Made it to Lhasa

I was wrong about the numbers but everything else about the trip to Tibet is going more or less according to plan. There are 32 of us, in groups of 4, each with our LandCruiser and driver; so we have been in a convoy of 8 big 4WD vehicles speeding across the special world of the high Tibetan plateau. I'm afraid that I won't be able to describe it all very well in just a short space here, but it has certainly been an excellent experience so far.
We arrived in Lhasa this afternoon and the hotel seems just about perfect - a fine old place in the ancient part of town. Although I am very happy with the trip, I have to say that it has been quite tiring - e.g. with some early starts and late finishes to avoid roadworks. On the first day we were held up for hours before we could continue our journey at 10 pm (after the roadworks had finished for the day) and then after 4 hours sleep we had to be up at 5 a.m. to get through the next section before it was closed for the day. And that was after the tortuous process of Chinese immigration control, which is complicated further with lots of medical checks because of the flu scares!
But the scenery of course has been the best, the people are great, and it is all giving me a bit of an education. Oh, and the group is good fun too - a mix from all over the world. My own foursome includes David from France (but also speaking Mandarin), Uiske from Japan, and Kim from Singapore but living in Australia.
The plateau is mainly high altitude desert surrounded by mountain tops - including some of the best in the world. The view of Everest and its neighbours is completely uninterrupted - very much contrasting with the Nepal side.
The population is very sparse, but the Buddhist culture is fascinating. Lhasa has the richest heritage of all and I'm looking forward to exploring it over the next few days. The Chinese have managed to turn it into quite a burgeoning boom town by all appearances, but I'm reserving judgement on whether that is a good thing or not!
Sorry I can't add any photos for now. I'll try to fix that tomorrow.