- LhasaLhasa today is a Chinese city with a minority Tibetan population. The city has grown enormously over recent years with large scale new construction of office and apartment buildings and a huge influx of Chinese. When we arrived from the airport, it wasn’t until we entered the “old city” that we felt we were in a Tibetan culture. The majority of Lhasa residents do not have a Tibetan background; instead they are recent arrivals from other parts of China. Signs on businesses are in Chinese; some include Tibetan script (in smaller writing) as well. Chinese is the language of instruction in the schools; it’s essential for students to be fluent in Chinese in order to take advantage of opportunities for further schooling or work. The Chinese government provides incentives for people to move to Tibet and set up businesses here. There seem to be clear advantages here to having a non-Tibetan ID card in terms of freedom to travel or establish and run a business. We have had the good fortune of spending time with a Tibetan guide with whom we have been able to have candid conversations which have created a richer experience for us. The Tibetans are a very devout people; they continue to observe their religious practices of visiting shrines, making offerings of Juniper incense and money, spinning prayer wheels and circumambulating sacred sites, known as koras. Many practice prostrations before Buddhist statues or in the course of circulating around temples (always in a clockwise direction). In fact, we saw several devotees who have been doing prostrations to the ground for so long that they have developed large calluses on their foreheads and noses. It’s common for these practitioners to use padded blocks on their hands and feet to reduce skin abrasion. In years past, the tradition was to send at least one child from each family to a monastery or nunnery. There were literally thousands of monasteries in Tibet and many had hundreds to thousands of monks. Now many of these are gone and the few remaining monasteries have only a few monks. The Potala Palace, built in the mid-seventh century has been the home of Dalai Lamas from the Fifth in 1645 to the Fourteenth in 1959. At its peak, there were over 6,000 monks in residence. Today there are no monks at all and it has been converted into a museum and living quarters for Chinese military personnel. The Palace has over 1,000 rooms. We saw the burial tombs of several past Dalai Lamas, shrine rooms for various deities and rooms where Lamas met with ministers and foreign dignitaries. The room where Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama practiced his lessons was most interesting. He loved mechanical devices and was fascinated by clocks. We saw one of the clocks he tinkered with (it looked complete; I’m not sure whether it still functions. We also visited the Summer Palace, Norbulingka. The day we visited was a festival day when families gather under the shade trees and have picnics. Tibetan opera is performed and musicians and storytellers ply their trade. People also pay homage to buddhas, bodhisatvas and lamas. In a museum we saw the tricycle that Tenzin Gyatso used as a child. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
- Lhasa slideshowSome pictures from our first three days in Lhasa: www.flickr.com/photos/11790404@N02/sets/72157622091614958/show/ Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
- Ganden Monastery slideshowGanden Monastery is the central monastery for Gelug, the sect in which the present Dalai Lama received his training. It was founded in 1409 by Tsongkhapa. According to the Wikipedia article on Gelug sect: “Tsongkhapa was an enthusiastic promoter of the Kadam School’s emphasis on the Mahayana principles of universal compassion as the fundamental spiritual orientation. He combined this with a strong emphasis on the cultivation of in-depth insight into the doctrine of emptiness as propounded by the Indian masters Nagarjuna (2nd century) and Candrakirti (7th century). Tsongkhapa said that these two aspects of the spiritual path, compassion and insight into wisdom, must be rooted in a wholehearted wish for liberation, all impelled by a genuine sense of renunciation. He called these the ‘Three Principal Aspects of the Path'” Much of the monastery was destroyed by artillery fire in 1959 and 1966. Today it is once again undergoing reconstruction. Photos taken today are at: www.flickr.com/photos/11790404@N02/sets/72157622116696100/show/ Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
