Seven days in Tibet

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Day 43 - November 22, 2008
On our way to our 7-day Tibet tour

We woke up bright and early at 4 AM to catch our minibus to go to Tibet. We had breakfast halfway to the border (4400 feet). We finally arrived at Kadori Nepal/China border after 7 hours of travel. We had to walk a long way and uphill to the “Friendship Bridge” as the roads are so small and some vehicles kept pressing on so that traffic had become stagnant.

At the border is chaos. Hundreds of Nepalis are lining up to visit relatives in Tibet. The immigration office is new (some months old) but nevertheless very disorganized. The restless crowd of Nepali people crossing the border was uncontrollable.

After crossing the border, we were assigned to jeeps. There were 17 people in our group, 5 jeeps. We got seated with the friendly and adventurous Israeli couple who became our friends, Adi and Eliran. From there we drove, and drove, and drove. We had some lunch in-between at 2250 m (7380 ft). We had yak thukpa (Tibetan noodle). Good but fatty. Road was bumpy, dirt roads interspersed with a few patches of pavement. We went up, and up, and up the mountains. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking, like something out of the a movie. Looming lush mountains seemingly within one’s grasp, thundering river accompanying us beside the zigzag road, waterfalls thick and thin flowing down the mountains to eventually meet with the river below. The terrain eventually changed to terracotta-colored dunes with frozen waterfalls as we go higher and higher.

We finally arrived at Nyalam (3750 m or 12,300 ft). This is a small town 30 km away from the border (it didn’t seem to be that close). We had dinner of soup momos at Chengdu Restaurant. On our way back to the hotel, I got a thicker jacket for around 130 Yuan (~$20).

Our guesthouse, Nga Dhon Hotel, has very friendly staff. We met their super cute apple-cheeked Tibetan kids. We shared a room with Viviene (our favorite English-American doctor), Dita, and Sandine. It was freezing cold. There were no showers and no hot water,, but the staff gave us hot water in thermos bottles. The toilet was communal. We had a splitting headache in the middle of the night, which we attributed to the altitude, so we took Diamox, which helped some but we had to pee a lot.

Day 44 - November 23, 2008
Day 2 of our jeep overland tour

Woke up after a night of tossing and turning. We obviously haven’t acclimatized yet to the altitude. We left shortly after waking up and started driving once more. The vast Tibetan plateau is every photographer’s dream. Everything is so serene and picturesque. After few hours drive we arrived at our first pass, Tong-La pass (4950m). Then off again we went until we reached the “highest plateau of the world”, La Lung-la (4850 m or 15,912 feet).

After driving for a few hours, we finally saw the peak of Mt. Everest in the distance. The feeling was hard to describe once we had realized that we are indeed staring at the world’s tallest peak. We felt like saluting or doing something equally outrageous but of course for fear of mockery we just ended up staring (and shivering) and of course, take pictures.

We stopped for lunch in a small Tingri restaurant where Tibetans were looking at us through the window glass. They were probably thinking why the United Colors of Benetton were visiting their small town 😉 While waiting for our food (which took around 2 hours), we got some cookies and apples for the ride. We saw some panoramic Himalayan ranges while on our way to our guesthouse Lhatse Hotel.

The Tibetans were very fascinating. Almost all wear colorful traditional garbs. The women adorn their hair with beads and stones, such as corals and turquoise, and the men wear fur hats. Also impressive are their facial expressions that are hard to capture by mere words. Somehow etched in their faces are their deep spirituality and unrelenting resilience to whatever blows that life brings them (I actually got this idea from Vivienne 😊.

We drove some more after lunch to Gyatso-La Pass (5100 m or 16,780 ft), the highest point ever in this whole journey. Certainly took more pictures. It was an awesome feeling, being so high up!

