Archive for the 'Tibet' Category
The drive to Zhangmu was a long one, but the variety of climates through which we passed was amazing. We began the day at Everest Base Camp, in the mountains with some snow around. Soon we found ourselves in the familiar high desert that we had seen in most of Tibet thus far, but after that things began to change. We passed through rolling green hills and muddy plains, and then into a rocky valley covered in pines, and finally an almost tropical jungle.
After passing through Nyalam, the road was under heavy construction, and we had to stop several times. The first two times, the cliff on the side had recently been dynamited, and crews were busy clearing rocks. Both of these stops didn’t take more than 20 or 30 minutes before the road was clear for us. The final time, however, the crew was still in the process of drilling holes and placing the dynamite, which would have to then be detonated and cleared. This stop held us up for about 2 hours, and by the time we got going it was close to 10pm. We did get to watch them explode the side of the mountain though, and in my mind that was worth the wait. Finally we arrived in Zhangmu and had some late dinner and a few drinks, and then most of us retired for the night.
Once we got some breakfast the next morning, we made our way to the border. It was kind of a momentous occasion for me, as this was my farewell to China for the trip. The process was quick and unceremonious, and after receiving our exit stamps we one final time got into our cars, which drove us the final few kilometers down the hill to the Nepalese border. Finally we arrived at the Friendship Bridge, and our Tibetan guide and drivers bid us farewell, while introducing us to our Nepali guide and driver for the day. A quick stop in the Nepal Visa Office got all of our passports in order, and we set off for Kathmandu.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Nepal, and it is certainly much different than anywhere I’ve been so far. The people and style of buildings strike me very much as what I would expect of India, though admittedly my knowledge of that country is limited to pictures, what I’ve seen in the States, and one ABCD friend (hope you’re reading Ami 
). The climate is much warmer and quite humid, and the terrain is a vast landscape of green, tropical hills, many of them terraced. The political situation in Nepal is fairly tumultuous as well, and along the way to town we were held up by a protest of some kind, involving a mass of people sitting in the street. I didn’t exactly catch from our guide what they were protesting, though he seemed more interested in the fact that this presented a great opportunity to stop and have lunch. Eventually, after eating of course, things got moving again, and we made our way to Kathmandu, where we were all dropped off at the hotel of our choosing, thus ending the tour.
Understandably we were a bit sluggish the next morning, but our only activity that day involved getting in the car and being driven to Shegar, so nothing too demanding was required. Shegar was to be our overnight stop before heading out to Everest Base Camp, and was a fairly remote city in and of itself. I walked up and down the whole place in the span of 10 minutes, before deciding that everyone else had the right idea of sitting in the warm sun, reading a book. Our evening was relatively uneventful, we were all excited about getting to the famed mountain.
We rose early the next morning for the fairly long drive to the spot we’d be camping, arriving in the early afternoon. The scene was a large mass of tents of varying sizes, and the interior of them appearing to be all about the same. This consisted of a hard dirt floor, with couch-like benches lining the interior walls, and a stove in the middle. Some tents could house around 2-3 people, others up to 7-8. We found a larger one so we could get everyone into one spot, though as usual our guide and drivers wanted to find their own place to stay. I think our drivers liked to party with the locals everywhere we went.
Having found accommodation, we set off on the 3km hike to the official Everest Base Camp, where only the people really climbing the mountain are allowed to stay. Though the ascent from our camp to Base Camp was only about 700 feet in altitude, being at around 17,000 feet now really took it’s toll, and the progress was fairly slow. Michael and I decided to follow a few “shortcuts” in the path that snaked its way up the mountain. The first few seemed to shorten the hike, but the last one took us completely off course, and we ended up on a mountain overlooking Base Camp instead of in it. Being as you are forbidden from going much higher than Base Camp without the proper permits, and since it is crawling with Chinese military personnel, we decided to hike back down the long, roundabout way, and eventually made it.
The whole way up we had mixed views of Everest, the cloud cover this time of year was coming and going pretty frequently, with no real perfect views of the mountain. Base Camp was no different, and frankly not much to see: a mass of yellow tents and a big sign saying something to the effect of “go no further or pay up!” We sat and stared at the mountain for a bit, then headed back to the tent as the sun began to set, for a long night of playing many games of cards.
On the following morning, some of our more intrepid group members rose early to climb back to Base Camp for sunrise on Everest. Having decided that the view of the mountain was about the same from our camp as it was from Base Camp, and feeling tired from a night of bad sleep on the tent benches, Ausra and I decided to stay put. When the actual sunrise began, I went outside and walked to a good spot to watch, and of course as soon as the sun hit the mountain (and the cold water vapor around it) a mass of clouds appeared and hid most of the peak. I later found out that these clouds had formed right over Base Camp, so the view had become even worse from there, though admittedly the others did get some great photos in the minutes before the clouds covered everything.