- Impressions of Ganden MonasterySome of the sights and sounds I most enjoyed at Ganden Monastery had little to do with the monastery itself, but with the rituals the locals were using in rebuilding it. At one point we heard call and response chanting between groups of men and women, each call and response accompanied by pounding. Looking up we saw that workers were tamping the ground to provide a smooth surface for the next layer. Later we saw a group of women applying a grout of mud with their fingers between stones as they rebuilt one of the destroyed walls. As David took a picture, they all smiled and said “hello”, a word even Tibetan children use when they see a westerner. There is a woodblock printing press at this monastery. It consists of two men sitting at either end of an 18-inch wood block. One, with a graceful motion picks up a long strip of paper, lays it precisely on the woodblock in one fluid movement. The other spreads ink on the woodblock and when the sheet is in place, swipes a roller across the paper. They get a lovely rhythm going with this work and break into a chant. Using sets of woodblocks they create entire books of sutras. For the first time on this journey, I was disallowed to enter a chapel because I was a woman. Instead of being upset, I chose to enjoy the chanting and the sound of the symbols and drum without breathing in the fumes from the butter lamps. The chanting is really quite beautiful. To listen to a minute of chanting, try this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11790404@N02/3847633281/in/set-72157622116696100/ Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
- The JokhangThe Jokhang in Lhasa is the most revered religious structure in Tibet. Buddhist pilgrims walk around the structure in a clockwise direction carrying prayer beads and spinning prayer wheels. Inside there are dozens of chapels and hundreds of statues, including the most important shrine in Tibet, the chapel of Jowo Sakyamuni, which houses the image of Sakyamuni Buddha at the age of 12 years. Thousands of pilgrims stand in lines for hours waiting to enter the chapels where they make offerings of Yak butter and paper money. Cynthia and I stood in line for about half an hour watching people and taking some low quality video of circumambulating pilgrims (see slide show below). Then someone let us know that tourists were expected to move directly to the front of the line purchase an entry ticket and go on in (pilgrims standing in line didn’t have to pay the entry fee). We were glad to move forward but also happy that we had the opportunity of people watching. Slideshow is at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11790404@N02/sets/72157622128452590/show/ Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
- An operational barley mill
- Travels outside Lhasa
- Yungdrungling MonasteryWhen we read the description of Yungdrungling Monastery in our Lonely Planet guidebook, we asked our guide if we could possibly visit there on our way back to Lhasa, even though it was not on our original itinerary. He had never been there but was willing to give it a try.The reason it sounded interesting is that this was a Bon monastery, not a Buddhist monastery. Bon was the religion of the Tibetan people before Buddhism arrived in the 8th century.We expected to find something very different from what we had seen in Buddhist monasteries and temples, but surprisingly, this monastery had much in common with them.According to “The History of Bon” in Lonely Planet (p. 68),“Bon has its deepest roots in the earliest religious beliefs of the Tibetan people. Centered on an animist faith shared by all central Asian peoples, religious expression took the form of spells, talismans, oaths, incantations, ritual drumming and sacrifices. Rituals often revolved around an individual who mediated between humans and the spirit world.…“Bon is thought to have its geographical roots in the kingdom of Shang-Shung, which is located in western Tibet, and its capital at Kyunglung (Valley of the Garuda). Bon’s founding father was Shenrab Miwoche, also known as Tonpa Shenrab, the Teacher of Knowledge, who was born in the second millennium BC in the mystical land of Olma Lungring in Tajik (thought to be possibly the Mt Kailash area or even Persia). Buddhists often claim that Shenrab is merely a carbon copy of Sakyamuni (Sakya Thukpa), and certainly there are similarities to be found. Biographies state that he was born a royal prince and ruled for 30 years before becoming an ascetic. His 10 wives bore 10 children who formed the core of his religious disciples. Many of the tales of Shenrab Miwoche deal with his protracted struggles with the demon king Khyabpa Lagring.“Bon was first suppressed by the eighth Yarlung king, Drigum Tsenpo,and subsequently by King Trisong Detsen. The Bon master Gyerpung Drenpa Nampa (a gyerpung is the Bon equivalent of a lama or guru) struggled with Trisong Detsen to protect the Bon faith until the king finally broke Shang-Shung’s political power. Following the founding of the Samye Monestary, many Bon priests went into exile or converted to Buddhism,and many of the Bon texts were hidden.…“To the casual observer it’s often hard to differentiate between Bonpo and Buddhist practice. It can be said that in many ways Bon shares the same goals as Buddhism but takes a different path. The word ‘Bon’ has come to carry the same connotation as the Buddhist term ‘dharma’. Shared concepts include those of samsara, karma and rebirth in the six states of existence. Even Bon monasteries, rituals and meditation practice are almost identical to Buddhist versions. Still, there are obvious differences. Bon has its own Kangyur, a canon made up of texts translated from the Shang-Shung language, and Bonpos turn prayer wheels and circumambulate monasteries anticlockwise. The main difference comes down to the source of religious authority: Bonpos see the arrival of Buddhism as a catastrophe, the supplanting of the truth by a false religion.”
