himalaya highway

duff and lindsey and i have left lhasa and are on our way to the neaplese border. we have a wonderful driver and we are caravaning with another car with a tibetan woman who speaks english. we left lhasa a 8:00 this morning and stopped in lhatsa at 6:00. lhatsa is a tibetan truck stop, there are karaoke bars and wildly expensive restuarants lining the largely unpaved main drag. all day we have been surrounded by rain and it finally caught up with us. there isn't much to do here, so dinner tonight will be accompanied by a thunder storm. last year in wuhan we had a thunderstorm every other day, but this year i can only remember one. i miss them a lot.

the scenery today was amazing, and completely different from the country side we saw before. today we traveled in a valley surrounded by tall brown mountains. perhaps it was because it was cloudy, but it seems to be the most desolate part of tibet we have visited. we passed tiny little towns with mud brick houses and hundreds of people working on the road living in tents. the sky and the mountains communicate wonderfully. today the mountains reflected purple, green, red, and yellow light. the drive was spectacular, and the people friendly. as we passed through small towns, duff and i occupied ourselves by waving at the villages. everyone smiled and waved back.

the mountains and bridges are covered in prayer flags, with the prayers set into motion by the wind. we saw a few monastaries set high up in between mountians, and all the homes have branches sticking from all corners with prayer flags tied to them. the doors and entry ways to the homes and buildings are painted beautifully, bright colors with a lot buddhist images and lovely long dragons.

please visit lindsey's blog and leave her some well wishes. she has been sick for the last few days and today she is feeling really icky. she'll be fine by tomorrow, we hope, i think it is a head cold, but i am sure she'd love some comments.

there are two little boys behind me whispering and i think they want this computer. we are looking for indian food.