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Yes, I've been there... at last I can really say it, this humble traveller who, as millions of people decided to flock to the mystic Tibet and be enchanted with the landscapes, pilgrims and all the amazing constructions of this fabled place.
I made this journey only in the third year of my stay in China, you see, I had managed to postpone it all the time; the reason? well, I will put it down to my suffering from vertigo, which delayed my coming to terms with the problem of height and prevented me from visiting this colourful site; I remember imagining the worse before I travelled, which was kind of understandable: some days earlier, I had watched a fly-off-the-wall documentary showing some Colombian people hiking in the Tibetan mountains, that was scary; although I was not going up that high, it was spine-chilling to see those people experiencing so much difficulty in breathing. Yet, given that my stay was coming to an end, I was not willing to procrastinate any more.
I had heard about the innumerable tons of worshippers thronging to the holy sites looking for some comfort to their sufferings and the
blessings they had been longing for, just as I used to do in my hometown. Therefore, I sort of understand the feeling and anxiety behind it, people of innumerable backgrounds making the pilgrimage of their lives, just what I needed to experience again. What's more, coming from a very catholic country, it was most easy for me to relate to the people's inner purposes, it was as if we were all reunited under one single aim, ready to make the sacrifice.
What adds to the enjoyment of the experience is the different kinds of people you can find in Tibet, the contrast is amazing: plenty of poverty-stricken people, beggars, disabled, monks carrying their laptops or fancy mobile phones, thousands of people using the latest technology, rich, poor people going there for a single purpose: praying and searching an answer to their prayers, that's what religious faith is about. The hum of their prayers accompanied me through the whole journey as I felt a most spiritual connection to all of them.
Getting there
Zhuhai - Shenzhen - Chengdu
Well, it was a long experience as I set
out from Zhuhai (12:00m), 2 hours to go to Shenzhen. Next, I took a flight to Chendu (3:55pm-6:05pm) where the guy from the package tours greeted me at the airport, He then put me in the picture for everything concerning my trip to Tibet. I must say, they are quite organised and yes, I was happy to know they had everything worked out, remember how difficult I am... and yes, I grew impatient from the very beginning of the trip. Why, you may ask, well, the plane to Lhasa was delayed, we were supposed to leave at 12:20 m but apparently the plane we were about to take had just arrived from another flight. I don't know how this works, so, another hour I waited which I spent reading; thanks God I have invested 'a lot' in books, and thanks God for founding HongKong, that's my heaven for English books... Anyway, finally we managed to board the plane.
Soon was I to experience what it feels to be at 12,000 feet, yeah, I was in Lhasa. I had read that this is where most tourists set out before heading to other more elevated places. My first night
there was sort of horrible, though.
Arriving in Lhasa
I decided to take a package tour that cost me around Y7,500 which comes to E 687 or USD 1,080. The advantage of taking this kind of tour is that everything is so organised, otherwise, I cannot see myself trying to find places with no other common language to use in Tibet other than my gestures. But as you will figure out later, it is all swings and roundabouts... The guys who picked me up at the airport were very nice and friendly, off we went listening to Tibetan music and they stopped where we wanted to take some pictures, that, I found very nice, indeed. I checked in the hotel, relaxed a bit and had a quick shower.
I was lucky to find that there was a restaurant at only 200 mts from the hotel; after the long wait, lunch was a must; I didn't pay attention to the name of the restaurant, but what I can tell you is that, apart from only three Tibetan dishes, the rest was regular Chinese food. I went for one
which I understand was Tibetan food, it was a delicious Y98 Stewed Chicken in a Stone Pot. But the hightness really made me hungry, so, I thought I'd feel better to ask for some side dishes, then I ordered noodles, vegetables and rice, which was a huge mistake: the side dishes were brought first, I devoured them and then by the time I had the stewed chicken, I was not hungry at all, so I sort of pecked the chicken. While doing that, a beggar came in the restaurant and as soon as he laid eyes on me, he walked in my direction with a plastic bag, good for him.
Outside, knocking on the window, was a child asking me to give him food too, it might have been his grandson or sth. A very curious thing happened next, a girl. who I suppose was one of the regulars, approached my table and threw some of her napkings at my feet, I couldn't understand what was going on, and later found out that I overlooked a bin which was sitting under my table, which I still don't understand why I didn't see it when I first entered
the restaurant; otherwise, I would've chosen another table, so for 45 minutes, I became the bin of Tibet.
