So I have left the "Roof of
the World" or Tibet, as it is more commonly known and so will update you of
my exploits and experiences there. When I got into Lhasa, the capital I was
rather knackered as I hadn't slept yet, so found a reasonable room that I shared
with an American Jewish Buddhist, nice guy, but a little confusing. Then met
James, an Ozzie whom I had previously met in Chengdu with his fiancée Rachel.
The following day the three of us (Rachel, James and I) went to have a look
around the Jokhang, one of the most key temples in Tibetan Buddhism, in there
geomancy it is the heart of Buddhism (Jokhang actually means heart). There was
some very interesting chapels and temples, and particularly good views across
Lhasa. From the top one can see the throngs of pilgrims circum-ambulating the
complex, spinning there hand held prayer wheels, chanting to themselves "Om
mane padme Om", and prostrating themselves repeatedly in front of the main
doors. After lunch I then went off to see the Potala (the Dalai Lama's palace).
At thirteen stories it is rather large for a several hundred year old building.
It is not a palace in the typical European style by any means. Most of the rooms
if not actually chapels, have religious or historical murals on the walls. Some
of which show meetings between the Dalai Lama of the time and the envoys or
leaders of other states, there are several showing meetings between the Chinese
Emperor and past Dalai Lamas. There are also some impressive treasures, but
again nothing in the same vain as those of other State treasures I've seen in
Europe or Asia. Most of the palace is very much a religious centre, the majority
of the rooms are chapels crammed with effigies of various deities. One can only
see a small bit of the Dalai Lamas private apartment, however after speaking
briefly to a couple of monks who worked there they used there guile to show me
more of the rooms. One of them distracted the PSB (policeman) on duty whilst the
other showed me more of the Dalai Lamas private rooms. When I told him I was
English he made a point of showing me the electrical lighting, radio and clock
that the British had supplied and wired in. The reason for this being largely as
the Chinese insist that there was no electricity in Tibet before 1959, when they
put it in, in actuality the Brits had beaten them to it. Unfortunately the
Chinese don't appreciate the value of some of these very old murals and the
like, so they are slowly being eroded by people brushing past them, leaning
against them etc.
The following day the three of us and Dani (an Israeli) went to the Norbulinka
(the summer palace). It was quite nice but unfortunately not well maintained. We
managed to get some monks to open up some more private rooms and there were more
impressive murals throughout. One of which shows a group of foreign envoys
petitioning the Dalai Lama. All of them of Asiatic appearance apart from one who
is wearing a top hat and tails and was the British envoy, which looked rather
odd in the setting.
That afternoon we all went to
Sera Monastery, quite a large complex with a number of different temples, as
well as accommodation for the many monks that live there. This place had a
greater feel of authenticity to it. In a small garden there were a number of
monks praying, debating and some drawing a mandala (a geomantic design) on a
large, flat, circular rock. Once they had finished it they looked at it briefly
and then wiped the rock clean, rather odd. Whilst we were waiting for them to
complete the Mandala we had broken conversations with a couple of the monks.
When I showed them the foreword to my guidebook which was written by the Dalai
Lama, they rather overawed and proceeded to bless themselves with it, attempt to
read it, kiss it, etc. It showed the depth of feeling they have for their
spiritual leader in exile. After that I decided to try and help with a little of
the maintenance and restoration they were doing (painting a chapel and fixing
the brass plate on a roof). Something they found particularly amusing and
decided to enjoy themselves taking photos with my camera, of who knows what.
The four of us had decided to go
to Namtso lake, one of Tibet's four holy lakes, so early the next morning we
went to get the bus to Damzhung from where we were led to believe it should be
pretty easy to hire a jeep for the last leg. The journey was rather bumpy to say
the least, at one point there was a degree of concern as whilst the bridge
spanning a river was being rebuilt the traffic had to drive across the river
itself. There was already a bus and a jeep stuck in the middle and whilst we
were waiting to try and get across a big truck with a number of people in the
back decided to try a different route and almost capsized. We eventually got
across, going round the stuck bus with all the passengers still sat inside,
helped them get out, whilst another truck got itself stuck. Our driver was one
of the worst things to have in China, Tibet in particular, a good Samaritan -
whenever there was a broken down truck, bus, yak, whatever he would stop and go
and help. There were quite a number of them so the journey went on in fits and
starts, generally not exceeding twenty minutes or so before there was someone
else to help.
When we did eventually arrive in
Damzhung, the first thing we did was get some food, then tried to find a jeep to
take us to the lake. One old toothless fellow said he could take us, agreed a
reasonable price for the return trip and then went off to get his jeep, an hour
and a half later he reappeared without a jeep, as he had just realised he
doesn't actually have a jeep. We'd managed to negotiate with one of the biggest
morons known to man. As not only did it stop there but he told us that later on
or the following morning would be best for him to take us up to the lake in the
jeep he didn't have. We then had to go scouring the place for someone who would
take us to the lake at what was an increasingly late hour. We eventually found
someone and managed to set off into the mountains just as it was getting dark.