- The Feeling of OccupationLeaving Gyanste a couple mornings ago, a caravan of at least a dozen large military trucks loaded with soldiers passed. Our guide thought they might be headed to the border with India at Darjeeling. About an hour later, our car was stopped by soldiers. Several ran further along the road while one remained beside us with his finger on his rifle trigger. Another group of soldiers was further ahead of us.Our guide tried to ask what was happening and he was told not to ask and not to watch. After about ten minutes and some shouting back and forth among groups, the soldiers started heading back to their vehicles. We were told they would signal when we could move. After 15 – 20 large trucks passed us heading the other way, we were able to move again.I could sense the responsibility our guide felt for us, his feeling of helplessness in this, his own country. Street corners are controlled by Chinese military as are open air markets and the surrounding roof tops. The old part of cities which are largely Tibetan have survailance cameras. There is no doubt that the Tibetans are treated as second class citizens. Educations is all in Chinese with Tibetan taught as a foreign language. The number of monks at any of the restored monasteries is controlled by the Chinese and is just a handfull of the number who previously became monks. Restoration of monasteries destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, as in mainland China, comes from donations from individuals, not the government though 90% of the entry fee to visit monasteries goes to the Chinese government, thus becoming cash cows for them. It is difficult for Tibetans to get passports and thus travel freely.The Tibetans way of life is strongly identified with their form of Buddhism and in spite of attemps through the Cultural Revolution, it remains the central focus of life for many Tibetans. We witness thier devotion everywhere we go.The Chinese have contributed much that has modernized Tibet: an improved road system, better water, improved farming methods, hydro power, promotion of tourism. Most of this has come from the top down with no consultation with the Tibetans, which has resulted in changes to a landscape that they have cared for and regarded as sacred for centuries. Undoubtedly, most of these changes will not be reversed. The best we can hope for is that the Tibetans will eventually receive an equal voice and receive the full rights of citizenship.This experience gave us a token feeling of what it must be like for populations in countries that the US has occupied in the name of democracy and liberation.
- Mt Kailash kora
Thursday, Sep 10
Today we drove from Taklakot to Chiu Gompa on Lake Manasarovar. This is the start of our kora, a circumambulation of the sacred mountain Kailash, which is an important devotional practice by Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims.The road is fully paved from Sera where we first entered Tibet up to Darchen where we go tomorrow. The asphalt road was completed just last year. We stayed in a hotel near the lake. They charge batteries using their solar panels during the day and then each hotel room receives a charged battery, which you connect to a fluorescent lamp with alligator clips.
We walked up the hill to Chiu Gompa and saw an alter devoted to Padmasambhava and a shrine room. Much of the monastery has been rebuilt fairly recently.
We visited a hot springs and checked out a couple of bathing facilities. We decided we would try a hot bath the next morning.
In the afternoon, we walked up to some hermits’ caves. We were surprised to find one with bedding, books and other signs of recent habitation.
Friday, Sep 11
We woke to clear skies and a fabulous view of Mt. Kailash just before sunrise. Lots of snowy peaks around the horizon.After breakfast (buckwheat pancakes again, this time spiced up a bit with chunks of pear), We packed up the car and drove to one of the baths. There were three other people waiting to take baths, but no sign of the proprietor. Mingma called the phone number painted on the wall and someone said they would be right over. Soon each of the five of us were in our own private bath, waiting for the wooden tub to fill. But the flow was so little that we only managed to fill about 2 inches in the tub. That was enough for a bath, using the cup provided. It felt good to have a bath, our second since arriving in Tibet.