After dinner, I wanted to go to see the spotlight of the trip which was obviously the Potala Palace, so I adventured and took a taxi to the palace. It was just as beautiful and huge as the pictures I had seen and I didn't want to take my eyes off it. Instead, I had an inmense desire to devour it as it really looked like a nice birthday cake, or maybe I was again hungry, this height, you see. After observing the palace for 15 minutes, I had a pleasant walk in the park which is beautifully decorated with a nice fountain.
I suppose I was so excited that I didn't have a single moment to think that I was already in Lhasa; but it obviously hit me when I went back to the hotel, there I felt a bit dizzy so I had to take some vertigo pill and then took a nap. I slept very anxiously, scenes from the last vertigo experiences when doing the Silk Road came to my sleep, which I
put to the height I was also experiencing at that moment.
Feeling less alone, joining the group of tourists
History has it that the Indigenous Tibetans didn't have it easy, thus, it is not difficult to guess that you might find some hostility in the places you visit. In consequence, I don't think foreigners should venture to explore the remote place on their own, specially if, like me, they are not familiar with the language and the culture. Travelling with a group was then the only imaginable way for me to go to Tibet.
To make matters worse, some days before my trip, a foreigner, for some reason, had made a kind of demonstration which was supposed to complicate the situation for us. That explains my anxiety when applying for the permit, there was always this fear of being unsuccessful; incidentally, getting the permit is kind of wacky, as you would never see it, nevertheless you have to pay for it if you consider travelling there.
Far are the times when the experience of going to Tibet was only real in the dreams; now, thanks to or should I say
because of the booming tourism, many roads lead us to its capital. For one, I have to thank the fact that there are agencies organising this kind of travel, it makes it much easier specially when you don't know the language.
For all stated above, next day, I was happy to join the group which was made up of 23 Chinese people. I don't know if you can be a backpacker in Tibet, for one, the whole story of the permit is dubious enough to prevent you from going. Added to this, the lack of Tibetan skills makes you useless in such a place. Therefore, I was relieved to travel with a group, carrying my passport with me everywhere, you know, how anxious I get. In addition, I have to thank all the members in the group as they were most accommodating.
On another matter, I was glad to see that Tibet remains very much the way it was in the past. More often than not, when you know that such a remote place has become so fashionable, you wonder whether old values are non-existing. Fortunately, my fears were soon to be
The facade of Shenzhen Baoan International Airport
Zhuhai - Shenzhen
Depart: 12:00 m Arrive in Shenzhen at 2:00 pm. Here we met with a lady who was waiting for us to give us the tickets to Chendu.gone, the charm is still there and it is really a brill experience.
Cha la lu pu
The first temple we saw was 'cha la lu pu' they say it was what they call the tail of the dragon, as the Potala Palace is the head, if I understood correctly. The temple was lovely, as it was built in a hill, we had to walk up some steps, the budhas statues, offerings and the spiritual atmosphere made it really worth it. After admiring the place and visiting parts of the temple, we then queued to be received by a Dalai Lama, who would pray for us and give us a sort of red string with a small budha, I gave him 10 Yuan as I saw that was what everybody was giving him. The guide told me later that the collar is given as a sign of protection. Although I'm not budhist, the mere fact of being there inspires you lots of respect.
You could also light candles but the price, I thought was a bit too much, 200 Yuan if you wanted them to be lit for a long time
Chengdu: The Colombian backpacker ready
Here the backpacker was ready to experience his Tibetan adventure, I had all I needed, and was looking forward to start what I had dreamed for a long time.
Flight: Air China
Sh: 3:55 pm
Chendu: 6:05 pm or 12 Yuan per day, I passed. I will stick to my holymaries which by the way, I haven't said for such a long time, goodness me.
The Jokhang Temple at the centre of the Old Lhasa.
That was our next stop, the Barkhor square which was very colourful: thousands of people, different stalls offering everything you can think of, clothes, videos, dvds, souvenirs, flags, etc. You can see lots of people postrated on the ground praying either in the square or in front of the temple. which was a big nightmare to go in. The thing is, it took us around 40 minutes to find out whether we would be able to buy tickets to go in. The organisation is chaotic, it seems that if you just push other people, you stand a better chance to go inside, but unfortunately, I hadn't practised any pushing exercises for such a long time.
