TIBET

WOW!

Tibet was the most amazing place I have ever been. Its spiritually alive, culturally diverse, and beautiful.



I got into Tibet by taking the highest train in the world into Lhasa. From Xi’an it was a 36 hour trip through the high plains and all the way up to 16,000 ft.! The train ride was spectacular. I zoomed by herds of Yaks, grand mountains, bright yellow grass and the occasional fox. There were oxygen outlets buy all of the beds in case the altitude was too much for anybody. The train into Tibet was an extremely large project taken on by China. The train was nice and had oxygen, but I can tell you for certain that the railroad was not build to take tourist to Lhasa. It is a permanent connection between China and Tibet, and it will have serious affects on Lhasa and all of Tibet as it pours more and more Chinese and Westerners into the region. The railroad also provides a way to transport the vast natural resources out of Tibet or into the surrounding regions.



In Lhasa I checked into a dorm room of a hotel for the equivalent of $2 a night. I was in Tibet for 8 days and during my time there I explored monasteries, took a day trip up to a breathtaking lake, walked with the pilgrims, and lost myself in the mayhem of the markets and back alleys of Lhasa. Almost every day I would walk around the holiest temple in Tibet with hundreds of other pilgrims that had come from tribes all over the place. I would walk and watch as these people prayed, spun their prayer wheels, did prostrations, smiled, and fiddled with their ritual beads. I never got sick of just walking and observing these people. I also had a remarkable day biking to the Sera monastery with a friend from Australia. From Sera I left my friend and I walked north-west through a very interesting part of Lhasa continually asking where I could find the Pobanka monastery. Everybody I asked responded with smiles, a nod, the occasional invitation in to eat, and a point in the right direction. When I got out of town I saw the monastery up on the hill with various switchbacks leading to it. I made my way up and was looking around when a monk came out of the biggest building, smiled, and pointed me into a place not too many westerners had been. I walked around in the large building that had been built on a rock hundreds of hears before peering into all the dark rooms. Past statues, prayer wheels, and up onto the roof that was covered with prayer flags and overlook Lhasa. For over an hour I just looked around from up there and thought. It was a very spiritual place. After smiling and shaking the monks hand I left and took a different trail back down over the terraces, and by yaks back to the Sera monastery. At Sera I watched an amazing tradition called “debating”. Hundreds of monks we in a court yard paired off with one sitting and the other standing and occasionally clapping his hands in front of the other. They would argue back and forth and then the standing monk would clap again and the process would repeat. Quite a show when there were over a hundred monks doing this.




Lhasa was a Buddhist Mecca and to me it was incredible. These people were beautiful, dedicated, and accepting. Its sad to think what might happen to the place, but I was glad to see what did and hope to be able to go back and see it unchanged or even more alive! Lets hope their culture and survive!

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