After having seen the mountain at sunrise, a small dilemma arose. Ausra realized, after discussion the border crossing process with our guide, that unless she went back a day early there was no way she was going to make her flight home, which would result in her losing a job that could make or break her career as a lawyer. For some reason, the Chinese only open their border between 10:30 am and 12:30, and then again from 2:30 to 5:30pm. Being that everyone besides me was on the same group visa to China, and we were all on the same travel permits for Tibet, if Ausra left, we’d all have to go at the same time. Fortunately everyone seemed okay with the idea, and we set off for the long drive to the border town of Zangmu, in order to cross the next morning.
The road to Gyantse was a fairly long one, up a winding mountain road, then back down again when another driver gave us word that it was impassible ahead, and finally we settled on going around the mountain instead of over it. Along the way one of our trucks had some engine troubles, and every once in a while the driver would pull over, followed by the other car, and then the two drivers and the guide would pull at things in the engine for a while until they were satisfied, and then we’d proceed with the engine having the exact same trouble as before.
Along the way we did stop at Yamdrok–Tsu, the Turquoise Lake. Unfortunately because of the clouds, what is supposed to be one of the most beautiful sights in Tibet just wasn’t showing in all it’s glory. The other problem was the amount of people that were at the overlook pass on which we stopped, trying to sell us their trinkets. If you’ve ever crossed back into the States from Tijuana, and dealt with the onslaught of vendors there, the atmosphere was similar, except here you want to get out of your car and look at a lake. Because of them and the poor weather, we didn’t spend long there before moving on.
After arriving and getting settled, we visited the Gyantse Kundun, a huge multi-story stupa filled with hundreds of shrines. The real pleasure was getting to the top of the Kundun itself and having a great view of the surrounding area, including the palace on the hill (which according to our guide looks much more impressive from afar than up close or inside, though he may just not have wanted to take us there).
The next morning we made our way to our next stop, Shigatse, home to the best preserved monastery in Tibet. The reason it is the best preserved is that the monks there were the most “agreeable” with the Chinese invaders after the Cultural Revolution in the late 50’s, and so must of the architecture is well preserved and maintained. This also means that you have to be extra careful about what you talk about, as some of the monks there are spies for the Chinese government. As we were touring through, one monk looked through each of our guidebooks, making sure there were no pictures of the Dali Lama, which is forbidden in Tibet (though they are allowed to speak of and pay tribute to the previous Dali Lamas, or else there would be mass unrest).
The more enjoyable part of the day was prior to visiting the monastery, we had some time to kill, so we hung out in the local market. The Tibetans love pool, they have tables outside all over every city, and we decided to challenge some of the locals (well I should say they decided to challenge us after seeing how bad we were playing). It’s fairly humbling, having a 12-year old kid nearly skunk you at pool. It was a load of fun though, with locals and monks looking on and laughing at and with us.
That night everyone wanted to go out and have some fun together, and somehow the idea of karaoke came up. I knew how fun KTV would be, and we made our way to “downtown” Shigatse, and after getting directed in circles a bit, we finally found the perfect place. The selection of English songs was unfortunately not as varied as my last foray, but after a few rounds of drinks (it’s a wonder what 3 beers does to you at 15,000 feet) we made our way through most of the catalogue and had a great time.
I woke up very early to catch my Lhasa/Chengdu flight at 8 am. The guest house arranged a car to take me to the airport. After all the worry and fuss, the extent of my permit getting checked to get into the country was the woman at the flight counter quickly glancing at it and then I got on. The flight there provided some breathtaking views of the tops of the mountains around the border of the Tibetan plateau, as snow white peaks pierced through the clouds frequently. I didn’t even notice how tired I was from waking up at 5 am, the view was stunning.
When I arrived in Lhasa, for some reason the driver who was sent to get me decided he would just wait out in the car. It took about 20 minutes of me waiting around and then finally calling the agency to find that out, but eventually we got on the road into the actual city. The airport is about an hour outside of town, and the drive in provided a great introduction into how beautiful of a place this really is. The elevation of all of Tibet is very high, the lowest points are at around 12,000 feet, and most of it is closer to 15,000. I think due to that, as well as the fact that most of it is sparsely populated, the sky is the clearest, deepest blue I’ve ever seen. It’s further contrasted by huge, brown, jagged peaks jutting up in every direction, some capped with pure white snow.
Eventually we made it into town and I got into my hotel. The rest of the group on the tour was coming from Kathmandu, and would not be arriving for another 5 or 6 hours, so I had some time on my own to do a little looking around. After only about 30 minutes of walking around the reality of what suddenly being at 12,000 feet does to your system hit me, and I had to return to the hotel and rest. Because of that, in combination with waking up so early, I fell asleep until everyone else arrived.
