Monasteria

I’ve seen so many monasteries in the past few days… I suffered from what my friend Jason termed ‘Monasteria’ J.

I had to take a break, and crammed my sightseeing into the first and last day in Tibet. Sunday I took a day for myself…and went…horseback riding in a valley located 1 hour north of Lhasa.

It was fabulous for this self-proclaimed ‘city slicker’ who loves her creature comforts…to be free with a horse, and ride for 6 hours..stopping for lunch and another rest break was exactly what I needed. I thought…laughed… galloped..and saw the most amazing scenery. It was exactly what I needed.

I started off with this feisty new horse, that almost bucked me off. Changed horses immediately to this gentle being called Tonto…rode it to lunch…switched horses at that juncture to a beautiful beast that I named Chocolate…she was the slowest of the bunch who just wanted to graze in the beautiful pasture…I was miles behind the others and a village girl had to help me…since I was the last person to know the tiniest bit about horses (and speaking Tibetan ;)). We finally made it to the rest stop, where I changed to Princess, who was yearning to get back to basecamp to feed her baby.

Loved it…recommend it to anyone visiting Tibet…no better way to be with nature, see random rivers, and smell the fresh air.

Interestingly enough, there was a small monastery at the base of where we started…it was one of 2 monasteries in Tibet with a picture of the Dalai Lama…and of course, I saw it, and took pictures…my camera has been acting up a bit (it lets off SMOKE when the flash goes off.. no joke)…so the lighting is horrid…but it was amazing to see nonetheless.

Today I’m back in Kathmandu (real news, diet coke, and not feeling like big brother is watching me…and of course BLOGGING). Tomorrow I leave for Chitwan Forest, don’t know if internet will be available, but pictures are uploaded so ENJOY!