10 of us (+ our new Tibetan Guide) left the hotel at 07:10 to visit the Potala Palace. We were the first group in the queue when they opened the doors at 08:00. We then climbed the 643 steps up to the Red and White Palaces. There are 1000 rooms in the Palace and we saw a reasonable number although we were not allowed the take any photos indoors. Many of the rooms contained Buddhist icons and previous Dalia Lama tombstones and mausoleum.
The Truck left the hotel just after 12:30 leaving Carl, Victoria, Lene and Eamon behind as they are making their own way across different parts of China. We followed the river valley up gradually gaining height. At the beginning there was rich arable farming, but as we got higher the valley narrowed and we only saw the odd herd of yaks. The highest point of the day was a pass at 5013m, after which we went down a narrow wooded gorge. We stopped briefly to top up our water supply and then made a bush camp (in a light rain shower) at 19:30. Peggy & John swapped with my cook group as they felt sorry for those who had lost sleep going to Everest Base Camp.
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