Part way through the journey we rescued a couple of Chinese tourists from the
mud they were stuck in and as thanks I went in the back of their nicer, newer
jeep that actually had suspension, whilst the others bounced about in the other,
with a bit more room. We eventually arrived at our destination at midnight,
tired and bloody cold as the lake is at an altitude of about four and a half
thousand metres.
The following morning we went
for a bit of a walk about. In many of the crevices and caves around the lakes
edge there are prayer flags, notes, inscriptions and offerings as well as some
effigies. In one of the caves is a small temple tended by a some nuns. And in a
couple of others are nuns living quarters with small shrines attached. One of
the nuns invited us into her home/shrine and served us the foul concoction they
call yak tea and gave us some yak cheese (Dunlop use a similar substance I'm
sure for their tyres). After having pretended to have enjoyed the tea and having
hidden the cheese in my pocket whilst she wasn't looking she showed us the
rather basic contents of her home. We then took our leave and went to see if we
could find something decent to eat, unsuccessfully. So in the only little cafe
that existed on the lake I gave them instructions of what to cook for me and how
given the rather limited range of ingredients and then seeing as they did a good
job we added it to their menu.
The following morning a little
runt kept busting into our room whilst we were sleeping, demanding money,
needless to say we weren't very nice to him and it kind of spoiled the idea of a
lie in. So we went off for another wander climbed a small mountain, had lunch
(obviously the new addition to the menu) and then headed back to Damzhung. On
the way there was some beautiful scenery that we had been unable to see on the
way out as it had been dark, including the view from the top of the pass which
is at about five thousand two hundred metres, with a nice view of the lake. On
our arrival back in Damzhung he had some decent food, bought a range of sweets
and also hats, as they were cheap and it was cold. The following morning we got
the bus back to Lhasa and thankfully our driver was an inconsiderate bastard.
In Lhasa again we started to try and sort out a jeep to take us to the Nepalese
border, via the various sites we wanted to see. Once again the Chinese have
thrown hurdles in the way of easy travel by making it necessary to have permits
to go to many of the sights. Surprisingly enough the only jeep agency that can
actually obtain these permits is government owned and run by an evil wench who
is constantly trying to rip off the customers. The itinerary we had planned
would run over the time left on my visa so again the only agency that can get a
visa extension, is the same government owned bitch run place. So I told her I
would need an extra three or four days on my visa if I was doing the agreed
itinerary, for which she tried to charge me four hundred Yuan, about fifty US
dollars. Knowing this to be far above the correct price I went to the PSB to see
if I could get it myself, I couldn't but, they did tell me it only costs one
hundred and sixty Yuan.
They told me the stupid woman at the F.I.T.S. office knows
this to be the case as well. I went back and told her this and she grudgingly
agreed. So once after rather heated negotiations and the wench trying to screw
us at every turn we confirmed an itinerary and paid deposits. The next day we
had an appointment to meet the guide and driver (the guide having no function,
but extra ballast) and check the jeep. They were a little late, I asked the
wench did she have my visa extension yet, whereupon she told me it would cost an
additional five hundred Yuan. At that point I unleashed a tirade of abuse at her
telling her in no uncertain terms that if she didn't get it for the correct
price in the next fifteen minutes she could stick the trip in one of her
orifices. Fifteen minutes later all the paperwork and jeep etc. were there for
inspection, and seemed adequate. We paid the rest of the money owing and went
off to buy a few provisions for the journey.
So the following morning we set
off Rachel, James, Dani and I, with the driver and Bucheng the guide. Our first
stop was Sakya, the oldest monastery in Tibet, Rachel had not been feeling well
so James, Dani and I went to explore the place. The place is very impressive
with a number of impressive chapels and some interesting murals. The monks were
also rather friendly and pointed out things we might not otherwise have seen. In
our wanderings we met an American photographer who was taking photographic
records of the whole place. He told us about various things there and also
mentioned that there was a monastic debate taking place in a courtyard not far
from where we were and there was an interesting temple of the vengeful deities
that we might want to see as well. We found the debating in full swing. The
debating is rather difficult to describe as it is nothing like conventional
western debating. I'll try though, there are a number of monks sat around the
edges of the courtyard (facing inwards) with a number of other monks stood
facing them. Then those stood seem to be asking questions or something similar
but when they've finished their sentence they slide their right hand down their
left arm slapping their hand in the seated monks faces. Whereupon the seated
monks make some response, and so it went back to the standing monk.
After that we went to the temple
of the vengeful deities where a monk is in residence all the time chanting
sutras or mantras (I don't know) whilst banging a drum and from time to time
making a racket with his cymbals. The temple itself is rather macabre with
stuffed animals hanging from the rafters, eyes painted all over the ceiling,
skeletons and the like.
