Three Days in Tibet

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Lhasa, Tibet, China Autonomous Region

planes only fly in to Lhasa in morning when lift for plane is good so very early wake up call 5;30. previous day we had a wakeup call at 4:30 for a flight from Xi'an (Terra Cotta Warriors) to Chengdu (International Center for Research on Giant Pandas. arrived in Tibet on a sensational day, sunshine and 65 degrees. i did get to use my down vest IN hotel. am using it now. no central heat. heaters were ordered for our rooms but never appeared. western exposure of our room kept us toasty though and dry air helped our wash dry quickly. lots of Russian looking buildings including the hotel but beauty of monasteries makes one soon forget.

stress of traveling caught up with all but a half dozen upon arrival in Lhasa so many rooms resembled hospital wards including ours - me with bronchitis and John with altitude sickness. nothing that antibiotics and an oxygen pillow, respectively, weren't able to control in a hurry but i won't dwell on this.

visiting a Tibetan home and school on way in was a highlight of whole trip. cow dung is used for heating and cooking supplemented by using hay in the stove. 9 people live in the kitchen in the winter, a little larger than a hotel room. barley is an important staple which was being cooked outside in a kettle. livestock was in the side yard including a cow and chicken. after we gave our gifts to the family, we traveled a short distance to the school.

the mother followed us on foot, then watched us through a window of the classroom. some of her children went there. they wore gloves inside as it was so cold although 60 degrees outside! the kids sang songs for us, about 40 per class. two days in english, three in Tibetan each week. when older they learn Chinese also. can you imagine juggling three languages and learning three different sets of symbols to do math? not much time for any thing else.

a boy wrote for me his name in chinese and tibetan so i can properly caption his photo. am i an archivist or what? the letters are made up of beautiful calligraphic symbols, some of which i may get a chance to learn on the Yangtze River cruise.

i am so overloaded in my knowledge of Buddhism that i will only say that the pilgrimage of the faithful is awesome to behold.

at a tibetan folk show the yaks danced and margaret danced. on stage in front of 200 people. a few other adventurous tourists, Chinese, american, european joined in in a simple grapevine line dance not dissimilar from what we do at weddings.

yak tenderloin is delicious but i will skip the yak butter tea next time.

my half hour is up so i will sign off. until next time, enjoy the beautiful weather wherever you are.
margi

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Comments

[terri]

Hi Margi Just picked up your blog today(Sunday afternnoon). I am green with envy. Sounds like a fantastic experience that was well planned. Can't wait to get a personal detail when you get back. You are missing, however, the spectacular fall display.

[terri]

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[ruth]

Yaking it up!
Yaks dancing; Margi dancing; what a picture! Glad you got right into the "swing" of things in Tibet. :) Glad you got to see a school and a home. Sorry about your bronchitis and John's altitude sickness; hope they are things of the past. Guess you are looking forward to the cruise. Everybody fine here, except for Lynn's car which is in the shop; died and hopefully is fixable! :(

[joy]

ahhh...
but did you teach them the "rolling on a river" dance?

[Ruth]

Where are you little Pooh?
6 days and we haven't heard a word; guess you haven't had time or no where to get online. I imagine you have been on your cruise on the Yangtze River and are in Shanghai now, preparing to come home soon on the 7th. Hope you can write before you leave. We are fine here. Praying for you as you travel back to the States!