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First Lunch Break in Lhasa
I visited India and Nepal for the first time on a Buddhist pilgrimage led by Shantum Seth in 2007. The following is from my 2008 trip to India, Nepal, and Tibet and describes my first lunch break in Lhasa, the capitol of Tibet.
During my lunch break, I ran up to the room, and the key still didn’t work. So I ran up all five flights to the restaurant, but it turns out that despite the claim that they serve lunch from 12:30 to 3:00, they were no longer serving — you had to be there promptly at 12:30. Maybe it’s because this isn’t tourist season. I ran back down the five flights of stairs, got a new key card for my room, crossed the courtyard and went up to my room. It turned out that I had been putting the key in upside down. I ran in, used the toilet, put on sunscreen at last, took off my outer thick red Tibetan-style shirt, put my jacket back on, and headed out.
I wandered down the street and entered the first noodle shop I saw, because I certainly didn’t want to spend the entire lunch break looking for a place to eat. I also thought it worthwhile to try a normal, cheap place that a wealthy and proud Western tourist wouldn’t likely visit.
The giggly young women behind the counter didn’t understand English, so I pointed at a picture of something on the visual menu. They were clearly amused that a white Westerner entered their shop.