Tibet (Day 3 Part 4)

Getting to lunch took longer than anticipated because we had to keep stoping at checkpoints.  Another frightening aspect of the governments control of the area.  We all had to be very well behaved at these check points to avoid being stopped for longer than the usual 5-10 minutes or getting in bigger trouble.

Lunch was relatively standard.  We were served these chicken tenders on a stick which I dubbed "meatsicles."  hehe

I was ready to go to bed after lunch, but we still had one last stop to a monastery.  I ended up getting a second wind and really enjoying it.  We came at the perfect time of day because the monks were debating.  Every day int he afternoon, the monks break off into groups and debate philosophical questions (which came first, chicken or egg) to sharpen their logic skills.  They were really interesting to watch because they would seamlessly move between joking around and seriously debating.  I missed the first part of the debating because I was having a bit of an oxygen crisis.  I had had to climb up like five stairs to get into the monastery and got myself into a situation.  I made it up the stairs fine, but when I got to the top, I felt like each breath I was taking in has less and less oxygen.  So I started breathing faster and started feeling worse.  Just before I was sure I was going to pass out (I could only see black already) I remembered to take slow, deep breaths instead.  After a few minutes my head was back to the usual level of swimmyness and I could enjoy the rest of the debates.  Still so proud of myself for not using supplemental oxygen!

The monks lived well due to donations from the community so they gave back in many ways.  One of those ways was by taking care of the stray dogs that were plentiful in the city.

I forget what these are called, but I finally got to spin them!  As I was finishing up my circuit, this strange thing happened where it started raining, but the rain was white and it was all light and fluffy.  They tell me it is called snow?  What is this snow substance?  haha  It started snowing and after the embarrassingly long time it took me to figure out what was happening (I thought it was ash falling from a fire) I went 100% giddy!  

The happy continued with the trip back to the bus because I got to go downhill in my chair.  I flew down that hill laughing like a kid on Christmas.  :0)

Back at the hotel, I hung out with the roomie and her friend.  My brace had broken a bit so I sew it back together as we chatted.  

I usually don't pine after food from home, but for some reason I was going on and on about how I wanted pizza in the worst way.  

I'm not so good with the subtle foreshadowing so you probably already figured out that they served pizza at dinner!  I was completely calm and not excited at all.