TAIPEI, March 27 (AFP) - As he ended his gruelling six-day tour to Taiwan Thursday, the Dalai Lama admitted with a grin that he would welcome the chance to catch up on his sleep.

Asked at a press conference what he would do if he were staying another day on the island, he flashed back "sleep," bursting into peals of laughter.

During his trip he preached to tens of thousands of people, leading three mass prayer meetings, including a Buddhist initiation ceremony, and criss-crossing the island to visit temples and seminaries.

He also met with political leaders in a packed programme which never left him a spare moment and saw him trailed constantly by a horde of television cameras and reporters.

But as he flew out of Taiwan Thursday, he faced an arduous trip back to northern India and the remote hill town of Dharamsala which is his home in exile.