Today was one of those traveling days that you just simply endure.  By this point, nearly everyone in the group was ready to leave Tibet.  Though wonderfully exotic and intellectually captivating, Lhasa was difficult physically.  The air is dry — desert dry.  Eyes itched.  I woke up every morning with a bloody nose.  My skin soaked up moisturizer like a sponge and still felt parched and papery.  I had been taking a low dose of Diomox, a drug that helps to alleviate symptoms of altitude sickness, but still had the occasional stab of pain slice through my scalp and eyes.  Others in the group had continual pounding headaches.  The Diomox also has a strange side effect of causing extremities — toes and fingers — to tingle at odd times with no warning.  Some of the group have been feeling nausea for days.  Few of us have been sleeping well, including Lisa who looked deathly pale, drawn and anxious. Continue Reading »

Before our morning tour, Maggie and I went for a walk in the bazaar to the temple.  The crowds are even denser than they were yesterday.  Today is the holy day.

Then we went on to an orphanage supported by the Grand Circle Foundation.  There are 82 kids living in a place about the size of my home.  It was good to hear that they received permission and have the funds to move the orphanage to a new, larger building.  It seems that in China and Tibet, it is difficult to adopt a child, and in Tibet, foreign adoptions are strictly forbidden.  Despite the poor living conditions -– two or three to a bed, nowhere for the kids to run and play, a kitchen that would horrify a US health inspector — the kids seemed healthy, well-fed, and happy.  They sang You Are My Sunshine for us; then we sang for them.  Each child grabbed one of our arms and gave us a tour of the facility, pulling us this way and that, and pointing out their favorite things.  Continue Reading »