I became really impatient as we were standing there, all of us wanting to go in but nobody did or said anything, then I opted for following the crowd, but after some time, I felt guilty and overall lost
Getting to Lhasa
12,000 feet above the sea, that's something for a Colombian as I was far from the group so I came back to them. Still, everybody waiting for a sign, but it was very difficult as you could see people going into the temple through the entrance and exit, we were really in two minds. After some time, the entrance was closed and then we decided to go to the exit, and that was a good move as we were able to go in. I didn't try to understand anything, I was just lucky that we didn't miss this temple. The guide then bought the ticket for us (Y70), inside there were far too many people queuing to see the Golden Budha, I decided to stick to the group and then followed them.
As soon as we went in, I set my eyes on an array of budhas, although the guide was explaining sth about them, I was lost for all the explanations were in Chinese, I then decided to walk with them but I would stop to read the Lonely Planet and find explanations to my questions, not an easy task to do while you are moving. The Jokhang temple has an extensive history of more than 1300 years,
its construction started in 647 AD, that is really something; I was astonished by the sights of yak butter all around the place, I was wondering if they used that to make the statues or something, but apparently, this is part of the people's offer to the Buddhas.
As chance has it, half an hour later, maybe sensing my uneasiness, one of the group tried to help me with the translation. I then understood that you are not supposed to step on the threshold of a door as it is considered to be the shoulder of a budha.
As might be understandable, people regard the Jokhang temple as their most spiritual venue in Tibet; I was wrong as I thought it was the Potala Palace, but this temple stole some of its thunder. My translator then did the interpretation work for me and I learned that the old temple was built by King Songtsen Gampo to celebrate his wedding to the Tang Princess Wencheng, who as an exchanging gift, apparently brought the statue of the 12 year-old Sakyamuni which we saw at the entrance. Nice gifts, I thought :-) finally we took some photos
upstairs.
When the visit was finished, we went out to the square and I bought four vcds about Tibet (Y35). I was taken to the cleaners again as I made the guide ask the seller if the contents of the vcds were in English and he reassured me, at least there would be subtitles, I thought, but my excitement wore off as soon as I found out it was only in Chinese, never mind, I will give it to one of my colleagues. Anyway, the square was still very colourful, different people but the lovely colours were there and I am not using metaphores, I love the Tibetan clothes, they look so nice and even make the place more picturesque. Next, we headed to a restaurant to have lunch.
After lunch, I was very excited as the guide told the group that we were about to see a Tibetan Museum; but then soon my excitement turned to disappointment as I found out that it was more like a bazaar. In fact, you have to be careful as many of these package holidays include visits to shops and sites you never asked for, but the
group are supposed to stop. I suppose the only winner is the guide as she receives a commission on the visits. While we were there, my stomach was looking for attention, yeah, the runs again, so I asked the translator to ask the guide to stop the bus. Never mind that the guide announced that on the microphone, at least, they learned that we also have physiological needs and I instantly had all the (let me see 23 multiplied by 2...) 46 eyes on me, the bus stopped and I had a filthy toilet to go to, what a relief!
The Potala Palace
Without doubt the hot place in Lassa, which is worth the Y100 of the entrance price. The palace was built in the 7th century, and was later enlarged thanks to the vision of the 5th Dalai Lama. As we know this is the former dwelling of the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader who had to flee to India in 1959 as a result of the Tibetan rebellion against the Chinese. Although the guide we had was kind of knowledgeable, unfortunately, her descriptions were in Chinese and my understanding was quite
limited, as in limited meaning void of understanding 😊. Yet, I have to thank Lonely Planet for offering me a detailed account of the palace which I thought was quite enlightening. There I learned that, the works for the Palace enlargement started in 1645, and it was at this time that the palace became the formal residence of the Dalai Lamas. The palace is divided into two different constructions, the Red and the White Palace.
Quoting from the Lonely Planet, the Potala Palace is 13 storeys tall and it contains thousands of rooms, so in the end, it was okay that not all the rooms were available, it must be similar to The Louvre, where you might need 3 days to see it all. Apart from the architectural richness of the construction, the Potala Palace's importance is down to the fact that -as I mentioned above- the Dalai Lama lived there before his exile to India. In addition, the tombs of the previous Dalai Lamas are kept in the stupas, the monk dormitories are obviously located there, all embelished by countless cultural relics.
