17th April - Shangri-la

Another bed hard to get out of but we'd been warned by the people we hd met the last night that it was bloody hard to get up and they reckoned (hoped) the cause was the altitude. Went for a walk to a monastry in the town. They have this massive prayer wheel there which we can see turning from our bedroom window. you have to walk it around 3 times clockwise and it DEF helps having a lot of people to do it! just a walk up the steps to the monastry leaves me completly gasping for breath. Inside the monastry the rooms where they pray are so colourful and full to the brim of colour with flags and paintins and gold everywhere, its really pretty and feels happy. the pictures of hell on the outside are not so happy...it doesnt look good!
We mish into the new town to pick up a present for dad – saw someone with something last night (obviosuly i can't mention it cos then he'd know what it is!!) and it cracked us up...the finnish guy had brought one too. So after this big walk around den's not feeling so hot and we're both completely knackered. You feel so stupid and lazy and putz but its so hard walking and talking that we're both silent and the small hill and stairs to our room requires a good 5 minutes sit down to catch our breath! We have a rest and then head out to the big monastry which is a couple miles outta town. Catch an old ricktety bus, th driver looks like he slept in his clothes and just rolled outta bed, this is completed by fag hanging out of his mouth. we add our 2 yuan to the literal cardboard box of other 1 yuan notes and do actually end up at our destination! The monastry is surrounded by a town with traditonal houses nd once again there is a lot of colour inside and gold paint. Its not opulant but just rich with colour. The walls on the outside are painted a shade of orange to look almost gold. The scenary is beautiful, all round are tall tall peaks, snow capped and you can see small prayer flag areas, like you always see on documentaries, dotted aorund the hills. Theres a few in town too. The monks are hanging around and seems to be a pretty peaceful life to be a monk! dennis checked out the kitchen, it was men only! he said it was nice and warm and smelt good! its pretty cold!
Head back to town den has discovered the Yak kebabs in the square. We sit and grb a couple of these and they are GOOD! nice and spicy yak ment intertwined with peppers. Yak meat is pretty good...mostly like beef but slightly different taste. and we headed to rose's cafe where apparently they have the best hot chocolate...and they do! YUM, its chocolate melted and milk! well good. We went to the square and at7:30 every night all the women of the town and quite a few of the men danced tradtional dances, in a big circle..music is played from speakers nearby. its nice and more and more women finished whatever they are doing and come to dance. Even the guys, unsually bit older are having a good time. Has a good community feel. Dinner we found a cosy place and i got Fried beef dumplings....they were sooooo good. They taste just like the sausage rolls you could order at primary school, i have a gooooood time eating again! dancing in the square is almost over, it goes for 2 hours and by this time the circle of people is taking up the whole square! we go back to our room and put on our electric blanket and get all warm and cosy. Even lying down you find your breathing is slightly funny!