17^th September

Went to the Traffic control office hoping the test would not be too hard! The officer instead just gave me instructions of caution and wished me luck for the journey. We waited a bit but some papers were short, the Travel agency had to translate details on my passport and license into Chinese and fax them from Shanghai. The work in all the govt. offices even in Tibet is always carried out in Chinese language only. So while Bian Ba waited I went off with the car and driver to the Tashilhunpo Monastery in the heart of the city. It is one of the Six Big Monasteries of Gelugpa (or Yellow Hat Sect) in Tibet.

It is a stunning complex with living quarters, tombs, temples and a mammoth 86 ft. Buddha. I am not going to give here anymore touristic information…if you want more details go to Wikipedia!

At 16:30 hrs I got a call from Bian Ba asking me to come to the office again as they wanted to check my eyes. I went and saw Bian Ba running from one window to the other frantically trying to get all the formalities done before closing time. Finally managed to get a license to drive a motorcycle in Tibet !

Had dinner and was about to turn in when Bian Ba called to tell me that one of Rocinante’s tyres seemed flat. Went down to check the back trye was totally down, what can I say except lucky it happened here and not on somewhere on the way. Have to get that fixed tomorrow  it’s 22:00 hrs too late now.