I was amazed by the tons of donations you find in
every temple, the chapels and libraries look quite picturesque with all the colourful Tibetan combinations.
Guess what? even if it was cold like ice, I was not very disappointed at not finding a Starbucks there, what do I mean? you may ask, well, putting 2 and 2 together, if you find one Starbucks in The Forbidden City, there is still a possibility to find one here, am I correct?
Although not all the rooms were available to see, the palace was most impressive; prayer wheels, lots of buddhas inside, plenty of paintings, the spot which I remember the most was Dalai Lama's studio where he used to receive his guests. Sorry, if I repeat myself but I loved the colours, the palace looked so lively, I might take ideas for my studio when I have a house, that is.
My desire of taking pictures went up in smoke as soon as I saw the signs forbidding you from taking photos. Never mind, I'll have my fond memories of the place, the colours, the fruits, the roofs, everything was very memorable. Let's sum up then: The views from the palace are really amazing, flags and
pilgrims everywhere rising to the occassion. I was also amazed by the tons of donations you find in every temple; the chapels and libraries look quite picturesque with all the colourful Tibetan combinations.
The Lake and the Yaks
Next day, I was able to sleep a bit better, I was getting used to the altitude but my stomach problem was still there, so I decided not to have breakfast. I woke up very early as we were supposed to go to the lake at 7:00 am. I don't know whether to call the next account funny or a bit too much:
The bus made its normal stopover for the toilets, we all rushed there; to say the least, the toilets were a small compound of three big holes and we were like 20 people queueing to use them; as I was not in a rush, I was lining up there, when suddenly I heard noises coming from the back of the queue; I looked back to find out that most of the men lining behind me couldn't wait any more so they started peeing on the walls, wow, I
knew they are not used to queues in China, but this was too much. Some minutes later, an old man came in, I suppose he was one of the cleaners and he began shouting at the guys who were peeing, to make it worse, he started shaking one of the men who was still pissing, the poor victim obviously wetted his trousers and I must admit, it was a bit funny. My desire of pissing somehow stopped and I decided to give up, so I went back to the bus for fear of unvoluntarily getting wet.
Never mind, but thanks God the view of the lake made up for this disgusting episode; nature is really amazing, when you are in a place like that, you always wonder about creation, how things can be so perfect an your mind is suddenly filled with different positive thoughts that you want to save for ever.
Added to this, one of the most excilarating experiences of the day was to ride the yaks, since I saw them, I had this strange feeling of wishing to be a cow hairdresser, then I would be able to practise the art of helping my
city-cow with a complete makeover...glad my students are not reading this (do not worry, it is a private joke :-) Anyway...the views of the lake were amazing, the site is pretty massive and we had the time to stroll for a good two hours.
The bus stopped again at another compulsory visiting place. At this time, I was already growing weary of all this, and couldn't stand the guide who started shouting at some people of the group as they were getting ahead to see the exhibition. The hostesses followed suit which I thought was very unfair and I decided to walk out of the shop. I was not willing to hear of this anymore, I sat on the sidewalk to read a book instead. When they came back, the guide obviously was not very happy, the translator told me later that she had said on the microphone that we should all cooperate; well, this is not what I call cooperation, anyway.
Next stop was a shop where they sell different stones from the region. The same layout, stones displayed on different cabinets, a lecture about the history of it and the places where
they are found; the follow-up is the same speech: get ready and buy whatever you want. This time, I cooperated as I didn't want to cause any stir in the group.
Shigatse
The following day, we took a bus to Shigatse (Rikatse), described in the Lonely Planet as being the second largest town in Tibet and, more importantly, housing the Tashilhunpo Monastery, which has been the seat of the Panchen Lama. The Panchen Lama, which means 'great scholar', is supposed to be the second most important person in Tibetan Budhism after the Dalai Lama. It was a long journey as we set off at 8:00 am and got there by 4:00 pm. However far it was, the view of the breathtaking lake made it most worth it.
Yamdrok-Tso Lake or Yang-Cho-Yung, in Chinese (4488m)
The lake is known to be one of the four holy lakes of Tibet; the views are stunning, wow, it is like looking at the most beautiful picture you have ever seen, the colours of the water are the most fascinating turquoise I have ever seen! Legend has it that if the lake disappears,
then there won't be any sign ot Tibet, can you imagine? well, I will pray so that the lake stays there as I found Tibet, one of the most fascinating places on earth, wouldn't you agree?
