Traffic jams and shopping delights....

We get on the road back to Lhasa after some breakfast (more Chinese in style and less Western). The first stop is a market in Shigatse and it is an experience that will be repeated for the rest of the day.

Most of the vendors are just starting to set out their wares and when they see the three white woman coming, it is almost a fisticuffs for our attention. I'm in the market for beads, and Gram and Cait are just browsing. Cait has already told me, "If they ask for 100, tell them you will give them 10. They will give it to you if they want to sell it." And so I try bargaining my little heart out, punching the number into the calculator (that all of them keep in their bras and whip out when they want to talk numbers).

I've learned to walk away if I am not getting anywhere with numbers, and I get the same mantra from most of them, "Missee, I have no money. No money." And usually I am a sucker for that kind of stuff but Dundup has already laughed at the prices I have paid and tells me "too much." (Even though when you break it down -- I am getting a good deal by American standards.)

I do get most of the woman to agree to my price, but their tactic to keep me there is to link their arms through mine as if to hold me there and also grab my sweater. If i stop at a blanket, and try to walk away it is the sweater pull and in one case -- the woman grabs my strap on my bag and yanks me back. More than once, Cait has to detangle them from me.

I do end up with some different beads -- and Gram ends up with a cool-looking dirty tea pot that needs serious cleaning.

All in all, we leave the market satisfied and try to head out of Shigatse but are stopped about 30 minutes into the trip. There are cars backed up and our driver turns off the engine, lights a smoke and goes to check out the delay. Come to find out a large Mack truck has gotten stuck in the mud where they are trying to repair the road. We get on the way after about 40 minutes -- but while we were waiting we did have many stares by the locals as they walked by to check out the action and a monk that gave a very cheerful, "Hello."

"Hello, money and good-bye" are all phrases that most locals have picked up. I even had a 3-year-old tell me "hello" at a local market later in the day.

The trip home is one of napping, some really rank toilets -- where we have come to run out and zip up our pants for all the world to see -- as the smell is so gagging, and a couple of false stops by our tour guide thinking we want lunch when, in fact, we do not. (Or let me rephrase that: Gram and I do not, Cait will always eat....)

There is a communication error as we tell our tour guide we want to go to a fabric store, and end up in a carpet factory. Some nice stuff, but I am just not in the market for a rug right now.

We do lunch at this local place in Lhasa, where they bring us Cokes and tea, and Dundup wants me to try the "yak butter tea." I politely take a sip and then try to get Cait to drink it when she returns from the restroom. The food is good and too much as always for three people -- and I even try the sweet and sour yak -- Looks like chicken, tastes like chicken.

Off to more markets we go, ending up back near the 8-corners market. We are on a mission to find a fabric store and a jewelry store for this ring that Gram wants.

Gram admired the ring on Dundup's finger and it is the traditional wedding ring worn here. Several concentric yellow-gold rings molded together and worn on the left pinkie or index finger. (We explained that Americans where there's on the left index finger to our guide.) Gram says she's looking to get married as a joke. But she really does want that ring. After several false starts in other jewelry stores, where Cait ends up buying a necklace, we do find the shop -- but we have to go back tomorrow as they only take cash.

Throughout this trip of winding our way through the market, I take tons of pictures fascinated by all the wares. And we also stop to buy: beads, pashminas, some fabric, a CD of a local woman that I liked that was playing on the restaurant's stereo and a few purses. My bargaining is getting good by now -- and I'm pretty darn proud of myself. The other phrase I learn is "Cheap, cheap" when the vendors are trying to tell me they are giving me a good deal. As Cait says, it sounds like several birds squawking.

Cait decides she wants a blanket, and we are off in that direction. Back through the streets are butchers, some pool halls and come to find out a Muslim area complete with mosque. Dundup does take us to this store -- a fair-trade shop that has some amazing stuff -- and while Cait rejects their blanket supply, Gram and I are like two kids in a candy shop. The prices are reasonable and knowing that the artisans will get the money back, I purchase some cool finds. They do have a website and the shop's workers are very friendly and knowledgeable about where the goods are coming from.

We have spent so much time in the market that our driver has gone home for the day, so we are shuttered into a taxi (15 yuan for the three of us -- cheap, cheap).

Cocktails at Chang's bar in the hotel follow -- and they have run out of Jack Daniels which leaves Gram a little miffed -- "Driver coming with it tomorrow" we are told. So they opt for very weak Malibu and Cokes, me a Malibu and coconut juice (and I can not taste any liquor what so ever).

The rest of the night is uneventful as we do dinner in the western cafe, and I spend the evening updating all of you -- slightly bleary-eyed and tired from a long day.

Tomorrow it is off to another monastery two hours away, a stop at the post office for Cait to ship some stuff to Beijing as she realizes she will be charged throughout Nepal, and China when she re-enters and I plan to ship some stuff home, and another trip to the market.