Wednesday, May 24, 2006Tibet: The Roof of the WorldI have to warn you, this is going to be a long one since I have so much to write about. Troy and I didn't have any idea what to expect when we arrived in Tibet. I did expect the land to be greener and to have a breathtaking beauty about it. Instead, it was quite barren. It's different from the dessert where the sand is endless or where there are at least cactus and Joshua trees. I have never understood what the whole "Free Tibet" campaign was about, why Richard Gere was all worked up and why the Dalai Lama lived in India instead of Tibet. So I did a bit of research before we went to understand more about what was going on. If you are as clueless as I was about the entire situation, click here for a short history of how China came to occupy Tibet. I just have to say one thing right here, China is not very nice! For more pictures you can click here. A majority of our time was spent visiting Monastery's. By the last day of the trip, we were "monasteried out". The first day in Lhasa (capital of Tibet) was a relaxing day for most because everyone needed to get used to the 10,500' elevation. For those of you that live in high altitudes, it was hard for most of us to get used to because we had come directly from sea level. There was no gradual approach whatsoever. There were a few in our group that got completely wiped out by High Altitude Sickness. They described it as having the worst hangover imaginable but without the party the night before. That evening at dinner was our first experience with yak meat. It is actually very good. Troy and I split a yak burger and yak enchiladas. It was by far the best meal of the trip. For the most part the food on the trip was good, but it was a lot of Indian food and Nepalese and that got old very fast. We were also warned to stay away from lettuce and raw vegetables and tap water. So we ate a lot of meat, fried food and beer. While visiting the Potala Palace we were able to get a perfect sense of what Tibet and Tibetan Buddhists are all about. Everywhere you look are prayer wheels which have prayers or mantras inscribed on them. These are either hand held by people or are aligned in rows for people to spin while they pass by. The Tibetan's firmly believe in reincarnation. You have probably seen the colored flags that cover the peak of Mt. Everest. These are prayer flags. These serve the same function as the prayer wheel. The Tibetans believe that when the wind blows, the prayer on the flag will be expressed. That is why they try to put the flags at the highest point possible so the wind is always blowing them. That afternoon we went to the Jokhang Temple which is the most important temple in Tibet because it houses the Jowo Shakyamuni, Tibet's most revered image. Around this temple is where we saw people prostrating. This is where a standing person, first kneels, then lays their entire body down on the ground and stretches their arms over their heads while touching their forehead to the ground. Prostration is the cleaning and purifying of all the negative karma of past lives or your present life, from your physical, mental and spiritual home, your body, speech and mind. In far Western Tibet is Mount Kailash which is the world’s most respected Holy place. After the difficult journey to the mountain, pilgrims would circumnavigate the mountain, taking on average 3 days to complete this. There are even pilgrims that prostrate the entire distance around the mountain. (I have to be mean here: what if there was no afterlife, no reincarnation? Then all the prayer wheel spinning and prostrating would be for nothing. It's almost like "Ha, jokes on you!") Around Jokhang Temple are a lot of souvenir stands and great shopping. The people were very friendly and always smiling at you. Because the Dalai Lama is considered an enemy of China, his picture is not allowed anywhere and one can be prosecuted for having it. As we were walking around the Jokhang square an old Tibetan woman approached Troy, smiled at him and started talking to him. Amongst her rambling we could hear her say "Dalai Lama". She got very close to Troy and as she leaned into him she discretely pulls out a silver framed photo of the Dalai Lama that she had buried deep within the folds of her dress. She then gives Troy this smile that can only say "Those Chinese bastards can't keep the Dalai Lama from me!" ![]() At Gyantze we visited another Monastery. I honestly can't remember anything about it so it must have not made that much of an impression on me. We then continued driving on 2 hours to Shigatze. On our way to this city, we stopped to visit a very poor farming family. We gave them 100 Yuan (US$12) as a donation to allow us to visit them. This was a lot of money to them. As a welcoming treat for us, they made us butter tea. The national drink (if there is such a thing) is yak butter tea but since they only had a cow and not a yak, we just had butter tea. Most Tibetans drink on average 40 cups of this a day and we were told they would rather die then go a day without drinking it. I had tasted yak butter tea the night before and I found that the cow butter tea was better (say that 3 times fast!) Yak tea is very salty and has a distinct cheese taste to it. It is definitely an acquired taste. The most interesting thing I learned here is all homes in Tibet have to display a picture of China President Hu Jintau. Can you imagine if every home in the US had to have a picture of Bush???? I don't think that would go over well at all! Although there would probably be a shortage of darts in sporting good stores! After arriving back in Lhasa we went to a monk debate. Several people didn't want to go claiming that they would not be able to understand a debate if it's in Tibetan and not English. That evening before dinner we went back to the Jokhang Temple where we were to invited to a Puja which is a prayer ceremony that involves the daily devotion of offering food and drink and prayers to a deity. A senior monk gave everyone in our group a khata which is a traditional Tibetan prayer scarf that has been blessed followed by a cup of yak butter tea. All the while, around 60 monks are chanting their evening prayers and mantras. It was quite moving because it is not every day that someone gets blessed by a Tibetan Buddhist monk. We have never been in such a spiritual place and it was hard to be there and not feel the depth of it. Hopefully one day China will come to their senses and let these people live how they want to. A few facts about Tibet:
1 Comments:
Wonderful, wonderful story, Shelly and Troy. What an adventure! So glad that you got to take this trip to "the top of the world". By 2:15 PM , at |