Tashilumpo Monastery
The second stop was the Tashim Tsum Po Temple, which was the place where the Panchen studied; for those, who are not familiar with the word Panchen, it is one of the two main Tibetan Lamas. Upstairs we found a statue of the Biggest Budha. There was a small pagoda like in a cake but I just had to imagine the meaning as my translator was not very accommodating that day, I didn't even dare to ask. We also saw three photos of Banchan. Outside the temple, there were 16 windows, whose outer part was painted black; the guide said the purpose was two-fold, for one, black was thought to scare the spirits away and for another, it keeps the heat inside the rooms.
Next, we saw another temple full of paintings of lions. One, in particular, would depict pictures of animals and Buddhism, there I saw elephants, monkeys, birds, etc. This is
an interesting topic which I intend to discuss more deeply in the next paragraphs of my description.
Animals and Buddhism
Buddhism is known to contain more symbols than any of our Western religions, those symbols have to do a lot with animals. This is hard to believe for me as I was brought up believing that we were the only rational ones having a soul, I don't know you, but only in fairytales, can I think of animals having an ethical code of morality. In contrast, Buddhism not only regards them as that but also as having connotations of luck and happiness. (Please correct me if I am wrong).
Take the lion, for example, while we hold our customary analogy of the lion to power as we think of it as being the king of the jungle, for Buddhists, lions are there to protect the bodhisattvas or sons of buddhas, these are people who, having renounced to their most precious objective in life, which is perfection, endeavour to help others to attain what they themselves have already achieved. It is for this reason that lions are displayed at the entrance of
temples and something I haven't understood yet, you find them at the entrance of Chinese banks. I mean, although I can easily put two and two together, lions are not originally from China but they have been adopted as symbols not only of Tibetan Buddhism but of the country itself, if you know what I mean.
Other important animals in Buddhism are the peacock (wisdom), the horse (effort), the elephant (strength), and the turtle.
Added to this, the intellectual and moral connotation that animals have might be better understood if we look into the possible reincarnations human beings undergo on their road to perfection. According to Buddhists, it is common nature for one of us to be reborn as an animal or vice versa; I remember Patricia, a former girlfriend back in my country, explaining to me how, if our karma needed some suffering or if people have committed suicide, they wouldn't have the right to choose their next reincarnation; as a consequence, they were most likely to be reborn as animals in order to pay for their previous sins. Which made sense to me, being a catholic. All in all, her explanations touched
me to the core as I found it really interesting and exciting.
That Buddhists are vegetarians is then explained by what I stated above, if animals are supposed to be reincarnations, they might also be our close ancestors whom we cannot harm. Personally, I am afraid I will continue being selfish for I adore meat and giving up my sweet and sour pork dish would be more difficult than anything, oops!
So, be careful, that mosquito you hate so much which doesn't let you sleep at night might be your brother in law or your late grandfather, who knows. This is what I try to say to myself to work out my own salvation but the sleepiness is far too bad for me to make allowances. Sorry, I don't intend to mock the religion or anything; on the contrary, I respect Buddhists a lot as I truly believe that some of their convictions really have logic when you think of it.
The great 10th is Panchan Lama's Glided Stupa Susuhanamgyard. I did not take any pictures as the sign we found there was not very inviting, it read Y500 to take
pictures and ordinary cameras Y75, I am not sure what the latter meant, I leave it to you, as you might make out the difference concerning the cameras. Another painting will have 'Long Live Mao' in very tiny letters. The translator told me that every August, the Panchen customarily comes here to visit . Last, we saw a sort of combined pagoda for the first four Panchens.
In one of the corners, there were people lining up to see one of the paintings which turned out to be The Life Cycle, here you might put me in the picture as I just guess it is an interpretation of the different stages of our life. Please, tell me if I am missing something.
The guide told us sth that I thought it was most curious. Apparently, Tibetans do not have last names, so I wonder what happens when somebody gets married, do they keep their first names? In retrospect, I reckon it must be less complicated then.
Next day, I woke up to the knocking of the door, I was expecting rather a phone call, but apparently they do not do wake
up calls through the telephone, never mind, the good thing is I was up and running some twenty minutes later.
