I'm writing from an internet cafe in Lhasa...everything's in Chinese, so if you're reading this that means I guessed right as to which button is "publish post" and which is "discard."

We took the train from Beijing to Tibet from the 7th to the 9th. Me, Tyler, Thomas, Alex, Nelson, and Ward (who met up with us later in Lhasa). Alex has since had to go home because of HAPE (high-altitude pulmonary edema)...he was fine once they put him on oxygen, but he was coughing up pink stuff and pretty out of it for a while. It definitely sobered the rest of us up. (I've been fine, save for a barfalicious encounter with some questionable palak paneer.)

The remaining 5 spent last night at a "resort" (some canvas tents) by Namsto Lake, 16000 feet above sea level. Tibetan yak-herders were camped nearby as well, and some of the little kids came up to us and made friends. All of the yak-herders have motorcycles, decked out in the same bright colors as their clothing. Prayer flags (a staple of college dorm rooms) hang across the valleys, and the highways are lined with little souvenir stands selling beads and statues.

The day after tomorrow we're going to Tengri (Tingri?) and starting the hike to Everest base camp. I think most of us are pretty acclimated. It's a great group...sometimes I'm not quite sure of my place among all these guys from the Carolinas who've known each other forever, but they're fun. I'd definitely be experiencing it differently if I were by myself, and traveling with a group has a whole new interesting set of challenges.

Lhasa is changing fast. The population has skyrocketed in the past few years, thanks in large part to the Chinese government providing incentives for ethnic Chinese to move here to basically dilute the Tibetans. The Chinese quarter is new and ritzy, with fancy hotels and western stores, but there's still a substantial Tibetan part of the city. Narrow roads with people hawking homemade bread, pasta, dumplings, yak meat (which will be fine if I never smell again), and vegetables; bicycle rickshaws competing for space with pedestrians and carts and the occasional mini-bus; robed monks strolling around; public squat-toilets wafting their smell out onto the street (the boys complain, but add worse aim and blood and you've got the women's).

Right now a Tibetan girl who looks to be about 6 is staring transfixedly over my shoulder. I think I'm going to go back to the hotel now, probably to sit up on the roof with the guys and have a Lhasa beer (think my stomach's in good enough order now) and look at the rooftops of the city and lit-up Potala palace.