The next day we saw some of the
service in the monastery and then went back to the jeep. That's when the
arguments began, on our itinerary was the town of Tsetang, the guide and driver
however didn't want to take us. When we insisted they said they would, but they
would not take us to Yumbu Lagang the only thing to see in Tsetang, therefore
the reason we were going. After a great deal of protestation they consented and
so we went to Yumbu Lagang, supposedly the oldest building in Tibet and a rather
impressive fort. The setting being more impressive in many ways than the actual
building. The fort is perched atop a finger of rock that makes it seem much
taller than it really is. The monks there were very nice and friendly and it was
definitely a worthwhile side trip. We then had the long drive to Gyantse via a
couple of high passes and some great views of mountains, lakes and valleys. In
Gyantse we went to see a rather nice big fort with great views of the
surrounding area. Within the fort is a rather amusing anti-British museum with
laughable stories and pictures of the Tibetans and English fighting. More
intriguing though was the fact that there seemed to be some rather well tended
hemp growing by the ticket office. When I tried to pick some they got rather
upset, obviously it's their stash. From the fort we wandered through rather
medieval looking back streets to the monastery complex. There were a number of
nice temples, but the most impressive bit was the Kumbum (a multi-layered stupa)
with chapels all the way round and on each level, with effigies of the deity and
appropriate murals relating to it on the walls.
From Gyantse we went on to Zhigatse, Tibet's second largest city. En route we
could see the extent of the damage from the recent floods. As we had a couple of
nights in Zhigatse I had a bit of a lie in the next day and then had a wander
around town. Then did the circuit of the prayer wheels that encircles the
monastic complex. Then Dani and I met up and when the monastery opened in the
afternoon went and toured al around it. Again there was some lovely stuff, this
being one of the larger complexes in Tibet there was a number of chapels to see.
Later on the monks were rehearsing for an upcoming festival, so we got to see
monks sword dancing, with the accompaniment of their orchestra and choir, a
difficult thing to describe so I won't.
Next stop was to Samye another
nice monastery, but a bugger to get the monks to open up the various chapels. It
is also home of what is reckoned to be the largest book in the world. It
measuring something like two metres by one metre and having several thousand
pages. Unfortunately we couldn't see the thing as it has been hidden behind one
of the large Buddha’s, as the monks are worried about a repeat of the
destruction of the Cultural Revolution.
There was also another vengeful deity temple that is supposed to be interesting,
but the monk with the keys had apparently gone to lunch, so we couldn't look in.
Hanging outside though, were several wolves stuffed with hay, as well as some
smaller rodent like animal we couldn't identify. Bucheng the guide was becoming
more and more obnoxious, difficult and argumentative all the time and Rachel was
becoming increasingly negative, generally the group was not working as well as
we had hoped. The next day the driving took us through more spectacular scenery,
at some points we were able to see the end of the Tibetan plateau and the start
of the Himalayas. With the most famous peak (Everest) generally obscured by
clouds.
The day after that we went to
Ronghpu just down the road from Everest base camp, again with some spectacular
views. Dani and I hitched in a jeep to the base camp and managed to get a really
nice look at the tallest mountain in the world (recent measurements say eight
thousand eight hundred and forty six point one metres). We walked a little way
to a nice hillock built a couple of cairns, watched the clouds come into obscure
the view and then walked back to Ronghpu.
The next day it was my turn once
again to ride up front with Bucheng. He was reaching the peak of belligerence,
etc. by this point. Although when I had previously gone in the front we had
coped fine, he decided he didn't have enough room and was trying to push me
through the door, was sticking his elbows in my ribs etc. and generally being a
bloody fool. On a couple of occasions I made it more than clear that short of
amputating my arms there was little he could do to make more room, and to stop
with his prancing about. The driver also appeared to be telling him to calm
down. When we stopped for lunch the driver decided to put Bucheng in the back
with the bags. We continued on for a few hours more, through more spectacular
scenery to Nyalam where we were to spend our last night in Tibet.
The following morning we went
via jeep to the border, or at least to the Chinese customs, despite the fact
that they were supposed to take us to the Nepalese border, and other jeeps from
the same company were going as far as they could. We had, had too many arguments
already so we got someone else to take us as far as they could for a small fee.
In the middle there had been landslides that meant we had to walk the rest of
the way. The others followed the road whilst a little Nepalese guy guided me
down the shortcut, or waterfall whichever you prefer. I made it to Nepal in one
piece and mostly dry and saved the long walk. The Nepalese were an immediate
relief after China and the Chinese. Although there were touts trying to cajole
business straight away, it was not aggressive as in China, it was generally
refreshingly polite. The officials on the border were helpful and friendly
(something that didn't ever happen in China) and the prices had once again
dropped again to reasonable levels.
We got a bus for the four hour
journey to Kathmandu, on good flat, smooth roads. Something else, that had not
really existed in Tibet. We arrived in Kathmandu tired but in generally good
spirits. Over the last few days since arriving I have generally been taking it
easy. Got a few things sorted that needed sorting. Met more decent folks and had
a nice relaxing, cheap time.
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