We then drove to Darchen, about a 2-hour drive. There were some great views of Mt. Kailash along the way. We checked into a guesthouse and went out for some lunch. Not that we were particularly hungry yet, but we ate a hearty lunch, knowing that we would burn it all off tomorrow when we start the kora.
In the afternoon, we hiked up to the Gyangdrak Gompa, a 5-mile trek up to just over 16,000 ft. This was a good bit of additional acclimatization and training for tomorrow. Our destination is just slightly higher than we reached today.
We returned to the guesthouse and started packing our gear. It looks like we can reduce our things enough to hire just two porters and not deal with yaks at all.
So we’re back on schedule with our original itinerary; by advancing a bit more quickly, we have made up the time lost due to canceled flights.
Saturday, Sep 12
Today we started the kora. Mingma had arranged for two porters to carry our gear, instead of hiring a yak man to guide a yak.
We carefully set aside the things we wanted our porters to carry and the things to be left behind. In addition to our personal things, I had explained to Mingma that we wanted to have the Gamow bag carried on the kora so it would be available in case any one of us experienced altitude sickness.
There was a group of about 20 Russians from St. Petersburg who were setting out about the same time. They had maybe 15 or 20 yaks for their gear.
The weather was cloudy so we only got glimpses of the base of Mt. Kailash from the first prostration point, Chag-Tsal-Gang. Saw the thousands of prayer flags at Darpoche, where the big Saga Dewa Festival is held each year on the full moon day of May or June.
Here also, we saw the sky burial site, which is no longer used — apparently there are too few vultures and too many dogs.
We encountered large numbers of India pilgrims returning on horseback from Dira Phug, Monastery having turned back after hearing that there was snow on Dolma La pass. One person told us the pass was “closed” due to snow.
Julian and I were both determined to forge ahead, of course. We figured we both have enough mountaineering experience with snow and ice that we weren’t all that concerned. Besides, at the bath yesterday, we met a German woman, Evita who had just returned after completing the kora and while she described some snow, it wasn’t anything that made it too difficult to cross.
We arrived at a newly constructed guest house just across the river from the Dira Phug Monastery around 3:00 pm
Just as we were arriving I was surprised to hear a Land Rover coming up behind me. I didn’t realize that it was possible to drive all the way up here. It went on to the monastery. Later we learned that our two porters and our two bags were on that vehicle– they rode all the way up here with their loads. I guess that was Mingma’s plan all along — he had mentioned sending our gear ahead with the porters on a vehicle. I just hadn’t realized this meant they would drive all the way to our day’s destination.
Julian was keen on walking up to the Kangjan Glacier, so after resting for an hour, he and Lal and I headed on up. Julian went on ahead, reaching a point 17,400 ft, according to the altimeter on his watch. I wasn’t moving as fast, so at about 17,000 feet, I decided to just sit down and rest and wait for Julian and Lal to return. It was a pleasant place to sit by a mountain creek.
We returned to the guesthouse around 6:30pm and took a rest. Climbing up to 17,000 ft today was probably good for acclimatization for tomorrow when we plan to cross the Dolma La pass at 18,400 ft. We were too tired to visit the Dira Phug Monastery.
Sunday, Sep 13
Today we rose early, at 7:30am. Here in western Tibet, on the same time zone as Beijing, everything happens at later clock times. The sun rises around 8:00am.Today the sky was clear at sunrise. In fact, the weather today turned out to be the best weather we have had on the entire trip so far– calm and sunny.
We began walking around 8:45am. It was cold– below freezing. Many of the streams and rivulets were iced over or frozen solid. We left about the same time as the Russians, but gradually overtook them.
The guide for the Russians had a need to two additional porters and had plenty of yaks, so he and Mingma arranged to have our gear loaded on yaks while our two porters took a different job; I think they returned to Darchen.
I soon found that I had to adjust my pace downward at this altitude. The first part of the trail was relatively steep and I moved slowly. Then it leveled out and I could pick up the pace a bit, but still kept it relatively slow. Julian meanwhile forged ahead at his 25-year-old pace, with Mingma (28 and Tibetan). Lal and I didn’t see Julian again until we reached Dolma La pass.
