He is able who thinks he is able

If you take the Arlanda Express from the Airport to Stockholm, just as you leave the train station is a hotel called the Nordic Sea. Inside is a bar called the “Ice Bar”, an offshoot of the famous Ice Hotel. Everything inside is made of ice. It usually requires reservations – and is not cheap, but a great unique experience!!

Hejdå

I was 13 years old. It was incredible. Now I want to go again, with my wife and daughter this time.

Three tips about Lhasa.

1) Jokhang temple and Potala Palace are both near the old town, right in the center of Lhasa. Visit Jokhang in the morning when it’s open to the pilgrims. It is so amazing to be in amongst 1000+ devout buddhists, spinning their prayer wheels on the ‘circuits’ they walk, kneeling and prostrating themselves thousands of times in front of the entrance, and standing in line with their ‘mao’ notes (a few pennies each) and Yak butter, to give offerings. My wifes favorite place during our 5 week China/Tibet visit.

2) From the roof of the Jokhang temple is an excellent place to get a picture of the Potala palace (see mine, above).

Our guide was just great. Best guide out of a dozen or more we had. His name was Dop Jor, and he’s from Tibet. He knew everybody, got us in everywhere, and was a wealth of information. I’ll see if I can find his contact information later – very highly recommended!

3) The best food in Lhasa (for Westerners) is at the Dunya restaurant. It’s only a couple of blocks from the Jokhang temple. It’s owned by some ex-pats, including an American and I believe some people from Denmark. The Yak-Sizzler was very good, washed down with Lhasa beer. Do yourself a favor and eat here at least once.

Train from Shanghai to Lhasa opens any day now – I’d love to hear from someone who takes it. I will definitely be visiting Lhasa again.

Great place to visit – so much history it’s almost devastating. Took a guide near the entrance – 100 Yuan for the 8 of us, she spoke English pretty well.

Like almost all the guides in China, they make commission off the stuff you buy. They will steer you to a very nice shop with VERY nice VERY VERY expensive stuff. The statues here are “made with the real clay from pit 2” and can be “certified”. There is another place on site that sells the same statues (as far as I can tell) for a third. Anything you get here, you can buy in the cities (for example at HangQio in Beijing) for maybe a 10th the price. I got a 20” one for under 100 kuai ($12)

The “Original Farmer” who found the statues is ‘sometimes’ available to sign books. The books aren’t cheap. I saw the “original farmer” in 2 different buildings the same day, two very different looking “original farmers”. No pictures allowed of the farmer. I’ll upload one later.

Don’t let the enormous commercialism deter you. This place really is amazing. Pit 1 and 3 are great – pit 2 was ok, very little excavation there.

Badaling is the most famous section of the wall, visited in droves from Beijing. Wander among the tour armies and the myriad vendors and you can see a gorgeous section of the wall.

We went with Cycle China on a 20 mile ride to the wall. We rode to Huanghua Cheng, a little visited, under developed section that is just amazing. The 7 in our group had this entire section to ourselves. It’s not nearly as well knows at the three ‘biggies’ near Beijing: Badaling, MuTanYiu (sp?), and Simatai.

Here the wall drops precipitously to a lake and dam. The wall has only been restored a little near the lake, the rest is pristine and for the most part in excellent shape. From the few buildings at the foot of this section, there is a small trail up the left hand side of the road – you typically pay the restaurant owner at the top of this trail (a third of the way from the road to the wall – maybe 150 ft) a few Yuan, or buy a drink afterwards.

I can’t recommnend this section enough – although there is rumor this area might be closed to “improve” it for tourism. Get there before they do!

5 weeks in China, starting May 27th. Arriving in Shanghai, then to Beijing to visit family. From there want to see Xi’an, Tibet, Three Rivers Gorge, and just tons of places. Need to sit down with family over there and make out itinerary.

I can hardly wait!