Lhasa, Tibet: a city out of this world

---

Getting to Lhasa was supposed to take just under two hours on a Sichuan Airlines flight. The airline offer a free early morning pick up service which we availed off. This turned out to be a shared taxi driven by a strange Chinese man who spoke no English and randomly pulled in to wait around. We were in plenty of time for our flight, but were still feeling a bit ropey from the rice wine the previous evening. He eventually got us all to the airport on time, and once there we were delighted to see the departures board flash up in English. We found our check-in counter, dropped the luggage, walked to our gate and boarded our flight. It was all going so well. They even fed us breakfast on the way and we had some great views of the snow capped Himalayas.

Then, about 15minutes before we were due to land in Lhasa, the steward came on the intercom and said something in Chinese that elicited a groan from the rest of the passengers. She then repeated the message in English, and from the bit that we caught, we understood why everyone had groaned. Apparently the weather in Lhasa was too dangerous to land, so we were being turned around back to Chengdu Airport! When we managed to corner an attendant that spoke some English she explained that we may very well go back to Lhasa that afternoon.

'May very well' wasn't enough for us. Our permit only allowed us to stay in Tibet on the days mentioned in it. If we didn't go back immediately then we mightn't be allowed to go at all. But there was nothing we could do about it from the air, so we sat back and enjoyed our second view of the amazing Himalayas!

In Chengdu we rang our hostel, and asked them to get a message to our tour guide. After 45minutes on the tarmac in Chengdu we were off again. We saw the Himalayas again and were fed again. We even had the safety demonstration again! It was all very deja-vu. Thankfully this time we were able to land in Lhasa and the set down went without any hitch. We emerged nearly seven hours after boarding the plane in Chengdu, grateful to breath some fresh air. The air was fresh, but also different. We were at 3000m above sea level, and it felt like Cuzco all over again.

Luong Doch, our guide, was at the front door waving a sign with our names on it. When we reached the car he presented us with a khatag (a typical Tibetan white scarf) to welcome us to Tibet. We threw our bags in the jeep and began the hour long drive through the Tibetan countryside to Lhasa town. As tired as we were after our extended plane journey, we couldn't fail to notice the spectacular views surrounding us. We also began to realise that we couldn't understand half of what Luong Doch was saying!

By the time we reached the train station to pick up Leo I had decided that it wasn't just tiredness that was causing us not to understand Luong Doch - his English was just really poor. He dropped us all off at the hostel and we agreed to meet again the next morning to visit the Potola Palace. Philippe and I walked a little of Lhasa to find some food, before retiring to the room to sleep off our hangovers.

The next morning we were fresher, and better able to appreciate how different Lhasa is to anywhere else we had been in China. The faces of the people reminded us of the Peruvian people in Cuzco, but the colour everywhere and the Buddhist flavour to the town was new. As we walked to the Potola Palace we came across several people swinging their hand held prayer wheels as part of their pilgrimage. The queue for the Palace was long, and the sun was beating down on us. Luong Doch left us to queue while he went off to chat to his mates.

Eventually we made it to the front of the queue and set foot inside the building that was home to the Dalai Lama up until 1959. We had to climb many steps to reach the top of the Palace. Once there, most of the guides gave a 5-10minutes talk on the relevance of the paintings on the wall. Luong Doch told us ten words (6 of which we understood!).

We were pretty annoyed with him by the time he had taken us through several of the rooms and shown us various statues of the different Buddhas and Dalai Lamas. Leo had switched off completely. I was making up my own stories based on the little information I had understood from him. In hindsight our lack of comprehension was partially our own fault. We knew very little about Buddhism and when he mentioned many Sanskrit names we were completely lost. Even without understanding everything about it we could see that it was a very impressive building. With over 1000 rooms, many of which were ornately decorated, we could see why it was the lead tourist and pilgrim attraction in Lhasa.

After the Potola Palace Luong Doch brought us for lunch. Or rather he left us in a restaurant for lunch, choosing to sit away from us to enjoy his commission, sorry lunch. We were tempted to leave, however the prospect of having an English menu with Yak on it was too great to pass up. It was unlikely that we would knowingly eat Yak again on the trip. Philippe and I opted for the delicious Yak and potato stew. I turned out to be a mild curry, and the yak meat was like chewy beef.

After lunch Leo gave up on Luong Doch, but Philippe and I stumped up the cash to visit the Jokhang Temple in the centre of town. The temple was clearly a more comfortable place for our guide, because we began to understand a bit more of what he was trying to tell us. He explained many of the stories of how Tibet changed from Bon religion to Buddhism under Songtsän Gampo. The temple was another impressive building, full of colourful paintings and statues. Like in the Potola Palace, money offerings were left in full view throughout the building. I couldn't help admiring the fact that this money wasn't robbed. It wouldn't last an hour in Ireland without someone pocketing at least some of it!

After touring the temple we went to find out the source of some chatting and singing we had heard on our way in. On the roof several workers had formed something like a line dancing square and were stamping Akor into the ground. This was their day job, but they had turned it into something more enjoyable by adding the singing. It was a pleasure to watch people enjoying their work so much.

After the Jokhang Temple we released Luong Doch from his tour guide duties for the day, and met up with Leo again. Together we wandered through the Barkhor district, occasionally stopping to haggle for a small purchase or two. The streets of Lhasa are peppered with military personnel toting big guns. It served as a harsh reminder of the events that occurred here in 2008. Luong Doch had warned us not to take photographs of the soldiers. He also told us to be back in the hostel by 10pm, as there was a curfew in place.

We were back in the hostel long before 10pm. All of the days walking coupled with the thinner dry air had left us feeling more tired than usual. We took it easy for the evening, and read up a bit more on the Sera Monastery that we planned to visit with Luong Doch the next day.

The next morning we again walked the streets of Lhasa., trying to soak up the images surrounding us. That afternoon Luong Doch picked us up and took us on the local bus to the Sera Monastery. Perhaps it was because we had more background knowledge, but Luong Doch's English seemed clearer in the Monastery. He quickly showed us around the central temple, paying particular attention to the Horse Headed Buddha statue and then he brought us over to the courtyard, where the monks were debating.

We didn't know what debating was, but Luong Doch explained that it was a way for the monks to learn Buddhism as part of their quest to attain enlightenment. A standing monk would ask questions of a sitting monk and if the answer was correct he would slap his closed hands together. If the answer was incorrect he would slap an open hand on top of his other hand. If the answer was not forthcoming the standing monk would swirl his open palm around in a circle to indicate that the seated monk must “think outside of the box”. All the while the standing monk would tug on his beads to draw out the truth and stamp his foot on the ground to keep evil in hell.

It was an incredible sight to behold. About a hundred monks in red garb were participating in this ritual in the courtyard. The noise level was deafening. It was fascinating to watch, but difficult to capture the monks enthusiasm on camera. I was also amazed by the size and number of cameras that some of the other tourists were holding - I just hope that the quality of their images was reflected in the length of their lens, because some were as long as my arm!

After catching the bus back to the hostel we arranged our morning pick up with Luong Doch and went to meet Leo to eat a farewell dinner with him. We returned to the Lhasa Kitchen Restaurant because we knew the food was good. Over good food and a few beers we shared travel experiences and had a really enjoyable night. As we walked through the streets at ten to ten that night it was eerily quiet as everyone closed up for the night.

The next morning we said good riddance to Luong Doch and goodbye to Leo in the car park of Lhasa train station. We were setting off on the highest train in the world!

---

Comments

[katrin counet]

monks
What a spectacle to see the debating monks, maby an idea to learn Sinead Dutch on the same way?