We arrived in Hong Kong at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 14 and took a taxi to our hotel, checked in and rested for the night.

The next day, Sunday, May 15, we had lunch with Kalai's family at a buffet in the Shangali Hotel. Hotels are popular places to eat in Hong Kong as they are created for large groups and have many items from which to choose. These items are always fresh because many people pass through these places in turn causing a constant flow of fresh food to be presented on the buffets. Later we went to visit the Golden Hair Kerns, always a fun experience.

Upon arrival in Chengdu at approximately 1:45 pm on Monday, May 16, we took a cab to our hotel and registered, or attempted to register might be a better description. It took some time and several calls from the hotel clerks to find our reservations, needless to say we were not too happy with the hotel at that time. From there, we emptied our things into the room and decided to explore the city. We walked around the hotel and found a park beside a river that ran through the center of the city. The river had steep, vertical concrete walls about 10 foot higher than the water with picturesque railing. Only one problem being around this river though, you definitely did not want to be on the South side of this river as it stank very badly. We guessed that sewage was being dumped into the river, possibly. After exploring some of the city and the stinky river, we went back to the hotel and rested for the night.

The next morning, before our flight to Tibet, we walked to the Manchu Temple and explored then quickly went back to the hotel to prepare for our flight to Lhasa, Tibet.

On Tuesday, May 17, we flew to Lhasa, Tibet. Lhasa is the capital of Tibet with a population of around 400,000. The flight was 30 minutes late due to mechanical problems. Once we arrived in Lhasa, we took a cab to our hotel, checked in and then proceeded have noodles at a small resturaunt near the hotel.

Our travels in Tibet consisted of Gyantse, Shigatse and Dingri as well as many smaller towns along the way.

On Wednesday, May 18, our guide took us to visit the Potala Palace, the Winter home of the Dalai Lama. The palace is huge and situated on the side of hill or small mountain. Next, we visited the Jokhang Temple. Later, we our guide took us to visit a Bazaar of many sights, smells and markets on Barkhor Street. Finally, we visited the Tibet Museum before retiring back to the hotel.

The next day, Thursday, May 19, we first visited the Drepung Monastery and then a carpet factory and lastly the Sera Monastery. At the end of the day I had a seizure so we decided to call it a day and go back to the hotel.

On Friday, May 20, we continued from Lhasa to Gyantse, our next stop on the tour of Tibet. On this journey we travelled through a high mountain pass with plenty of heavy snow storms while riding on small roads edged on the side of mountains. To bet honest, our driver was either brave, or more likely crazy, as he drove quite fast while only being able to see a few feet in front of our car. It was quite a scary experience I assure you! On our crazy drive through the pass we saw Yamdrok Lake, a sizeable lake located high in the mountains. Upon arriving in Gyantse we visited the Pelkhor Monastery and the Kumbum Stupa. We went to our hotel and rested for the remainder of the day upon finishing up on an old street.

The morning of Saturday, May 21, we drove from Gyantse to Shigatse and visited the Tashilumpo Monastery.

Sunday, May 22 we drove from Shigatse to Dingri.

Monday, May 23 we drove to a site where we had to change vehicles to an SUV in order to proceed to our next stop on the way to visiting the initial base camp of Mount Everest. This vehicle change was mandatory. Several miles before the base camp, the SUV arrived at a crude "parking lot" where we were given a choice of walking the next few miles to the camp or paying for a ride on a very basic cart pulled by a donkey. The driver of the cart was friendly, for the time being. When we arrived at the base camp, controlled by the Chinese government, the driver of the car insisted on payment with a tip. We demanded that we were not going to pay until we arrived back at the parking lot upon completion of the visit to the base camp. This made the cart driver quite upset but, as he had no choice, he finally agreed and sat sulking the whole time we visited the base camp. The site at the base camp was majestic although windy and approximately 5300 meters above sea level. There is, obviously, no vegetation and the altitude gives many people severe headaches and nosebleeds. I admit Kalai and I shared these conditions. Kalai had the headaches and I had the nosebleeds. Many Sherpas, or goat herders, make their home here. They are a very tough people. We were able to get lots of pictures and video of the astounding, breathtaking views. It was definitely some we will NEVER forget! After taking plenty of pictures and admiring the largest mountain in the world nested in the Himalayas, we got back in the cart and proceeded back to the parking lot where, upon arrival, we paid the driver. I think he was glad to get his payment and get rid of us. :-)

On Tuesday, May 24, we drove from Dingri back to Shigatse and visited the Chute Monastery.

