Day 62, 63:

A bit more about Tibet, now. Too much is happening, and I'm getting backlogged in the journal. So, to sum up:

I did a bit more touring around Lhasa with my three friends. Eventually they all had to leave on a tour to Mount Everest Base camp and back, with me sticking around the city trying to find a tour that would get me to Everest and beyond (to the Nepali border, natch). Lots of promises to keep in touch were made, and E promised to let me crash on her couch in Paris come September.

Eventually I did find an organized tour to the border (six days and then we cross). I signed up with five other tourists. They are: O, a Dutch guy of 33, D, a Serbian of 31, R, a young American of 23, N a Frenchwoman of 27, and P, a 50-something French hippie.

These guys are decent. Of course, I like to travel alone, but the five of them make me laugh. I chat most often with R, who has spent some time studying and living in the Middle East, and has such a great knowledge of that region - we have conversations that are mostly just me asking questions about twentieth century Arabic history.

The rest are nice people, also. N is very sweet - twenty-seven and on a break from art school in Brussels, she hope to become a children's illustrator someday. That makes her quite irresistible, I think.

A bit about what we've been doing in the next entry.