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Published: July 11th 2010
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Prayer Flags
Common site all over Tibet. They believe the higher you put the flag, the more luck you will have. As a result, they litter the tops of many mountains. I came downstairs at 8:15 for my 8:30 meeting with Pussang, only to find he and Kate were already there and the driver was waiting! I was starting to realize that Pussang is often early. So we started off on what I thought was a five hour trip to Shigatse with a stop at the Yamdrok Tso Lake on the way. Turns out, we didn't arrive until after 3:00 in Shigatse.
The drive displayed some of the most beautiful scenery and stark landscapes I have ever seen. We stopped for a few photo opps along the way, and the lake was an amazing shade of blue on one end and green on the other. I had high hopes for Shigatse after seeing this. We stopped at a village that pretty much existed to feed tour groups, and we had a good lunch of traditional Tibetian food. There were no Chinese groups in the restaurant, for which I was very thankful. In fact, at first, it was just me and Kate, then a handful of westerners came in. We saw lots of herds of sheep, a few goats, and a few yaks on our drive. I got one good picture of
a yak. These are really interesting animals, I must say. Long hair and horns, short, sturdy legs, and very docile. They are perfectly suited to the climate of Tibet.
When we finally arrived in Shigatse, I was disappointed to see so much Chinese influence and row after row of shops on dirty streets. I noticed pretty quickly that the towns sewer system had not kept up with its growth. Ugh. We checked into the Yak hotel then left to see Tashi Lhun Po Monastery (55RMB). It was interesting, but not so different from Jokhang, but each monastery seems to have some reason why it is important to the Buddhists. We started to enter one room of the temple and Kate said she was going to wait outside. So on the way in, there was, of course, a Chinese tour group blocking the door. We pushed past, and then Pussang stopped suddenly to listen to the Chinese guide. He made a face and I asked him what she was saying. He said she was telling all those tourists that the 9th Penchan Lhama had traveled to Beijing and told the government how happy all the Tibetians were to be Chinese
Sheep in the road
Yes, they are small. They don't get too big when they live in such a harsh environment. now and how happy they were the Chinese government had taken over. WHAT??????? I was in awe. Such blatant lies! He also said the Chinese guides tell everyone they came to Tibet to 'help' because there were so many tourists and not enough Tibetian guides. They acted like they were doing the Tibetian guides a favor. Unbelieveable, but that's how China is. The Chinese tell the masses what they want them to know and believe, and the masses blindly follow. The few that don't fake it so they stay out of trouble.
But I digress. We went to dinner at another place serving good Indian food where the guides eat for free, and then we walked back to the hotel through filthy streets, much to mine and Kate's disappointment. This city felt less Tibetian than Lhasa and supposedly it has a smaller Chinese population.
Time for a shower and bed. I was 'knackered' after that long car ride on bumpy roads and no shocks.
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