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Published: December 24th 2007
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The first monastery
Yes those tractor cars are everywhere out here 03-DEC-2007
I survived the night even though it's -3degC in the room in the morning. I brush my teeth with leftover tea from last night because it's clean (though I do have to spit out quite a bit of leaves). Breakfast consists of a runny egg sandwich- certainly not the best. I unknowingly leave my favorite flip flops of all time in the room because I certainly did not pack them. It's only a short drive to the next town called Zhigatse. The room is so fancy but is colder than outside and the bathroom smells funny. We feel like movie stars.
My hair is an absolute rats nest from the combination of dry air and being subjected to my hat for the last three days. I lose 1/2 of my hair in an attempt to get through it.
This is our first opportunity to experience a hot shower so we go for it. Unfortunately, the shower is trickling and is scalding hot. This leaves the back side of your body on fire and the front side like ice because the air is below freezing. I actually manage to scald my bum but sure as hell don't investigate
at the time because it's a mad rush to clothe as soon as possible after getting out of there. It's a miracle that my Nepali hair dryer works in the plug. Tahmeena and I use the opportunity to dry our hair, hands, faces, and feet in a desperate attempt to get and stay warm. It works while the dryer is on at least.
We're hungry. There is rice porridge on the menu at this little food place, but they don't have it available. What a tease. With porridge on our minds, we comb town on a grand porridge hunt but to no success. We end up back at the place where we started admit defeat. We go for veg fried rice as an alternative, and it actually ends up being quite tasty. So not 100% disappointed.
We walk to town for our first monastery tour. The place is huge, with thousands of monks calling it home. It was built in the 1400s, before America was established as a country as we now know it. The place is home to the largest bronze statue in the world, and is of the Future Buddha. Each of the temples have vast
yak butter offerings in which wicks are placed and lit. So the yak butter acts as a fuel. Interesting. In the temples, you must also remove your hats (problem), and not take any photos unless you're willing to pay 1500 Yuan ($200). Okay now that's a bit ridiculous.
In the temples, people provide different types of offerings to the buddhas for different types of good luck. At one point, we pass through a very dark tunnel in which you cannot see a thing, in which you simply have to trust yourself. There are also many narrow passageways. There happens to be a monk meeting while we are there, in which the monks are outfitted in funny Renaissance-type gear.
The time comes to head out but you are only supposed to traverse the campus clockwise, or you'll be doomed with bad luck. We cannot immediately find a clockwise exit so hang about for a bit hoping for some sort of divine intervention. No such luck. Eventually, we sniff out a route along the perimeter of the monastery where we run into the cleanup crew- lots of little people with lots of little brooms.
In town, I pick up
the best slippers known to mankind. My feet were cold but they shall be no longer. The Tibetan shops sell lots of beads, knick-knacks, oriental coats, socks, and long underwear. Everyone stares at us as if they've never seen white people before- we're such a novelty! However, they're also very friendly- smiling and saying hello in Tibetan. There are monks out shopping, jesting with one another, smiling a lot- very laid back in general, who knew?
We desperately need heat, food and tea and eventually come across this big place with a proper heater where I'm served the largest spring rolls of all time (aren't they supposed to be small?). Back in the cold room, we are shaking. In the middle of the night, I manage to lose my extra cover, get completely tangled in my sleeping bag, and cannot get any oxygen with my face covered. Was a battle of a night.
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