The next day, Wednesday, May 25, we drove from Shigatse back to Lhasa. On the way to Shigatse we stopped on the side of the road to enjoy the view and have lunch. Surprisingly, we had an interesting experience here. In this wide open land of barren sand, there are many Sherpa goat and sheep herders, usually women, but they are usually far between to allow plenty of room for their herds. Were we in for a surprise, despite the fact that upon arriving at our lunch spot we could not see any herders, or anyone for that matter, in just a few minutes there were herders coming from all directions. Before our lunch was finished, approximately 15 to 20 ladies had arrived and were sitting and standing all around us begging for our food. As these ladies looked well fed and we were advised not to feed them, we tried to ignore them all the while they were constantly begging us. Upon arrival in Lhasa we went back to the park alongside the river and held our noses while taking some scenic pictures on the stinky side of the river. After that, we walked bafck to our hotel, ate at the hotel resturaunt and then retired for the night.

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For more about Tibet click here.

On Thursday, May 26, flew from Lhasa back to Chengdu and visited the Wolong Nature Reserve, This is one of the premier breeding centers of the Giant Panda.

The next morning, Friday, May 27, explored Lhasa some more visiting Dufu's Thatched Cottage and the Wuhou Memorial Temple. In the afternoon, we flew back to Hong Kong to experience heavy rain upon arrival

In Hong Kong on Saturday, May 28, we joined Kalai's mom and proceeded to a mall. The malls are HUGE in Hong Kong, let me assure you. This mall was at least 5 stories and at least 5 times the size of our local mall. At the mall, Mrs. Tse helped me pick out some new sneakers as this has become a tradition upon our stays in Hong Kong. Also, while at the mall, Kalai had her hair cut and we developed the pictures from Kalai's digital camera that uses a SmartCard at a shop in the mall. This was, yet again, another traumatic experience.

Kalai had taken many beautiful pictures, as she has much more photographic taste than I do, we had high hopes for the pictures and practically expected it but were we in for a surprise. Upon returning to the camera shop to pick up her pictures, we found out that the shop had encountered problems developing many of the pictures including all of the Panda Observatory pictures. While at the observatory, we had paid to have pictures taken holding a young Red Panda and these pictures were the exact ones that did not come out. Needless to say, we were quite upset.

When we left the mall, we rested at Kalai's sisters apartment and then went to have dinner at a resturaunt with the Tse family. Getting something to eat in China is almost always a glorious, family experience with huge tables to accomodate large families all serving themselves from dishes centered in the middle of the table. We ate until we were full and then left. Apparently, we had eaten at a popular resturaunt because upon departure, there was a long line stretching quite a ways outside, waiting to come in. Since the resturaunt was already full, the people waiting had to wait a long time for the families already there to finish before being allowed inside. The irony was that despite the fact that there many resturaunts within a few feet of the one we ate at, 99% of the people were in the line to the resturaunt we ate at!

On Sunday, May 29, we went with Ka Pik and Ka Yu, Kalai's sisters, to a public garden, in the New Territories, where people pay to rent a small patch of land, usually about 10 foot by 6 foot, for growing their own plants, herbs, etc. Later that night, Kalai and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Hong Kong. It was interesting as although it is a "Hard Rock" cafe, the music was quite lame. :-)

On Monday, May 30, we went to the Minolta camera factory and gave them our camera. The cameras mirror had stuck in the upright position and I did not want to harm it so, since we were in one of, if not THE, electronic capital of the world, we left it to the experts themselves. They factory gave us a ticket to return them upon notification that the camera was repaired. Several weeks later the camera repair was completed and the factory notified Kalai's mother who picked up for us and shipped to our house in the US. Thank you to Kalai's mom. Later we went to a camera shop and bought another camera bag/case for carrying the SLR camera. Lastly, we went to steak house in a "Terrace resturaunt center" for lack of a better description.

The next day, Tuesday, May 31, we flew back to Houston passing through Tokyo on the way.