Tibet Taicheng Hotel

I booked this hotel for a great price on ctrip.At least $60.00 cheaper than agoda. It is not in the shopping centre of Lhasa but as you have to have a guide and driver in Tibet-it was no biggie. Our room was a suite.It was huge and we were very satisfied.The lovely assistant manager-Sonam spoke excellent english and was beyond helpful our entire stay. Example-I asked our non interested guide to take me to a wool shop to buy some cashmere wool for knitting,He ignored me (of course) but I asked the lovely manager of this hotel.He promptly rang his wife,accompanied myself and my reluctant husband to the shop that sold an unbelievable range of wools,communicated with the store attendants for me and then caught a taxi back with us!That was such wonderful attention we didn't expect!For those interested-the shop is 2 kilometres from the hotel near the chairman Mao statue in the middle of the road roundabout-prices are cheaper than mainland China. We ventured out to a local restaurant for our first night.Big mistake-had awful food and we were charged $45,00 AUD by the 6 year old(very,very,very,very western price ) and never again.We ate at the hotel on our 2nd night only to find the yak dumplings were cheap and the Tibetian fried rice was delicious.We were kicking ourselves for not eating here the night before. This is a moslem hotel but we asked if we could have a beer and play cards and they were wonderful with this request.We were sent to the huge, plush ,opulent dining rooms upstairs and we were thoroughly spoiled.This hotel was a great find and for $140.00/night including breakfast ,it was a bargain !,A lovely surprise.It is about 10 mins drive to Potala Palace.Has free car parking for hotel guests and local shops around.It made for interesting walking.We would stay here again and the assistant manager deserves a pay rise-he was fabulous!