Tashi delay :-)

Instead of sitting around and sulking over the fact that it is not possible for us to ride from Lhasa to Katmandhu (and therefore having a great dream dashed), we decided to get out of the hostel and to go and see some sights. We have just had a great two days! We have visited the Jokhang temple (the most revered religious structure in Tibet) and the Potala Palace and then we spent yesterday riding our bicycles around Lhasa - hitting some off road trails in the process and thus putting us both in the happiest of moods :-)

Firstly, the situation here has not changed with the tightened security (meaning that we would have to be accompanied by an official Chinese guide wherever we go and we would have to pay for the pleasure) and we are unable to ride to Nepal (or even back towards China). However, we can get to Nepal overland, maybe even with a stop in Everest Base Camp, but we will have to wait for a couple of weeks for everything to settle along with the pricing. We have therefore decided to spend our time riding in the areas where it is permitted for us to ride legally - which for the most part is the province of Lhasa. We will hopefully include a looping ride to the north east of Lhasa taking in several monasteries and a place that the Rough Guide describes as a great destination for mountain bikers (and it sounds like Wales - the Lhundrub Valley - we can't say no to that :-). This should enable us to get about 1000 kms in our legs before we leave this region, which was part of the original plan :-)