Tibetan Cuisine
Before going to Tibet, I was trying to cram as much as I could about traditional Tibetan life and culture, and one of the things that I learned was that in order to resist the horrible cold and height, Tibetans have opted for food containing high heat energy, not bad, ha? so, milk by-products as well as beef and mutton are sort of staple foods here. And I thought, well, that will then definitely help me to overcome my vertigo problems, but being honest, I reckon it won't work on me as I am a lost case.
The real staple food here is 'tsampa', which they make from a dough containing roasted barley flour and yak batter. By the way, yaks are the cattle with long hair and long horns that you only found in the Himalaya mountains.
Another very famous dish is the blood soup, but you know me, I am very unadventurous when it comes to this kind of food. In China, I haven't
had the guts to try the snake soup although I have heard that it is very delicious and nutritious, so I apologise as I cannot comment on it.
But other than that, Tibetan food seems to have evolved a lot, legend has it that long time ago, Tibetans wouldn't eat animals due to their religious beliefs but as mentioned above, you can now see their tables or buffets offering an array of different sorts of meat. Vegetables are also popular in Tibet, although geographical conditions do not favour their growing. Farmers are known to have problems due to the unfavourable conditions of such high mountains.
As for the drinks, the most traditional one will have to be the buttered tea, which is also supposed to be extremely energetic. It is made of butter, tea and salt; I didn't look for that as I was told that although it helps you overcome altitude problems, you might end up depending on the drink to continue your stay, you see, how brave I was.. neither did I need that drink nor the oxygen masks. What I tasted though was the Qinkey wine. But I suppose I tasted
too little as I don't recall the effects.
So little I knew about the real Tibet that I was flabbergasted when I found that the city offers lots of Western food. Yeah, I didn't know you could find Western caffes in Tibet but here you go, I was very ignorant. As for Chinese and Indian food, cultural and religious influence explains their impact on Tibetan life.
More voluntary visits
A new day for more 'voluntary' visits to shops, how exciting!! I'm being most sarcastic as I found them dull as ditchwater!, this time, the guide had not only one but three:
The first one was not that bad as it was a kind of museum where they will show you the steps to make Tibetan paintings, they are all very colourful, I liked them; I was excited as they advertised the visit as the second largest painting of Tibet, so off I went; after admiring the picture for some minutes, we visited this small shop selling incense and some house tools. I finally bought some presents for friends: incense and different scents.
The
second one was sort of a tea shop. When we arrived, they sat us all in a square room and we were lectured on the main ways of making Tibetan tea. This was followed by a taste of the tea and then, we were invited to purchase. I don't think they made lots of money at that time as the tea bags that were advertised at 150 Yuan, went down to 100, the same for the Tibetan candies, priced at 40 Yuan and people ended up paying 25 Yuan, which was good for them, I didn't buy any.
Finally, and this was a bit too much, we stopped at a shop selling meat in bags and different kinds of tea; this was by far, the worst one as there was not any presentation but a simple shop. No wonder why I was feeling flipping annoyed again. I went through the shop very quickly and to the disliking of the guide, I waited for the group outside the shop, believe me, it was not me being parochial or anything, it was just that I had enough of doomsday visits for the day. I don't know you but I
like feeling autonomous when it comes to deciding where to go..
As I stated above, the guide in this kind of trips must get an interesting commission as they are normally most keen on those places which, although not in the itinerary, were a must for us. Once we were there, it was her desire that we linger in as much as we wanted; you might think that is nice, but I would've preferred to spend my time in more interesting places, but anyway, that's how it works. Incidentally, it is the same thing with the cheap flights, though they might sound very cost-effective, you might end up buying stuff you were not supposed to. Those who bought stuff in the last shop received two special gifts: a lovely smile from her and a keyring if they were able to produce a receipt of their purchase.
Back in the car, she announced that there would be a night show featuring different styles of Tibetan music, and a special drama performance where they would show how couples would marry in Tibet. The show would cost Y160; tired as I was, I didn't have the energy
The reception of my first hotel
It was here where I had my little crisis, too high for a vertigo sufferer!!! to decide, but I tried to make my peace with her as I told her how interesting the show will be, which was true as I adore Chinese performances.
