miscellaneous rambling

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.”..