Into Thin Air

Tibet in December. We should be war generals, the way we strategized this one. Spent the birthday in Lhasa where at -6C, the man parts at age 29 are as nonexistent as they were at birth. Beyond the freezing weather, we were also afraid of the altitude sickness (much of the Tibetan plateau sits at 4000m or above). However, before that even hit, I got a bit ill from the plane. Carolee says I rely too much on potty-humour so I'll refrain from using any weights and distances but I will say that Bugles corn chips are now forever ruined for me (add that to swordfish, Myer's Rum, and marshmallow Peeps.) We did get a mild case of mountain sickness the first night. Lhasa itself is 3700m above sea-level and the air does get thinner up here. We're staying on the 3rd floor of our hotel and simply climbing the staircase makes you feel like you just went 12 rounds. But the mountain sickness itself didn't get any worse than a brief headache and a bit of sleeplessness. The recommendation is to take it easy the first 2-3 days to get acclimated. -With pleasure.

We started out on our third day in Lhasa and visited the Potala Palace- home to all Dalai Lamas from the 5th up to the present 14th (until his escape from Chinese militants in 1959). The palace sits 130m above the city on Marpo Hill and stands a looming 170m itself to dominate the city landscape. Though no longer serving as the religious and political center of Tibet, it still remains a holy site for followers to worship in the chambers once occupied by the Dalai Lama.

The religious practice of Tibetan Buddhists is something to marvel at. Worship takes on varying forms. Visitors outside the temples slowly march around the site, always in a clockwise motion, some reinforcing that motion by spinning a handheld prayer wheel in the same direction. When inside the temple, a simple offering to a shrine in the form of fruit or money, a white scarf tapestry, or a spoonful of yak butter placed into a vat of burning candles, are the most common rituals we've seen. While making the inner circuit inside the temple, if lucky you're in a crowd of passioned followers,who spontaneously chime in together for a mesmerizing, buzzing chant. Otherwise, individual worshippers will mutter prayer to themselves. There are the more devout worshippers who camp outside, directly in front of the temple and prostrate for hours, clasping their hands in front, dropping to their knees and then reaching out on the ground, stretching their bodies face-down to touch forehead to pavement. Some will do that in a stationary position, while the extreme will make their pilgrimage that way. How ever far their hands reach out on the ground, they will get up and walk to that point and bow down again. On our way back from a daytrip outside of Lhasa, we saw a small group just at the city limits doing this, with still a good 4 miles until they'd reach the holy center, Jokhang Monastery.

On our second day we visited Jokhang, the holiest temple in Tibet, and Sera Monastery where you can observe monks debating over the different interpretations of Buddha's teachings. Both very interesting. The third day we took a 2 hr bus out to Ganden Monastery, which sits in a saddle between two mountains overlooking valleys 1500m below. For us, the scenic location far outshone the religious component. We did the kora (circuit walk) with all of the pilgims at arrival but having only taken 45 mins, we still had 3 hrs before the bus headed back. There's a hill just south of the monastery that Carolee and I thought we should practice climbing in preparation for our visit to Everest Base Camp. This hill climb should have only taken 15 mins at normal elevation, so I was generous and gave ourselves 45 mins. It took an hour and 10, to climb this path that couldn't have stretched more than 500 yards. It's devastating how much the lack of oxygen can debilitate you. At the start of the hill we would take 10 steps and then have to pause a few seconds. Nearing the top, we would take 5 steps and then have to rest a full minute. But it was rewarding with a beautiful view of the valley and monastery below. After the climb, we then took in sights from inside the temples when the resident monks were already heavy into their daily routines.

The temples see a constant flow of worshippers day and night, many of them large extended families sometimes numbering 9 or 10 who have made a lengthy pilgrimage from afar. In between their prayers and bows they welcome foreigners with great compassion: the elderly grandmother seems always eager to share a "tashi delek" (hello) and a gentle wave of her hand, accompanied by the older father who nods and smiles. The younger women, both mothers and daughters stare, though unintrusively, with curiosity at Carolee with her fair skin and hair. And the countless young children who at such a young age already know the prayer circuit and the motions are fond to take a break and unabashedly shout out "HA-llo!" And everyone is beautiful here. With lean, slender faces and high-set cheekbones, brown, sometimes hazel eyes (absolutely gorgeous) and sharp eyelids, all highlighted by that constant smile.

Tibet is an amazing place to be in. Much of the feeling is derived from the Western fantasy of a land high above the clouds, surrounded by snow-peaked mountains, with chanting, red-robed monks in constant worship. The Tibetan people should be admired for struggling to maintain their faith and culture against conquering aggressors in the past and an oppressive Chinese government in the present. So you expect to be dropped into this mythical place, but you arrive here and that notion is soon vanquished with the sight of Jeans West on the commercial avenue leading to Potala, and the Dicos fast-food chain at the entrance to Jokhang. But then you focus solely on the people, and see this unbeatable optimism that they all share and this unfazing devotion to their religion and culture, and you get the feeling that you are in a special place.

---

---