Lesley
First I should thank generous Lesley, with his permission I have this chance to travel. Lesley is a handsome Walsh with dreadlock, this hair style made him very attractive in China, which made him very uncomfortable in crowd. The different attitude to uncommon thing in west and east is one lesson Lesley learned in his journey . Hope him can find his nature and peace in the small village of Laos.
Illusion of Holy Land
Most people, especially non-Chinese have unrealistic imagination of Tibet. I think it may lead by mass media, they described Tibet as a pure holy land, all lost good things out there. I should admit, years before like other undeveloped region, old tradition is strong on this land, people have little idea of commercial society. However right now, things changed a lot on this land. Some blame technology, some blame commercial society, most blame China. My explanation is simple, time changed. Like other place in the world, time also affect this holy land. The youth of Tibetan also want big television, Nike sport gear, beautiful and useless things created by modern world. You got more, you lose more, that’s the balance.
Tibet is not barren land, if you travel along the national road you can find people everywhere. If you want a close look to famous viewpoint, you should pay for it, include Mt. Everest. They built the road and built the gate, then you should pay for the convenience they provided.
I know it’s not easy for non-Chinese go to Tibet, and also not cheap. The easier B-plan is Tibetan area out of Tibet. If you just want enjoy the beautiful nature of Tibet, Tibetan area in Sichuan province is another good choice. You can trek around snow mountain in mountain area, hired local horse ease your burden. This area is totally same as Tibet and most important things is you can travel in this area without any official restriction.
Tashi 1 Restaurant
The best restaurant I have visited in Lhasa is Tashi 1. It’s price is very reasonable, I mean cheap and tasty food. The recommend dish is Yogurt Cake, Fried Dumplings and Bobi with 4 Fruit. You can find it on Zangyiyuan Road, near Beijing East Road.
Canggu Temple Sweet Tea House
When you walk in old town of Lhasa, you can find many tea house in it, and the best one must be the Canggu Temple Sweet Tea House. As its name said, it located near Canggu Temple. The environment is perfect for drinking tea, and the price is amazing cheap, maybe because its mainly customer is local Tibetan.
I know many non-Chinese tourist in Tibet dare not to try Yak Butter Tea. You can see the funny face when you invite them to drink the tea. Tibetan drink salty yak butter tea in the morning and have sweet butter tea in other time. I prefer the sweet one and it is also easily accepted by non-Chinese. If you want try Tibetan tea, drink sweet tea in Canggu Sweet Tea House is a good choice.
Shambala Palace
Shambala Palace is a beautiful hostel in old town of Lhasa. Really difficult to find because it’s located in a dead end of alley, you can find the detail on their website. The hostel reconstruction from a old Tibetan building once owned by a Tibetan noble, in my words, you can see Tibetan ghost strolling in it at night. You can see Potala Palace on its roof and all decorations are from local Tibetan.
Because it’s an old building, the sound insulation is not good. Fortunately, everyone in this hotel is keeping quiet, maybe because the ghost is watching us 
Stone Pot Chicken
Along G318, Sichuan food is the most common food you can find. If you passed Lulang(鲁朗）, you can not miss the Stone Pot Chicken. Actually, this dish is also not Tibetan food, some restaurant invent it recent years. The stone pot is from Medog(墨脱), put Tibetan chicken, local mushroom and other vegetable in it. Believe me, it’s most delicious dish you can have along G318.
4028 Campsite
G318 start from Shanghai, end at Friendship Bridge in Tibet, full length is 5476km. 4028 Campsite is beside the 4028km milestone and is the only campsite along G318. It’s a lovely place, you can see snow mountain from it, yak and horse are the visitors. The campsite owner have a Tibetan pig named Hemei, if you touch it, it would sleep down to enjoy your touch. Another pet, a dog named Dianzang, it would use its nose to scratch you to beg food.
This site provide food, shower, toilet, wifi, charge and camp equip rent service. And they accept foreigners.
Songstam Lodges have five lodges in Yunnan Tibetan Area, Songstam Meili is the new found one located near Mt. Meili. All Songstam Lodges are five star standard hotel, the decoration is Tibetan style and staff are very nice. In every room of Songstam Meili, you can see Mt. Meili. You can’t find a better place around Mt. Meili, so why not award yourself in the tough journey?
The room rate of Songstam Meili is between RMB900 to RMB1600, dinner is RMB 150 per person. They also provide trekking service.
American Style British Guy
In the night of Songstam Meili, there are three guests there. Me, my girlfriend and a British Guy. Except the accent, you can’t find any relationship from him with British. Maybe the reason is he leave Britain since 1997. He worked in a American chain restaurant company, most time in Hongkong, sometime fly to Shanghai for business.
He amazed to see Chinese buy luxury with bags. We made our explanation and tell him the gloomy future of China we worried. As a foreigner worked in China, and not taken English teacher as his job, he has a bright future, his Chinese colleague and friend never tell him real China, he can’t see the dark side of China. When we told him check the citizenship of his Chinese wealthy friend’s family member, who recently move his family from Australia back to China, we see the non-British face again. Chinese are clever. That’s my explanation.
It seems like almost every foreigner has one Classic Foreigner Question. Before ask the question, they always said you have the right refuse answering it. This guy has his own. After I answered it honestly, I though China is most difficult enigma on this world for foreigners, even you live there you also can’t understand it. Then a strange proud fill my heart.
Tiger Leaping Gorge Trekking
It let me dying. As a computer geek, OK, a nerd, I am very proud I spent one and half an hour from Mr. Zhang Hostel to Tiger Leaping Gorge and back. You should know the normal Chinese take two hours. We started too early, not saw the grandma drug dealer who sold weeds to foreigners. What a pity.
Lijiang and Dali
They both are old town. I prefer Lijiang, it’s small and artful, though a little artificial. Dali is different, many local people live in it, so it’s more practical. Maybe Dali is suitable for long-tern stay. But I just passed by, so Lijiang is more attractive. By the way, Lijiang is famous by its nickname Capital of One Night Stand.
Finally, we arrived Mohan, the Chinese border town to Laos. Farewell to Lesley, we back to Chengdu.
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