A Lhasa Travel Page by szabolcs

<div align="center">The contrast couldn't have been sharper as I first set foot in Tibet - coming from Shanghai. For many, Tibet is the ultimate travel destination. This secluded place on the rooftop of the world is so shrouded in mystery that I really had no idea what to expect upon actually being there.

I spent three days in and around Lhasa, which did not bring me closer to understanding Tibetan culture, but I came home with a vast array of feelings and impressions - many of them negaitve to tell the rruth.
My very first impression of Tibet was the spectacular landscape. As we headed from Gonggar Airport to Lhasa, I soon found myself among towering snow-capped peaks and the beautiful Brahmaputra river. My first impression of Lhasa was different - I was dumbfounded by how "Chinese" it is.

Entering the city, the only indication that I was in Tibet were the signs in Tibetan script. The same dull concrete apartment blocks that abound in other Chinese cities greeted me. I kept hoping that I would see some truly Tibetan area in the city, but when I looked at the panorama of Lhasa from the Potala Palace the other day, I no longer had illusions. The Chinese-style buildings were really everywhere. Added to this came that the travel agency didn't book a single meal in a Tibetan restaurant, that the square in front of the palace was too reminiscent of Tiananmen Square back in Beijing, the fact that slogans in Chinese dominated the city (it was May 1 when we arrived) and that even our local guide happened to be Han Chinese - even though he claimed that 90% of Tibet's inhabitants were Tibetans.

Despite these I still managed to visit amazing places (such as the Potala, the Jokhang monastery and Yamdrok-Tso lake). It is therefore a shame that I wasn't fully able to make the most of my stay. Since we were staying at an elevation of about 3800m, I constantly felt as if I had a hangover - for three days. The enormous poverty was also a turn-off, together with the smell of yak-butter that I could never get rid of.

While I was there, I have to admit that I just wanted to get back to Europe (even Beijing would've sufficed). Now that I'm actually back in Europe, I am just starting to realise how amazing it is that I made it to Tibet. It is not an easy place to be traveller, but I already feel that I should grab the first chance to go back there and explore the place in greather depth.</div>