After few more hours of driving, we finally reached our guesthouse. This time Gim and I didn’t have to share rooms with others, but the members of our travel group who travel by themselves needed to share rooms with another person. This place, by far, had the worst toilet of all. I wouldn’t dare describe here lest every one of you stops reading and starts retching. Communal restrooms, no showers. Basins in each room and 2 thermos bottles of hot water. Cold, freezing cold, at night. Brrrrrr…. I didn’t take Diamox as I hated peeing in the horrible restrooms. We had dinner of noodles and Tibetan bread at our guesthouse. We tried their all-time favorite yak butter tea. It was really yucky, like drinking salty oil.

Day 45 - November 24, 2008
Our honeymoon?!?!

What did we do again today? Drove. The scenic Tibetan plateau and our Israeli friends kept our spirits alive through the rough roads and the biting cold. We eventually got to Shigatse and had lunch. We loved the potato momos. Tonight, finally, we were staying in a real hotel and we were hugely relieved.

Shigatse, Tibet’s second largest town and our pit stop for tonight, has a population of 80,000 and has an elevation of 3840 m (12598 ft). We visited the Tashilhunpo monastery, where we weren’t allowed to mention the name of the current Dalai Lama. This monastery, we were told, had a monk who had a tourist and his guide in trouble with the Chinese government after the tourist gave him a book about the current Dalai Lama. Inside the monastery, there were several monks of all ages. They were wearing maroon robes instead of the saffron ones we saw in Thailand. Some members of our tour group spoke to one of the monks and Gim and I noticed that monks here were allowed to touch females (the monk shook hands with everyone after the ambush interview).

After the monastery visit, Gim and I went around Shigatse shopping area with Adi and Eliran. Since Gim is the only one in our group who can speak Chinese, we had him haggle for the lowest prices. We got a Tibetan doll ($3.50) and a turquoise necklace ($8). We’re happy to have met a couple who love to shop, walk around, eat, and just be, just like us!

At night, while I was showering, with shampoo in my hair, the cold water ran out and all I got was scalding hot water. We waited for the cold water to come while I was dripping wet in a heater-less room (heat is virtually nonexistent in every room we stayed in Tibet). That night, I was thinking to myself, what the #$@* are we doing in this place on our honeymoon?! Gim reassured me it’s all about the experience 😉

Day 46 - November 25, 2008
Best Chinese food on our trip

We left the hotel at around 9:30 AM. We drove to Gyantse (3950 m or 12959 ft). We visited Pelkor Chode monastery. Tatye, our Tibetan tour guide, expertly explained to the whole group all about Tibetan Buddhism. He also explained all about the significant paintings and statues in all the holy places we visited this whole trip. We next went to Gyantse Kumbum, the largest chorten in Tibet. Chortens were originally built to house some relics of the Buddha and later served as reliquaries for lamas and holy men (thank you, Lonely Planet). We met a black kitten who followed us around the chorten.

We went to a Chinese restaurant recommended by Boris and other people in our group and had our best meal yet in Tibet. We realized that Tibetan fare is just not for us. Too oily. We stayed at Gyantse Dzong Hotel, a good hotel, mentioned in Lonely Planet.

Gyantse has a population of 15,000 and 3980 m (13,000 ft), is a small and sleepy town. Like any other town in Tibet that we’ve been to, the streets were filled with smoke at night. They burn dried yak dung as a source of heat and we noticed the exhaust pipes sticking out of the window in a lot of the houses. We kept on coughing. We were inhaling burning yak dung.

Day 47 - November 26, 2008
Civilization…Lhasa

Today was a long, 7-hr drive to Lhasa. We stopped to admire the Kharola Glacier (5560 m or 18240 ft), a huge block of ice seemingly frozen in time while falling from a mountain. Gim took pictures of a "satellite cooker" (as he calls it), which is pretty common here. It's made of two reflecting panels that concentrate heat from the sun's rays towards a pot. Pretty resourceful and imaginative.

After driving for sometime, we stopped for some snacks and water and continued on. We stopped briefly to take pictures of the turquoise waters of Yamdrok-Tso Lake. Gim had a lot of fun skipping stones. This is a very unusual lake as it is found 4441 m ((14,500 ft) above sea level. This lake is considered by Tibetans to be a holy lake so that they weren’t very happy when the Chinese government started building a hydroelectric power plant and started draining it. We briefly rode a yak with colorful hair ornaments while taking pictures of the lake.