There are all kinds of sacred rocks along the way. One is a place for people to leave something behind (representing their former selves) — clothing, a drop of blood or a lock of hair.
There are rocks with “footprints” of Milarepa. There is a “sin-testing rock” which you can try to crawl under to test your sins. It was too far off the trail for us to make use of, however.
As we approached Dolma La pass around noon, I was advancing very very slowly, breathing a couple of times for each step. The pass is marked with thousands of prayer flags, many attached to a sacred rock depicting the goddess Tara.
The site is rather trashy, with discarded packaging scattered all over the place. Discarded pop cans, fruit juice boxes, beer bottles and other bits of paper and plastic are a huge problem here. Neither the local Tibetans nor most of the pilgrims seem to have any concern about the garbage-dump-like character of the place that results from just tossing aside trash without looking for a proper place to discard it.
Even our Tibetan guide, Mingma had tossed his fruit juice box under a rock where we had been taking a break. Julian explained to him that in America we never do this and insisted that we carry the trash with us.
At Dolma La Pass, Julian was there waiting for us, having arrived about 45 minutes earlier.
Mingma had decided to press on to Zutul-puk Monastery in order to secure a room for us at the guesthouse.
We sat down to rest and have part of our lunch. We would eat the rest later after we reached a lower elevation. Large ravens and smaller birds helped pick up apple cores and food scraps.
A porter came up to us and asked for some food. Lal gave him a package of biscuits. The porter removed the wrapper and immediately tossed it on the ground. I couldn’t stand to see him discard his trash like this, and, inspired by Julian, I immediately objected and told him to give me the wrapper to carry down.
We headed on down, a fairly steep descent at first. Then came a long long relatively flat trail along a river valley toward our day’s destination, the Zutul-puk Monastery.
At one point we found ourselves on the wrong side of a river and we searched for a way to cross it– each point we checked seemed to be just a little too wide between stepping rocks. Lal had remembered that there was a primitive bridge farther down the river, but when we arrived there, the bridge was gone.
So the only alternative was to remove our boots and wade across the river in bare feet. Lal found a suitable place. Julian proceeded to cross on his own carrying his own pack. I accepted Lal’s offer to carry my pack and hold my hand as we crossed together. Rather cold, but not lasting too long. I’m glad we each had our walking poles for stability on the slippery rocks.
We reached the guesthouse at the Zutul-puk Monastery around 5:30 pm and immediately took rest in the rooms that Mingma had arranged. Mingma told us he was going to head on down to Darchen for the night, another 3 hour walk. I was glad to take a break at this point.
I must say, it feels really good to have crossed the pass with no mishaps. Neither Julian nor I have felt any nausea and while we’ve felt just a bit of borderline headache during heavy exertion at high altitude, neither of us has had a real headache.
In fact, we haven’t had any intestinal problems either, save Julian’s brief discomfort after eating soup prepared from a mix which contained wheat noodles. His gut reacted adversely to the gluten. Other than that, we’ve both been healthy.
Monday, Sep 14
Lal, Julian and I checked out the Zutul-puk Monastery first thing in the morning, before breakfast. It was a good time to visit, as one of the monks was doing his morning chanting.After breakfast we set out again for the third leg of the kora.
We packed up our gear for the yaks to carry on down and at this point we realized that there was only one bag and the Gamow bag was not with us. In fact, it had never left Darchen! Lal explained that Mingma had decided to leave it behind because the Russian group was carrying one and he figured if we needed one we could use theirs! Well, fortunately, no one needed to use it, but it seemed a bit devious on the part of our Tibetan guide to make this decision without informing me, especially as I had asked him specifically to send it along.
We left around 10:00 am. The walk was fairly flat all the way to Trungto. This is where vehicles wait to pick up their clients and where yaks are unloaded. It’s where most people end their kora, though it’s still 4 km short of Darchen.
