miscellaneous rambling

So as I said, we got to using Makye Ame cafe as our usual hang out. Although we didn't get to spend much time in Lhasa, it was a hub that we always got back to on our way out to other places.

It was always nice to have a glass of chang ( barley beer) and to have a snack.

One rainy night we met the owner of Makye Ame. She and her husband run the place, as well as two others ( Kunming and Beijing)

The story with this shot is that we noted along with this ladies beauty, also the beauty of her jewellery. She gets quality stuff from a place she knows. We asked to see some, because she said she had some for sale from her private collection.

She went home and got them for us, while we waited over another cup of coffee.

When she returned, she had some nice bracelets and rings. She quoted prices, that neither Mr. Ren or I could have bargained for. The only female with us, Ms. Su however, started to bargain hard for some things.

We left the place, and Mr. Ren says, "Man, I wish I could get that bracelet for such and such a price"
Ms. Su runs back to the cafe to bargain on his behalf, while we waited in the rain. 20 minutes later she comes running back with the bracelet.

Only she could have done it, because with looks like that neither he nor I had to the guts to bargain with her. ..

"It's a good thing she doesn't sell tangkas, or I'd have lost my shirt" I recall saying.

Mr. Ren just nodded in reply.

This is actually one of my favorite photos taken in Tibet, and to think that I'm in it! When you take photos, you generally accept the fact, that no one is going to get a good shot, with your camera. Especially when you have to explain what button to press, etc. etc.
So this shot was taken in the courtyard of Sakya monastery, when the professor was trying to convince the abbot to let us in to the locked room of ancient relics. As I said earlier though, it didn't work..

This has got to be one of the craziest, stupidest, funniest stories that I have ever heard. So much in fact, that I had to blog it today before I forget...

So one of our students, and ADULT student mind you, not some 6 year old, has a small dog. A shitzu to be precise. This student has a sister. Also, an adult I might add..

One day, on a typical hot Taiwan day, the student was out on some errand, and her sister was at home dog-sitting. So then, thinking that this dog must be suffering in the heat, it should be cooled down.

So she put the dog into the FREEZER. YES! The freezer. This was late in the afternoon.

Then she went home.

9pm, the student comes home, and can't find her dog. She starts calling the neighbors, and calls her sister.

Her sister says, " Oh, I don't know. I"m SURE he was at home running around when I left the house."

So she went to sleep, and then the following morning, a call from her sister, comes and she says that she remembered she put the dog in the freezer.

Our student freaks out, and she's too scared to open the freezer door. What if the dog is dead? She doesn't want to handle the corpse. She calls her dad to come over to the house and get the dog out. It's been in the fridge for about 15 hours now.

Dad comes over, and the dog is frozen in the freezer. It's eyes are closed. There is a clump of frozen crap in the freezer too..

They pull the dog out, and lay it on the kitchen floor. They start calling out the dog's name but there is not response.
They nudge it with their foot. The dog opens its eyes.

Stands up, shakes itself off. Pees on the floor, and then goes running off happily into the living room.

Ok everyone! So here is the report ( part 1 ) This is simply the road from Xinning, China to Tibet. Sorry it took so long to get it out. I"m working on the other ones right now..

I also got photos up now too! more to come. Promise..

J.
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We landed in Xinning. A friend told me that Xinning was a tiny, desolate place that has absolutely nothing. I was surprised to see a big city. Sure, it was a dirty place, and yes , there is really nothing to really see… but it was a step closer to the dream. LHASA. And I was glad to be on vacation.

The entire group met together for the first time, and I met our leader, professor Zheng. He is generally a nice guy, and very learned in Tibetan culture. However, he has a very bad temper. He expects us to remember things as if we were students on the tour. In fact, many of the members had to buy his books and videos before arriving. They weren’t cheap either. I did a lot of research on my own, and so I was “ok”. ( I became the star student later though. J )

Just outside of Xinning, there is one famous temple. Ta-Er Monastery is the birthplace of Tsongkapa who founded the Gelupa order of Buddhist. This is known as the “yellow hats” which the Dalai Lama belongs to. The monastery is very beautiful, and huge, and is also famous for it’s butter sculpture.