We were so happy when we saw Lhasa and our hotel, Trichang Labrang. Finally, civilization! Lhasa is a fast-developing city, thanks (or no thanks?) to the Chinese government that allotted billions of dollars for its modernization. Our hotel was very cozy and the room was big and adorned with Tibetan paintings. The best thing is the bed warmer. Clean restrooms. Super friendly staff. We were so, so relieved that the worst is over.

We walked around the Barkhor Bazaar, which was already closing, and had another round of Chinese meal with Adi and Eliran.

Then we took a nice, long hot shower and retired to our restful, warm bed. Oh, the comforts that we so often take for granted!

Day 48 - November 27, 2008
Potala Palace

The whole group took the bus to Potala Palace. It looked so grand, elegant and authoritative sitting on a hilltop. Too bad it’s no longer used except for tourists. It used to be the home of the Dalai Lama before he was forced into exile. It also used to have a whole community inside its walls. Lonely Planet calls it “one of the great wonders of world architecture”. It really was an amazing sight. The great 5th Dalai Lama started building it during the mid-7th century and it was completed about 10 centuries later. It is comprised of the Red Palace and the White Palace. We got some amulets and charms for Gim’s uncles and aunts and had one of the monks bless them. Gim and I decided to go back and take photographs of it at night when we saw from Barkhor Square that it was all lit up.

After Patola Palace, we went to Jokhang (7th century), the most revered temple in Tibet. This is where the Tibetans from all over go for their pilgrimage. Since it’s winter (and they couldn’t go to work in the farms), there were more pilgrims than usual. Tatye went with Gim and I to look for thangkas. We still liked the one we saw in Kathmandu the most. We walked around Barkhor Square and walked with the pilgrims. Tibetans have an unusual way of praying. While standing, they would put their hands together over their heads, then in front of their chests, then would prostrate themselves, and then slide down and lie prone on the ground, and then stand up and repeat the maneuver all over again. They did this while going around the square. Gim says it reminds him of “breast stroke on the ground”. Since Gim is a Buddhist, we consider this his pilgrimage. He didn’t do his breast stroke, though.

After sunset, we went back to Potala Palace and took more pictures. It looked even more magnificent at night.

Day 49 - November 28, 2008
Drepung and Sera monasteries

Drepung (founded 1416), literally meaning “rice mounds”, used to be a monastery with 10,000 monks. Now it only has 600 monks after the Chinese took over Tibet during the 1950s. This is where the tombs of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th Dalai Lama can be found. We visited the monks’ kitchen where we saw cauldrons of yak butter tea being prepared. Their kitchen was huge.

Then we grabbed some munchies at a nearby supermarket and drove to Sera monastery before it closes at 5 pm. We saw a very intricate and painstakingly made sand mandala. According to Tatye, 2-3 highly artistic monks made it in a couple of months, and it is replaced every Tibetan New Year. We got some bracelets for aunts and uncles blessed by the High Lama. We saw monks of varying levels dining in the Assembly Hall. After dinner, they used have a “monk debate” but they weren’t allowed to do this anymore after last year’s uprising. The Sera used to have 5000 monks, now it only has a few hundred.

We went back to the hotel and went around Barkhor Square and took some more pictures. We had a small dinner and just rested.

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Comments

[charie]

hey
hi guys! tibet!!! how exciting! ... and you also got your dose of winter (without the heating!). i felt cold just looking at your outfit tess. haha. thought I was done with winter... it snowed here in our part of texas! that was 3 days ago and today the weather is in the 70s. is that weird or what. so where are you spending the holidays? we're planning a get-together for all bronky peops early next year. take care guys! tess miss you! oh, and merry xmas and a happy new year!

[EDge]

happy bday gim
i guess that would be belated bday, wherever you are now! prost!