Writing was originally published: May 9, 2007, on xanga.com/fatal_cut
…lots of off-road driving which, if your only sense of it was from those car commercials, seems very glamorous and rugged, but that sensation actually wears off in a few minutes, and then the rest of the ride becomes a literal pain in the butt.
Those brown things scattered all over the ground? Yup, you got it. Yak poop. All over the ground. All over Tibet. You’ll never forget the smell of dust and yak poop after spending time in Tibet.
Writing was originally published: May 9, 2007, on xanga.com/fatal_cut
… The day consisted of us walking from the “entrance” of Everest, a sort of touristy spot with vendors and rent-a-tents, to the Base Camp, and even being able to walk a good few hundred meters further past the camp, which is supposed to be a big no-no without a permit. Permits, Tibet is all about the permits. On the whole, we only walked a few kilometers, which doesn’t sound too impressive, but at the height we were at, around 5,200m, every few steps can be a challenge, especially when upward slopes are involved.
What is there to say about trekking on Everest, or at least the bit of it that we crossed?
Writing was originally published: May 9, 2007, on xanga.com/fatal_cut
… From what we saw of Shigatse, it was a fairly modern and bustling city, with a wealthy youth population. Historically, next to Lhasa, it has been the second largest city in Tibet.
Shegar, or New Tingri, on the other hand, is a dump. There’s really no way around that fact. This “two-pool-table town,” as Don put it, seems to owe its sorry existence solely to the Mt. Everest (or as the Tibetans call it, Mt. Qomolangma) registration office nearby that all tourists must stop and pay at. It’s not that the “town” features a sizable population of sickly dogs and cows, barely has electricity (our hotel had a generator it turned on for a few hours at night), or, worst and most shockingly of all, has no internet (I know, the horror, the horror) that cast such a desolate and dreary pall on it. It’s that there seems to be no good historical or cultural reason for Shegar to be there at all.
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Writing was originally published: May 9, 2007, on xanga.com/fatal_cut
The morning found us beginning our 5-day Land Rover tour. Our driver, Nyami, already had the tunes picked out – Tibetan prayer chants. We listened to these delightful ditties for a couple of hours. While unsuccessfully trying to follow the chants, I reflected on how these overland rover tours through Tibet, which initially seemed rugged and adventurous, pretty much boil down to a fancy tourist babysitting service.
In olden times, driver Nyami might well have been a team of sherpas and porters carrying the four of us money sacks around from village to village on raised seats and a train of donkeys or yaks for our luggage. We would of course conveniently pass by their friends’ vendors so as to be eased a little of the burden of wealth.
Writing was originally published: April 16, 2007, on www.xanga.com/fatal_cut
Having spent 4 days here, Lhasa’s beginning to feel like familiar territory. We’ve been up and down Beijing Road (China’s version of Main Street, and probably not in the Tibetan’s Top 5 Picks you can bet) numerous times, frequented the areas of Barkhor and Potala Palace, and tried seemingly every way there is to make yak known to mankind. Tomorrow, we say goodbye to all this and goodbye to Kiery Hostel, goodbye to patronizing the Shangri-la internet cafe as regulars, and goodbye to the Tash-I restaurant with its woefully shy waitresses.
This morning, we headed off to see the inside of Potala Palace, the former seat of the Tibetan government and residence of the Dalai Lama, if he weren’t involved in that whole exile deal, and a magnificent white and red fortress of a building sitting atop a hill.
Random facts learned in Potala:
* There are 4 sects of Buddhism that are easily identifiable; they go by the color of their hats - the yellow, red, black and white-hatted sects.
* Wisdom Buddha never goes anywhere without his sword.
* Protection Buddha never goes anywhere without his four arms.
* The fifth Dalai Lama must have really kicked spiritual butt, because he wound up with the largest tomb - made of over 3,000 kg of gold.
Photoblog
In many parts of Lhasa, you can see the snowy mountains in the background
Barkhor in the early morning with the incense a-burnin’
We woke up at the dismally early hour of 6am to catch a bus to the relatively close Ganden Monastery along with Erin and Don. Yaks, donkeys, monks, and of course mountains - Ganden had it all. Around lunchtime, a snowfall began that, while beautiful, grew steadily heavier. We took refuge in the snack shop and had ourselves an instant-noodle meal. Then we boarded the bus back early and passed the time playing cards while waiting for the driver to come back.
It was a good ice-breaker time for our fledgling Tibet travel group, as the games allowed each traveler’s personality to begin to come out. We also met a “family” of monks who were sitting nearby on the bus. Zhongzi, a middle-aged monk from Qinghai, was the only Mandarin-speaker among them. He and his mother and sister had come to Ganden for a day pilgrimage. They were also with a teenage monk named Dunzi. The monks watched our Chinese poker game pretty intently.
Back at Kiery Hotel, I was exhausted and had a headache which I went to nap off. The combination of an early morning, effects of the altitude, hiking, and the incessant incense and smoking did me in. We went to dinner and dessert with Erin and Don, and had a great time. I think our group is starting to come together.
Photoblog:
The very long and winding road up to Ganden, in snowy conditions
Nice
Ganden, shrouded in the snowy mists
Writing was originally published: April 16, 2007, on www.xanga.com/fatal_cut
We met up with Erin and Don, our new travel companions for our 5-day tour going out west through Tibet, passing by some monasteries, Tibetan towns, and of course Mt. Everest. Erin is a New Zealander who just began her world travels and used to work in the field of wildlife conservation. Don, Donald Merton III (or Donald Meh-ten the Thehd as Erin would say), is in his final stages of travel off of one of those 1-year round-the-world plane tickets, and was a bar owner and real-estate businessman back in San Antonio, Texas.
The Everest Base Camp is predicted to be -12C with snow, and there will be no hot showers nor heating on this trip, but as the mantra goes, “It’s all part of the experience.” Perhaps I’ll need to chant that a few thousand times. … Click here for the rest of the Post, as well as the Photoblog
Writing was originally published: April 16, 2007, on www.xanga.com/fatal_cut
Lhasa is definitely changed - whatever mythical splendor it once held has now mostly been reduced to urban sprawl; Balenos, Bossinis and Dico’s-es (the poor man’s Chinese KFC, which is actually pretty decent, and also not for poor Chinese men, with prices like those) are in full bloom here, as our other chains, bars and department stores.
Not that you can’t still tell you are in the legendary city; the weight of its history and denizens’ color still hasn’t been completely subdued. For example, Barkhor Square, the pilgrim circuit, a winding, circular wide stone path around Tibet’s holiest of temples, Jokhang, is a sight to see. Pilgrims, whether dressed in iconic monk attire or in Western suits, circumnavigate the temple, chanting and spinning their prayer wheels, on the circuit lined with bazaar vendors selling various goods and brightly colored cloths … Click here to continue reading the rest of the Post and the Photoblog
The bathroom at the Naxi Guest House in Tiger Leaping Gorge
Time to brush teeth!
Breakfast time