This sounds very strange, but it is actually amazing. Imagine a huge, complex carving out of Yak butter. That is about 8meters long, and about 2 meters tall. Not only is it carved, but it is also colored with dye too. This is placed in an air conditioned glass case, and is re-made every year during the Tibetan new year. Monks and tourists come from all around just to see this.

We drove 5hours to Qinghai lake. It is the largest, and highest saltwater lake in China. It is also a holy lake for the people in the region. I was disappointed in the lake. It was big, but that was it. There is really nothing around the lake.

The next day we continued further to Golmud. Golmud is famous for again, being a desolate place that you would HATE to go to. But in fact, I found Golmud to be alright. It must have developed so much in the last few years. It was surprising to see wide streets lined with trees. In Golmud! Really!

Plus, Golmud is a good connection between Dunhuang, Lhasa, Xinjiang, and Qinghai. It makes sense to develop it.

The 3^rd day we drove EIGHTEEN hours to Nachu. This was the drive that almost killed us. Through the high passes, we crossed the Kunlun mountain range, we saw the headwaters of the Ganges, the Mekong, as well as the Yangtse. It wasn’t that beautiful, but of course to be there, where the start of some of the major rivers in the world begin is exciting!

Going up and over the mountains, we stopped at 5000+meters and talked to some Yak herders. Then we came down a beautiful valley, and for a brief minute, the mountains behind us were so clear, we could see the peaks in the bright sunshine.

During the last pass ( Tangku-La) many of us were getting altitude sickness. It was getting worse as we got higher and higher. Despite the medicine we had, I was having trouble sitting up. Could only stand for about 4 seconds before falling down. My head felt like it was being crushed in a vise. ( actually, it’s like a bad hangover, without the booze in the middle of the day!!)

The group had prepared oxygen and some of us were sharing it. The driver drove over the pass and every 100meters downhill, I felt a little better. Still, it would take about 2 more days to fully recover.

That evening, we had dinner at 9pm at some town in Tibet. It was supposed to be a “nice Tibetan town” as the book says. It was the worst place I”d ever seen. Filthy. We went into a restaurant, and there were drunk customers fighting with the waitress. We left, and went to another restaurant.

Then the owners of the first restaurant, said we ordered the food already, and they were going to call the police to arrest us. So we ate quick, and then left.

Still 2 more hours before we would find our hotel in Nachu.

On the 4rth day we were excited because we were now in Tibetan territory, and we would soon be in Lhasa by evening!! 4 days, and 2000km later. We would almost be there..

On the way to Lhasa, we pass the famous Nam-tso lake. This lake is at 4700m and requires a permit to go to. Also, it is about a 2 hour detour off the highway. By this time, the landscape is just getting more and more beautiful all the time. We have beautiful mountains in Canada and in Taiwan, but what one has to remember is that in Tibet, beyond the mountains, there is just the open plains. One is already so high up that there are no forests. It’s FLAT, and then BOOM the snow capped mountains are there. In front of you. ( plus maybe a yak or two)

Well, the story of Nam-Tso… as we drove up to the gates, we were told that it was closed due to construction on the road. The professor says we HAVE TO go. So the guards, let us go, and we drove up an hour. Got stuck on the broken road, waited two hours in the hot sun, and then the professor decided that, “no, we will not go today”… so then we turned around and went BACK down the road…

( to be continued later)

Anyways, we drove to the Yangbachen hot springs. It wasn’t very clean ( I thought ) and since my head still hurt from the altitude sickness, I didn’t bother to go into the hot springs. I waited for an hour while the others were in the springs. There were some sad looking horses tied outside. A gift shop selling expensive ( fake ) Tibetan turquoise stones and some other useless items. The people were very nice though.

Finally, around 5pm, we arrived in Lhasa. We entered through the Northern part of the city. It was small, and seemed like a modern Chinese city. But then we went to the old quarter, which of course had more character. Stone houses, and old Tibetans with traditional clothing walking around. We crossed a river, and entered the courtyard to our hotel. It was a NICE hotel. Made in Tibetan style, with huge gates, Tibetan symbols, paintings in the lobby, and a big courtyard in the middle of the hotel. Unfortunately, the hot water wasn’t always reliable. At one point, there was no COLD water, and some people got scalded when the took a shower, because it suddenly got super hot.

