Back in Shigatse and the reality of TIbet..follow the link for a few photos

From Shegar we got a ride straight back to Shigatse. We wanted to stay in the town of old Tingri but our driver would not even consider going there because of the police and military presence.
In Shigatse we saw, along with all the local tibetan who had even brought a picnic along, the beautiful mask ceremony at the monastery. We went back to the agency as the boys wanted to find out how to get to Kailash, but it was impossible. 10 days to get a permit alone and here one of the guides poured his heart out to us. Before coming here and reading all about Tibet I thought maybe that it was all a bit exaggerated and the reality might not be so bad. BUT it is. The tibetans only get jobs as guides if they speak chinese, everyday more and more chinese guides come in leaving no jobs for the tibetans, the permits create endless amounts of hassle and as the guide said 'there is anger and frustration' in their hearts. We were so sad, and ready to kick the next chinese we saw but obvioulsy it is not the people. Most chinese people are very nice but the government needs a bick kick up the backside i guess.

Taking the bus back to Lhasa we met Kioyi, a lovely chinese girl which just reconfirmed our thoughts. She is absolutely wonderful, warm and friendly and we spent the day with her yesterday. We went to Drepung monastery and then into the Potala in the afternoon after Ingrid blaggged us a ticket. But once again, we were allowed to visit only a small section and even there there was no history, all the information that we read along the way was more like labels for what was in the different rooms. The chinese soldiers rushed us through and made sure that we did not secretly take any photos. It was impressive to see all the tombs of the previous Dalai lamas but disappointing to know that the reality and the history behind the Potala had just been washed away completely.