It was uninteresting and eventless throughout the ride until we reached 加兴镇, where our dear ZK was asked by a traffic police to stop at the other end of the town. There were other drivers being stopped too and we thought it was a routine road check. ZK came back with a black face. The TP told him that the speed limit in the town is 30km/h and he was driving at 60km/h. In the end he was fined 1200rmb! We all think it was a heavy fine and so Kenneth was comforting him all the while for the rest of the trip. For me, I was laughing in my heart. I still can’t get over the fact he tried to cheat our 2 days yesterday.
We stopped at a town for lunch and it really wasn’t ZK’s day. We decided to have Muslim food for a change (sick of Sichuan food). ZK hates Muslim, 回族, because he thinks they are scheming and all terrorists. Someone like me, who is from a multi-racial society, really can’t stand his extreme thoughts. When he mentioned Muslims are all bad people last time, I told him he was being an extremist. He isn’t that righteous himself either.
Anyway, the Muslim food wasn’t that nice, but it was something new, different from the Muslim food in SG. On the way, JH and I were talking about 毛牛 philosophy. Damn, I am going to be influenced by JH The Great Philosopher very soon (was talking about philosophy on mentally-ill patients with sh that other day). These cows sitting around on the road are really wasting their time and are brainless. But maybe they are highly intellectual and had already evolved to a higher being than human such that they find it pointless to do anything. Maybe they were thinking that humans are stupid to be rushing here and there everyday to accomplish meaningless things. Ha, I don’t even understand what we were saying that day. Talking rubbish then. Must be altitude sickness.
We reached Lhasa before evening and I wasn’t impressed at all by this large city. Probably because I had seen BaYi, the previous town which was pretty big. We walked around the city and soon I began to dislike this place. It was dirty, full of beggars and peddlers, a bit chaotic.
The female peddlers outside Potala Palace were really a nuisance. They would come and pester us to buy their necklaces or praying wheels, and while doing that, they would touch us! JH got touched at his tummy while me on my back and shoulder. Felt molested. Other male tourists were also victims too.
We quickly left the place and went to 大召寺. The prayers would walk in a clockwise direction around the temple. We stopped at the entrance and saw many prayers ORZ in front. All of them went on their knees and lied flat on the ground, got up and repeated the action.
Before returning to our youth hostel 吉日旅舍, we went to 八角街, which is famous for its sales of Tibetans ornaments. We only walked around briefly because we were going to return and tour Lhasa again after this 16-day trip.
After dinner, we went back to rest but ZK decided to go and shop around himself at night. At around 930pm, the 4 of us went out for supper with only our shorts. Heroes. Lhasa is blazing hot in the day (over 30 I guess) but when it comes to night, it could be around 20 or less. We came to a shop called 好好吃 and the boss was amazed we were in our shorts. She asked where we were from and after making guesses like HK, Taiwan, etc. we told them we are from SG.
She said that she didn’t know SG speaks such good Chinese. Haha. JH usual answer to this was that we are bilingual and our education system works that way. I would normally tell the person who praises my Chinese that, “we speak only moderate Chinese. This conversation between you and me has lasted only 10min so far. As time goes by, you will find that I will start to lose stamina and converse more slowly.” I wasn’t trying to be modest. I genuinely felt that I am not bilingual. I can’t speak English as well as the British; neither could my Mandarin be compared to the Chinese. I am only good in Singlish. The boss and her friends chatted with us and told us useful info such as, we could take the military flight back to Chengdu instead of the commercial one which will help us save about 700rmb.
While we were chatting, ZK walked past and we invited him to join us for supper. He took out the guide and told us he intended to detour a bit tomorrow to bring us to another scenic place. Good. At last he did what he was told to do. I wasn’t a bit sorry for him for being fined, even though he must have swore more than 20 times “tmd” that day on that issue. I don’t really give a damn. He deserved it for speeding.
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