around Lhasa is a feast for the senses.

Lhasa is a major center of Buddhism, shrines abound. Pilgrims come from all over the world, walking in circles (always clockwise) around the temples, and frequently prostrate themselves in devotion. Except this little guy, who was content to play with his plastic motorcycle.

The main attraction in Lhasa is Potala Palace, we’re scheduled to visit tomorrow. The thing is, it’s precisely 432 steep steps up to it, and with the 12,000+ feet of elevation, well, it’s possible to get out of breath just strolling down the street. There’s an “Oxygen lounge” in the hotel, which pumps extra oxygen into the room, so as to become “re-oxygenated”. We shall see.

Our yak butter tea. It tasted very....buttery. Maybe with yak overtones. My tea-loving, set-in-his-ways Blighty buddy is gonna *love* this.

Greetings from Tibet! A bit of an adventure getting here, as our flight from Chengdu to Lhasa taxied ten feet, then stopped for fifteen minutes. Then taxied for ten more feet and stopped for an hour. Eventually we were told that due to a mechanical issue, we had to go back to the terminal and wait for a substitute plane to arrive. We got here, 3 hours late, but we’re here. Internet has pretty much ground to a halt here though, so multiple pix to follow when things improve.