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Published: July 10th 2006
Potala Palace
a phycodalic reflection of the Potala from a department store window We arrived to Lhasa by plane. we really wanted to get to Tibet with the
new train that opened last week but there was a 10 day (!) waiting list
and our visa to China expires in 3 weeks so we flew. BTW the soft seat
train (48hr) is only 20usd less then the flight (2hr)
we entered the city through the Chinese part which looks like any
other Chinese city we visited. but the bus stopped right under the
Potala Palace and we walked to the Tibetan side of the town and the
atmosphere changed. the Tibetan side is full of pilgrims going between
the temples and praying and the atmosphere is very relaxed.
we stayed at a nice
hotel in the Tibetan area. we were on the 3rd
floor - higher then most buildings - so we saw the roof tops with prayer
flags and the surrounding mountains from our room. just one floor
down was the best (and most expensive)
restaurant in Lhasa
serving good Tibetan, Western and Eastern fusion food. it also has a
balcony above the main street
so we could hang out there and just
watch life pass by below. we spent much of our time in the restaurant
and in the room just resting
the warm dry thin air (3600m) also added to the feeling we were in a
different place.
Welcome to the occupation
the clash between the Chinese and Tibetans is still evident although
over 55 years have pasted since china "liberated" Tibet. The Chinese
police presence here is more then we saw in most of China. There are
police in every Tibetan site. In Lhasa there are also video cameras
next to important places and in the monasteries outside Lhasa there is
a police station at the entrance to each monastery. It is not meant to
"serve and protect" it is there to guard against "crimes against the
state" or any sign of separatist activity. also there is a clear line
dividing the ever growing "Chinese-Lhasa" with it's wide avenues, tiled
buildings and meany shops and the small "Tibetan-Lhasa" with narrow
streets, temples and markets. the Chinese side is
Potala Palace
Tibetans pray and kneel in front of the Potala. in the background the chinese square in front of the Potala growing and the
Tibetan is always endangered.
You all probably heard about the new train to Lhasa from mainland
china. The news here says that the Tibetans are happy to finaly being
connected to the motherland and that they are looking forward to the
new economic opportunities. but by the number of Chinese tourist that
come with the train (a reported 3000 each day!) it is not difficult to
guess that Tibet will become more and more Chinese. we do not talk to
the Tibetans freely about politics but we are sure the they are not
pleased.
Another sign of the continuing propaganda of the Chinese is a big sign
on the bottom wall of the Potala building - which was the seat to the
Dali-Lama and the Tibetan government until they fled to India. the
billboard says
Sincerely thank the Central Party for their thoughtfulness and
care, Thanking the people of the country for their great effort and
support
.
The police grip is also on the foreign tourists. we needed a special
permit to get to Tibet (not needed anyplace else in China) and this
permit is only for Lhasa and the surrounding area. to get to other
Potala Palace
the back side parts of Tibet we need more permits. it is a way to control the
movement of the tourists and also to get money since the permits cost.
Mondial
Finally the world-cup is over. Chinese television showed all the games
free - no need to pay-per-view like in Israel 😊. In almost of the hotels
in the last month we had a television in the room so we could follow
the games. In the first round, the early games were in the convenient
time of 2100. Each day we finished the day's activity with watching one
game and sometimes we would even watch half of the 2nd game that
started at 0000. The best game we saw in the first rounds was
Australia winning Japan 3-1 in the last 10 minutes of play. the final
rounds were a bit more difficult since most of the games were at 0300.
we still watched some of the quarter-finals and the France-Portugal
semi-final (Portugal was better!) and this night we watched the
disappointing final.
Hagit wonders where in the world we will be to Potala Palace
the Potala Palace was the seat of the Dali Lama and the Tibetan government watch the games in
South-Africa. we have 4 years to wait and see...
KAR'TIV
We wanted to eat some Iciecle (KAR'TIV) so we bought a red looking
one that we thought would be strawberry. What we got was a
bean
KKARTIV with real pieces of SHEU'IT inside !
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different view
non-member comment
how do you know the tibetans are not pleased with the train when you have not even spoken to them? what most tibetans want is not political or religious freedom as what many westerners assume, they just want a chance to catch up with the rest of china or even the developed world, something they can never achieve if they are in a medieval country sandwitched between two powerful nations and led by a smiling monk. this is a very complicated problem that cannot be explained in a few words, my advice is to look at things from their perspective, since you are in tibet it is a good chance to do so. and for your info, tibet had been part of china for centuries until the british came, so it is not wrong to use the word liberated.