We ate dinner at a restaurant next to the Potala Palace. It was still unbelievable to us that we had actually made it. Everyone kept looking out the window every once in awhile to confirm that yes, we were in Tibet, in Lhasa.

In the evening we walked around the old area. We passed the holiest temple in Tibet. The Jokhang. There were pilgrims there praying. Some of them would be there all night. We walked around the Barkhor square. A few shops were still not yet closed, and we took a peek.

We walked back to our hotel. Some of us stopped at a local pub for “Lhasa beer” they serve beer, old style here. That is, warm. And you add ice to it.. L

Still, we were happy. There were some cute Tibetan waitresses, and I was able to practice some Tibetan phrases that I had been practicing for a month before the tour.

“What’s your name?” “I’m from Canada” “ I’m happy to be in Tibet.”..

This shot of me resting on the edge of the cliff overlooking the Drigung Til Valley about 2 hours drive outside of Lhasa. The monastery above is located along a road that is too small for our bus, so we walked up from the valley which you see below. It was a nice walk, and wasn't too hot that day. This monastery is the holiest site for sky burials in the Lhasa region. Unfortunately it is now illegal for outsiders to view the burials, or even go to the burial sites. It was disapointing, and the monastery was partially under re-construction too. Although a small stop that was a 4 hour detour on our way out to Bayi, it was still worth the time to stop and enjoy the view.

All over Tibet you can see stones carved with Tibetan prayers. Usually, the basic one is "Om Mani Pa Me Hom"
Sometimes it is carved on the side of a mountain. This was the first time though, that I actually saw someone carving the letters into the stone. I couldn't communicate well with him, but I told him that I knew what it meant. He allowed me to try my hand at it. It isn't easy, and you can see that it is big, so it would take him awhile to complete. After a few strikes with the mallet, I wished that I could do my own one day in Tibet. Another time.

Sakya requires a special permit. Once you make it to the town, you need to apply for ANOTHER permit to the holy temple, which is the head of the Sakya Order.
It took us two days to get here, because our bus broke down the first day, and we were stranded for 6 hours on the roadside.
The second day we ran the bus into a ditch and the PLA soldiers had to "liberate" us after being stuck for two hours.
The drive was SIX hours each way. That is, 12 hours!! and we were only allowed in the temple for about an hour. The holiest artifacts were sealed off as well as the famous Manadala wall murals. We needed another permit from Beijing that would allow us to see these rooms, and no matter how we begged, and pleaded, we were stuck. All in all, it was alot of effort to see the temple. The easiest way to discern those belonging to the Sakya order is the grey,white and red stripes painted on buildings. They represent the trinity of the Bodhisattvas.

This was it!! made it to Lhasa, and to the potala palace. We were running tight on time because you must enter the potala during the time printed on your ticket. When we got to the front gate ( just right of the photo), we found out that the gate was under repair, and we had to go to the "back door". Which means, going left ( just beyond the left side of the photo), and then running up the hill behind the palace. As you can see, it is big, and there were 24 of us, running up in the heat. It was worth it of course. Unfortunately, you cannot take photos inside. Most of the temples prohit photography, unless you pay the monks.

Earlier I wrote a blog on shopping for Thangkas. Well, here is a shot of the tangka that I did finally buy. It's not that old. Of "standard" size, meaning the most common one. ( I haven't measured it, so sorry, no dimensions here)
It's of the White Tara, who was born of he Boddhisatva, Guan Yin, the Goddess of mercy's tear. when her teardrop hit the earth, in compassion for the suffering in which we all suffer from here on Earth.
The style of the tangka is in he Guke style of Western Tibet. I spent 2 days shopping for Tangkas and hit about every shop in Lhasa.

This is one of the holy lakes in Tibet. It is called Lamdrok-Tso, and is at around 4300m above sea level if I remember correctly. We did get lakeside when we stopped for lunch, but I didn't get a nice shot. The lake itself is even much bigger than this shot. it wraps around the mountains like a dragon.

This pretty girl was selling Tibetan jewellery outside of a temple in Gyantse, Tibet. She was the only young person there amongst the 30 odd vendors, and she was dressed in modern clothes opposed to traditional clothing. It was the eyes that got me, and she posed for this shot for me. ( no, I didn't buy anything from her. but a friend of mine did..)

I met this old man at Dreprung monastery, Tibet.He was just chilling out.