There was a final visit, this time, I thought it was rather interesting, but it was down to my previous desire to become a doctor, yes, we went into a sort of medicine school. We had a lecturer who was giving out leaflets showing the illnesses, symptoms as well as the Tibetan medicine required. When the doctor was going to give it to me, the guide out of the blue said 'kan bu dong', which I understood. It was sort of funny but I understood her resentment.
The school was rather a kind of a museum really, with weird posters related to Tibetan Medicine, a dozen of Tibetan medicine and a small cabinet where we were lectured and were entitled to a free consultation with one of the doctors. Later I learned that Tibetan drugs are made of bear guts, herbs, etc.
Abusing of my translator, I was ready to take part in that, but we had to wait for too long so I decided
which was a decent hotel, no complaints
I was ready for my altitude problems: well, not too much but still a bit lightheaded in the night, I thought it would be worse, thanks God to go to the shop to look at the weird medicine they had.
Incidentally, Tibetan medicine is extremely famous in China, in effect, it is described by Chinese patients as having magical effects. According to what I read on the internet, the Tibetan medicine is a mixture of Chinese and Indian medicine brought by different monks on their visits to the region. Not only it enjoys popularity in Tibet but it is also being exported to other continents. Its main focus is on observation and pulse taking. Astrology also seems to have a big influence on the prescription of medicaments.
On a different note, during these so-called nice visits, I was glad to feel that the breathtaking views were ubiquitous, that's right, wherever you look, you can always see snow mountaintops, which adds enormously to the beauty of the landscape.
A Tibetan Show (Y160)
In the evening, we paid for the Tibetan show, which was really worth it. The colourful costumes as well as the typical songs and dances were really interesting and beautiful. The way how they start a song made me think of the Araucan folk
Lined up? ready for the instructions?
Yeah, in Tibet as in the rest of the country, you need to be very self-disciplined if you want to keep your job songs in Colombia, it is like shouting aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh at the beginning and they can go for some seconds like that; I have tried to imitate them, but oh my God... As for the wedding, it was more fun than anything else as a couple was chosen from the audience and there was a sort of fake wedding on stage.
At the entrance, there were some Tibetan selling white scarves, which I thought it was funny given the temperature of the place, but then I found out I was being a bit too slow. And that didn't please me, I suppose it is a Tibetan custom, when somebody is performing on stage, people from the audience stand up and interrupt the performance by putting a scarf on the shoulders of the singer and then stay there for a couple of seconds for his/her friend to take a picture of them. The first time was sort of cute and I even laughed at what I thought 'my God, he/she has the guts to go and do this on stage' but then, after at least 30 people did the same thing with different performers, I found it flipping annoying. I
My first dinner out in Lhasa
Yeah, it was here where I was the bin :-) felt very sympathetic for the performers, as they had to bow to receive their scarves and also keep on smiling everytime someone wanted to take a photo with them. Seriously -and I'm not being snobbish- to my mind, this totally ruined the show, but apparently, everybody was enjoying it, so I felt most weird, again I found myself not doing as the Romans, in this case Tibetans, do.
Next day, it was time to get away from the group as the trip was coming to an end, a shame I did not think of it the day before as everybody was so excited about the show that I did not think of saying goodbye. I must say, they were all lovely and ready to help me out. I forgot to tell you that during one of the bus rides, the guide who was very energetic, asked everybody to do something for fun, I then did the unthinkable, yes, I sang 'Nothing's gonna change my love for you' and you know what? for once, I did not forget the words of the song. It was not bad as 'I think' they liked it.
As it
The Tibetan Cuisine
Told ya about the noodles was the last day, I didn't have to wake up so early, on the contrary, I had some time to lie in which I enjoyed as I had got used to the height. I then woke up at 8:00 am, I had forgotten to buy my usual nescafe in the supermarket so I just had an apple for breakfast. I decided to go to the canteen to see if I could see any member of the group, I just saw a couple and as there were still people having breakfast, I sat down and had some porridge with a steamed bread.
My final visit: The Tibetan Museum
I couldn't leave Tibet without going to the Tibetan Museum, and best of all, I was able to choose my visit as it was not an imposed one, I felt free again! the first thing I did was to take a taxi and head to the museum. The taxi ride was only Y15 and the entrance Y30. There was a sign preventing people from taking pictures but one of the curators became my fairy godmother when she said it would be ok on contition that I didn't
use a flash. I did as I was told and I was ready for the action, specially now that the purpose of my visit was even enhanced. The downside was I had to do everything very quickly as I was supposed to take the train to Xining in the afternoon.
