I never thought I'd be so technical and I never thought I'd have the capability to do this from all the way across the world, but here I am. Acutally I'm living in the lap of luxury, we're currently staying in District 2 in Saigon, aka Ho Chi Minh...we were told it's still referred to as Saigon as a matter of history & tradition. Were living for the weekend at a house that used to be occupied by the prime minister & is now occupied by a couple we'll be doing some volunteer work for through an organization called East Meets West (more to follow about that soon). We'll be staying at this same house for 3 weeks in October when the couple goes to the U.S...the house has granite floors, stairs, and walls, a nice, large pool in the back yard, 7 bathrooms, and a staff of 10 (chauffer, cooks, maids, etc...) today I had a massage & facial poolside!! I digress...
Many of you have been requesting photos, which is largely why I started the blog, those you see so far were taken in Tibet, which are some of the best. Then I'll back track and post a few from China, then I'll jump ahead to Nepal and my current location, Vietnam. All in all so far I've been to Nanchung & Chengdu (China), Lhasa (Tibet), Kathmandu (Nepal), Mui Ne & Saigon (Vietnam). We only stayed in Kathmandu a week because of political protests & riots due to Maoist activity. It wasn't necessarily unsafe and they don't necessarily target tourists or Americans, although they do throw stones if you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. We found it extremely difficult to get around because the streets would be blocked and the taxi drivers would threaten to strike, so we decided it didn't makes sense to be stuck in a hotel room, moved on sooner than we'd planned, but may go back later when things settle down.
Alrighty, I'm anxious to post more photos & post this blog as my first test page....so far I can only post 5 photos at a time. FEEL FREE TO WRITE/POST COMMENTS!!!!!
Much love to each and every one of you,
Lori
Yak!! Yak butter tea isn't so tasty, but yak burgers are quite yummy!!!
This may seem an odd, uninteresting photo, however Bob, Diana (the parents), Niulan, and Isobel (the daughters) are in the midst of this crowd. In the evening we'd stroll the Barkhor Square and people watch, inevitably we'd draw a crowd, most people were first drawn to Isobel's long blonde hair & blue eyes, but they'd quickly move to Niulan (aka Nunu) and try to figure out where she fits into the group because she's Chinese, we, of course are not. Then finally they'd move to me and try to figure out how I fit into the entire group, "American men have 2 wives?!"
MT. EVEREST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A crystal clear day as we flew from Tibet to Nepal I managed to snap some incredible photos all from the comfort of my airplane seat, coffee in hand, no ill effects from the altitude, or a treacherous trek!! Now that is Everest in style.....really I would have like to do some trekking : )
A monk sewing at a monastery in Sigatse, Tibet, a smaller town in the outskirts of Lhasa.