Julian was intent on completing the full circuit back to Darchen. The road to Darchen is flat and the 4 km goes pretty quickly. Lal has done the kora about 16 times and this is the first time he has come across anyone who has wanted to forego the ride in a vehicle back to Darchen. But he was happy to join us in our walk back to our original starting point. We arrived around 2:00pm
We stopped for lunch in a restaurant in Darchen and then got in our vehicle for the drive to the northeast corner of Lake Manasarovar. There is a camp here with semi-permanent tents set up for pilgrims. They also have rooms in a guesthouse, but Julian and I thought we would like to try out a tent. There are 8 beds in here, but with a high roof, it looks like it will be quite comfortable.
As we were sleeping is this tent, a goat wandered in, unbeknownst to us. I didn’t expect any problem leaving my tooth guard on the floor overnight, but alas, when I woke the tooth guard was gone–this goat must have eaten it!
After leaving our things in the tent, we drove off to Seralung Gompa, another monastery that was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt since. This one was rebuilt in the 1980s, but it looks older than that. The thankas and murals look like they’ve been around for 100 years at least, but things seem to age more quickly around here.
Since we only got about 4 hours of hiking in today and Julian is training for a Marathon in November, he decided to go for a run. He was amazed that he could actually run at an elevation of 15,000 feet. Now he’s taking a bath in the river, which is reputed to have “warm” water. We’ll see what he thinks when he gets back.
Well, Julian says that “warm” is not a good descriptive term for the river water, but he’s glad he had a chance to wash up after the run anyway.
Tomorrow we do some serious driving. While our itinerary has a destination of Paryang, Mingma hopes we can make it to Saga, which may take 10 hours or more. If we reach Saga, that will be about half way to Kathmandu. At this point, I’m eager to get back to Kathmandu and I’m hoping that Julian will have at least an extra day, maybe too to be with Cynthia before he has to head back to Seattle on Sunday.
- Returning to KathmanduTuesday, Sep 15 Mingma suggested that we drive from Manasarovar all the way to Saga, instead of spending the night at Puryang; he said the hotel in Saga would be better. I was keen to do this as well, since it would put us in Kathmandu on Thursday and Julian and I would have more time to spend with Cynthia before Julian leaves on Sunday. We saw several groups of wild donkeys (the Tibetan Wild Ass, or kiang) and many small antelope. The antelope have big white puffy rear ends that are prominent as they run away. At one point we spotted two black necked cranes, but we didn’t stop the car to photograph them. We soon encountered road construction that forced us to get off the main road and detour around some bridge construction. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it turned out that the next twelve hours would be negotiating a construction zone 300 miles long. We detoured around at least 100 bridges. Some places the dust was a foot deep and the wheels spun in the dust, kicking up huge brown clouds. In the “good” sections, we bounced over large gravel; in the “bad” sections, we practically bounced out of our seats as our Toyota Land Cruiser barreled over rocks and holes and ridges. Averaging 25 miles an hour, we arrived in Saga around 8:30 pm permeated with dust and grime, but happy to have made it more than half way to Kathmandu. Wednesday, Sep 16 Soon after we went to bed last night at the Telecom Hotel, a loud alarm of some kind went off in one of the China Telecom utility vehicles. It went on for ten minutes or so before quitting on its own, but it was enough to jar us from a sound sleep. We finally left around 10:00 am and happily discovered that we had left most (but not all) of the road construction behind us. I also learned that we would be taking a shortcut to the Nepal border. Instead of taking the main highway all the way to Lhartse and then doubling back southwest to Nyalam, we would be taking a smaller road south from Saga which joined the China-Nepal Highway near Lalung pass. This route would shave off about 200 km from our trip. We reached Nyalam in about 5 hours and headed on down to the border town of Zhangmu, which is quite a large town, in spite of the fact that it’s not on our map of Tibet. It’s an interesting place in that all the businesses are strung along a winding road that drops over 1000 ft in elevation from one end of town to the other. So taking a stroll down mainstreet is like climbing a small mountain. Actually, Julian and I took an after dinner walk uphill and the incline was hardly noticable — much easier than walking uphill at 18,000 ft. On the way down, we stopped in one of the many pool halls along the road and planed a couple games of pool. Something about us must have been incredibly interesting as we drew a crowd of 8-10 people as we played. Julian and I each lost one game in the same way — by sinking our cue ball with only the eight-ball left.