After someone from the hotel woke me up to let me know they had arrived, I came down and met the group. Of course there was Ausra, Marty and Liz’s roommate with whom I had originally planed the trip, and in addition there were 3 Brits: one guy named Michael and two girls, Penny and Frere. The girls came together, while Michael was solo. It was a relief to see that everyone was around the same age, mid to late 20s, so we could at least all hang out and have things in common. After making our introductions, we promptly split up again, the Brits heading off one way and Ausra and I another, to do some shopping in the markets and have dinner.
The following day our tour began, and our first stop was the Jokhang Temple. One of the most holy Buddhist sites in Lhasa, the temple was surrounded by pilgrims making koras, walking a large circuit around the temple. There were in fact so many people doing this that to walk in the area (which also contains a large outdoor market) you must walk in the direction of the kora. True pilgrims do this walk 108 times in a row, a sacred number in Tibetan Buddhism.
As we entered we passed a number of people prostrating themselves repeatedly in the immediate entryway. They wore wooden blocks on their knees and hands and would throw themselves hard onto the ground in prayer, then immediately rise and repeat (again, 108 times). The interior of the temple itself was a little different than the numerous Buddhist temples I’ve already visited, a large use of reds and golds, but overall was similar to what I’ve seen. The interior walls and entryways were intricately carved and painted with grand scenes, and the main hall contained several large Buddhas. The roof was where the differences in Tibetan style were evident, the red roofs covered in gold spire-like stupas, contrasting beautifully with the deep blue sky. We also had a great view of Potala Palace, which we would visit later in the day.
Our next stop was to hear a presentation on Tibetan traditional medicine at a local hospital. The methods are similar to most eastern medicine, focusing on energies in the body and using treatments western people would call “alternative medicine”, but there are some differences. The Tibetan method of acupuncture, for example, is only used as treatment for a few maladies, and involves only a single, gold needle, which is inserted (not very deep) into the top of the head. And where Chinese medicine derives everything from the balance of Yin and Yang, Tibetan examines three forces which literally translate to “wind, bile, and phlegm”. The official texts are in the process of being translated to English, so it may become more known in the west in the future.
In the late afternoon we finally got to visit the famed Potala Palace. Built as the winter Palace of the Dali Lamas, the giant 1000-room stands imposingly on a hill overlooking Lhasa and is visible from most of the city. The process of visiting is a little annoying, and I’m not sure if it’s a result of the heavy hand of Chinese rule or the Tibetans themselves wanting to keep visitors at a minimum, but the tickets you get are for a specific time, and ours happened to be at 4pm. That’s great, except that the palace closes at 5pm, so the whole time we had a little cadre of police and monks following us, hurrying us through things and closing doors as we left rooms. We also had to follow a very specific path through, so we got to see hardly a fraction of the whole palace, and of course no pictures were allowed once you pass the main gate until you reach the exit. Still, what we did see was beautiful and I can only hope that the Chinese preserve the place and don’t demolish it like they seem to want to do to so many other national relics.
Our final full day in Lhasa began with a visit to the summer palace of the Dali Lamas, Norbulingka. A little outside Lhasa, the summer palace much more spread out than the enclosed winter palace, and contains many gardens and a small (run down and sad looking) zoo. The buildings were on a much smaller scale as well, though the style remained consistent with what I had already seen so much of. A large lake rounded out the middle of the grounds, and gave the whole place an atmosphere conducive to whiling away hot summer days relaxing under a tree or strolling through a meadow.
We then proceeded to the other side of town, to the Sera Monastery. While the monastery itself was interesting and full of more Buddhist statues, carvings, and paintings, the real attraction we all wanted to see were the debating monks. Every day for a few hours all the monks gather in a large courtyard, debating subjects like the meaning of emptiness. The whole thing has become something of a tourist attraction, but is interesting none the less. Most of them are seated in small groups, and in each group one is standing, asking the questions. Each time he makes a question, the standing monk claps his hands together loudly to signify the wisdom and matter coming together. Most of the monks who are doing the asking are quite animated throughout the process as well, and if you didn’t know better you’d almost think they were yelling at or disciplining the others, but in fact they are just passionate about emptiness, or at least their opinions of it.
At the end of the day our final companion, Giedre, joined us. A friend of Ausra’s from home, Giedre had joined the tour at the last minute and couldn’t get the flight from Kathmandu with everyone else and finally got a flight that day. For dinner that night we all went to a “traditional” Tibetan buffet and dance performance, but honestly the food wasn’t that great (compared with other Tibetan food we’d had even) and the performance felt about as traditional as a luau in Hawaii.
The next morning, we gathered our things and met our two drivers who would be taking us across the rest of our tour. Outside of Lhasa, the roads are pretty rugged, so we were equipped with the standard Toyota Landcruisers, two of which snugly held the six of us plus guide and luggage. We were off to our next stop, Gyantse.