As the height didn't prevent me from forgetting our human tendency to exaggerate, I tried to film too, but that didn't work as I was scolded, sniff, but trying was worth it. Anyway, I liked the explanations as they give you a kind of recorder with the information in English.
I then took a taxi back to the train station (Y20), the price was a bit too much for such a short distance. There was lots of staring at the station, oh God, I had never been starred so much during my stay in Asia. The security guards couldn't take their eyes off me and my clothes, even though they were bought in China, but it's easy to understand, it's not all the time that they see foreigners in their country. I ignored them and sat on one of the seats, thinking that would
be it for the starring, I started my writing for the blog, soon there were some Tibetan travellers very interested in what I was writing, but it was more to see if I could write Chinese characters, that was funny. With a view to answering their curiosity, I said 'Yinwen', they looked at each other and felt a bit embarrased and left. That was not my intention at all, but it was cute, for the record, I guess that was the first time that I've made myself understood in Chinese :-).
The waiting was long but I didn't mind as I knew I was about to get on a 24-hour train, goodness me. What to do there? I had heard so many things about the landscapes of Tibet when you travel by train, that little worried I was about getting bored or anything. In any case, I had a book to read, a shame it was not about Tibet, in fact, I didn't find anything interesting about Tibet in Zhuhai's bookshop, so I just grasped one of my books about a 'topical subject': The War in Irak, incidentally, that was the title of the book.
Leaving Tibet
Travelling by train was an amazing experience. The landscapes you had in the Tibetan plateau are amazing, I have to confess that I spent my time fighting with other passengers so that they wouldn't lie down on my bed. The thing is, they gave me the lower bed which is supposed to be the best one, everytime I would go to the toilets, I will find like three people occupying the full bed, they were playing cards or just chatting around. Humble as I am :-) this time I decided not to take it lying down.
But when I was not fighting for occupation, I definitely enoyed the amazing views. Looking at the farmers doing their plowing stuff was just amazing, the yaks near them added to the striking views.
The Pottala Palace -obviously the hot place in Lhasa- was just stunning. I couldn't take my eyes off the palace, wondering about the construction, it really looked to me like one of the toys a friend of mine had when I was a child, it was a sort of a house which looked more like an enchanted house that you wanted
to eat instead of playing with, even though it was made of plastic.
Looking back, though Tibet has lost some of its mysticism due to the amount of tourists visiting, I am glad that tourism is still bringing benefits to the economy.
Xining
I arrived in Xining at 12:40 am, after such a long trip, I was so ravenous that I could've eaten a horse. The search for a restaurant started right at the station, the rain didn't help but as chance has it, I quickly found a sort of muslin canteen where I had the very famous noodles with beef. As I had made plans to visit the monastery in Xining, I hopped on a bus to go there. The monastery is huge, composed of nine temples, but I thought that the temples all look the same and it's easy to grow weary of seeing the same thing.
I had an early tea and got on a taxi to the airport; surprised I was to see a woman driving a taxi, if I remember correctly, this is the first time I've seen a woman driving
Doesn't it look like a cheesecake?
Well, it might seem that to you, but the tiny place is known to have 1,000 rooms, massive, a bit bigger than my house in China. She spoke some English and to my surprise, she told me it was very common to find women drivers in Ganxu Province.
The flight back to Shenzhen was supposed to be 2-hour direct flight but what a big surprise, for some reason, which I never understood, the plane stopped in Xian for one hour and there was a long change of passengers. I just followed suit, trying to understand what was going on. The only good point of this was that we were served food twice, first a snack for the former flight and then a dinner from Xian to Shenzhen. We finally arrived at midnight in Shenzhen, without nobody to complain to, which made sense, instead of taking us 2 hours, it actually took us 5 hours all together.
I then had to quickly find a hotel at that time in Shenzhen, lucky me, the city never sleeps and I was able to find a good one. I was so tired that I hit the bed as I entered the room.
In a Tibetshell...
Well, going to Tibet was such a wonderful experience, which surely
lived up to my expectations. I can now think of Tibet as a real place and the virtual images are not virtual anymore, they are so real and they will be stuck in my mind for ages.
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