05.20.2006 – Postak, I meant to contact you over a week ago to let you and Windhorse know that our trip to Lhasa was wonderful. Our guide Twinley and our drive, Mr. Dawa, could not have been better. Both were kind, fun, patient, and simply great people. Twinley truly knows all about Tibetan Buddhism. They truly “made the trip” for both Kate and me. The people of Tibet are amazing. Everyone was so happy, kind and spirit-filled. It was inspiring just to be with them.

Our hotels were excellent. We were very impressed with both of them. The staff at the Du Ghood in Lhasa was exceptional. Some spoke English and all were extremely fun. The food was very good. Our room was clean, a good size, and quaint with lots of Tibetan color. I highly recommend both accommodations.

Mr. Dawa’s car, a Land Cruiser, was clean and comfortable. He is a very good, conservative driver. Rather than taking chances, he always drove at a safe, more cautious speed.

Twinley (pronounced Tulla) is a very good looking, slightly shy, young Tibetan man who has a good command of English. His pronunciation can sometimes be a bit difficult to understand, but he is very fluent and exceptionally knowledgeable. We met his mother and father by happenstance near the Jokung Temple and they, too, were amazing. He always arrived looking clean and “dapper” in his leather jacket and khaki slacks, was right on time, and patiently waited for us to collect our cameras and water bottles.

Anyway, this is more than you needed to know, but I wanted you to know how much we enjoyed everyone and the entire trip. The only glitch we had was on our return flight. We landed and immediately went to catch our next flight back to Shanghai. As it turned out Kate and I had been booked on different flights. She was not allowed on hers because there was too little time between her flights. She ran to check in and they said they had cut-off giving out boarding passes seven minutes earlier. We should have been booked on the same flights all the way through, but the local agent did not do this. Luckily this was fixed. Instead, I was scheduled to leave Lhasa in the morning and Kate in the late afternoon. Then Kate’s flights ended up being too close together so it was impossible to make the connection in Chengdu. We worked it out with China Air and she made the flight I was on, but only after she explained that she worked for the US Consulate and needed to be back at work in Shanghai the next morning. Anyway, everything worked out and these are travel glitches that can easily occur. I just recommend everyone check their tickets and not have connections booked too close timewise.

I can and will highly recommend Windhorse Tours. If you have another form for me to complete I will gladly do so. Twinley gave me a form, but I typically misplaced it. Please fax one to my office (949-721-9938) and I will fill it out and send it back to your offices.

Thank you again for all the arrangements –