Lhasa

After breakfast in the restaurant, our first stop was the bank, followed by a 4 hour tour of the Drepung Monastery. The guide is very knowledgeable, but the temptation is to explain every Buddha and every picture in every temple, so everybody was very over it by the end.

It was the biggest monastery in Tibet, and there used to be 10,000 monks there before China 'liberated' Tibet, and still 4000 until the 2008 Tibetan uprising which started at this monastery. The authorities closed the country for a month, demolished many of the monks dormitories, and placed lots of restrictions on everybody. Now you have to have a permit to be a monk, and there are only 400 of them. Police, security and closed circuit TV are everywhere.

A late lunch at a cafe close to the hotel, before a long walk through the market area in the old quarter.

Army squads of 5 continuously patrol the market area. They are arranged in a square with the squad leader in the middle. Four of the squad carry loaded rifles, and the fifth carries a fire extinguisher. When they meet another squad, they do a full inspection of each other, and a ceremonious handover of sunglasses - I kid you not - and the other squad marches off with them.

In Lhasa, while you are waiting to cross the road, they play classical guitar music by John Williams over the traffic lights to keep you calm.

Spent some time Skyping home on a Friday evening whilst we have good reception at this end.