The rooftop of the world

16-Sep-06

As far as we knew, the flight from Guangzhou was going to land directly in Lhasa.

The Buddha takes a Sunday off

So we were not expecting to find the plane descending halfway on our trip and even more surprised to find that we were landing in Shangri-La. The name Shangri-La was inspired by James Hilton’s legendary novel Lost Horizon - a tranquil haven in the mountains of Tibet. Today it is a tourist destination in Yunnan province.

Taking off again, we landed mid-afternoon in Lhasa. Flying through the clouds and over the mountains was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Just before landing we flew through a river valley with a muddy river at the bottom and with our wings (or so it seemed) almost touching the mountains at our sides.

We were picked up at the very modern airport by Digi - our guide for the next 3 days. We loaded up our bags in the back of a very new Toyota Land Cruiser and got onto a modern highway which would take us to the city. Initial impressions of Tibet were quite different from what we were expecting. But this was about to change.

Marilyn had read somewhere (and Digi confirmed) that it was quite unlucky to enter the city without visiting a monastery on the way. Thus we stopped at Nyeitang Drolmalhakang - the Tara chapel. We were fortunate to get a glimpse of the hidden Buddha (Tara) and were welcomed with the traditional Tibetan Katas or silk scarves.

We stayed at the Lhasa hotel while in Tibet and I have to say that despite being a four star (as well as the most expensive hotel in town) it was pretty much the worst hotel I’ve ever been in. It is very run down, has bad restaurants and indifferent staff. The only saving grace are the clean rooms - and a good 2 or 3 star would have those.

Despite having taken altitude sickness pills, we were hit immediately by a wave of tiredness. The last few days had been hectic and I napped the afternoon away.

In the evening we went to the Jokhang monastery - the Lonely Planet calls it the “spiritual heart of Tibet”. We could believe that as we could not get in due to the crowds and barely managed to complete a Kora (or a circuit). We also had tea in a restaurant which had a performance by some men in Yak costumes.

By the time we got to dinner the altitude was affecting us both. It was difficult to walk too fast without running out of breath. Climbing steps was a chore. It was fortunate then that we had the best dinner in Lhasa that evening at “Dunya”. Fried cheese momos (dumplings) and Nepali thalis (meals) were the best way to end the day.

17-Sep-06

We both awoke sore and exhausted - as if we had been running in our sleep. We were at the Potala Palace by 10:00am Beijing time (which is really 8:00am or earlier in local time terms). The Potala is, of course, the symbol of the Tibetan identity and the residence of the second to the present (fourteenth) Dalai Lama.

Digi got us in through a side gate and next thing we were climbing the hundreds of steep steps to the top of the palace. This was a climb which would not have been easy at sea level. While the exterior of the Palace is astounding, I wish that I could say that that the interior was worth it.

Most of the palace is a mausoleum. And not in the grand sense - it is dingy and unkept. Most of the old palace is given up to shrines to prior Dalai Lamas. After visiting about 7 of those, one gets a little numb with the repetitiveness of the experience. Yes there are 4 tons of gold in each of those Stupas but I saw nothing spiritual about tying up 75 million US dollars of a very poor country’s wealth in a lavish tomb - multiple times over. We tried blaming it on the altitude, the fact that we were tired, poor maintenance by the Chinese, or that there were about twenty guides all engaged in a shouting match around us at the time, but even after a few weeks, we would think back and find little to dwell upon.

The erstwhile residence of the Dalai Lama in the Red Palace was a little more touching - couldn’t help but think of the poor guy run out his own home and country.

After the Potala we went to the Norbulingka or Summer Palace. This was a much more enjoyable experience - reminding us of the shrines in Tokyo. Well laid out gardens interspersed with old palaces and lakes dating back to the mid-eighteenth century. The main palace building has a very large and beautiful mural (which we were not allowed to photograph) telling the mythological story of the founding of Tibet. Apparently, according to this myth, all modern day humans are descended from the Holy Monkey. Darwin would have been impressed - we certainly were!

We had lunch at the excellent Lhasa Kitchen in Barkhor (the market around the Jokhang). A multicuisine restaurant which does more than a couple of cuisines well always impresses me.

Despite a queue, Digi managed to get us instantly into the Jokhang after lunch through her “secret” arrangements. Though a little more “alive” than the Potala, we felt that Jokhang was afflicted the same way. Lots of loud guides and rude tourists fighting over glimpses of unimpressive, crummy and repetitive exhibits. We would have expected something with a sense of awe and tranquillity, if not grandeur.

The very forgettable dinner in the hotel restaurant did nothing to lighten the mood and we went to sleep feeling a little shortchanged and wondering if the Lhasa stopover had been worth it.

18-Sep-06

All our misgivings from the day before were going to be laid to rest today. The Buddha of Tourists had obviously taken the Sunday off but was back for a full work week today.

Our first stop of the day was the Drepung monastery, the founding of which by the second Dalai Lama was concurrent with the founding of modern Lhasa (it was the fifth Dalai Lama who moved his residence to the Potala).

Drepung -  as befits a monastery - is situated outside the main city boundaries up the side of a mountain. Close enough to afford an eagle’s eye view of the city (and, we’re sure, connect to it spiritually) while still being detached from everyday life. You could stand there and almost imagine the trains of monks and devotees making their way up the mountain accompanied by waving prayer flags, the crash of cymbals and the blare of trumpets. Behind us were painted larger than life Buddhas, the serenity on their faces reflected in the silent grandeur of the mountains surroundng the monastery on three sides.

From the monastery we took a ride to the Nyangra Folk Customs Resort on the other side of town. This is picnic spot for locals where our guide took us only after a lot of prompting. The resort houses the Jakmin Flour Mill and a few other exhibits - the flour mill being the one where the Dalai Lama used to get his tsampa (barley meal) from. With a 100 Renmimbi entry ticket, the place definitely makes more money now than it ever did as a flour mill.

Making our way back to Lhasa we stopped for lunch at the famed Nam Tso restaurant - run by a Nepali with whom we spoke in Hindi! The fare was mixed - Arvind’s chicken sizzler was good while Marilyn’s burrito was not. Later, we did ask ourselves why we ordered a burrito in a rooftop restaurant in an old neighbourhood of Lhasa.

We did a little bit of art shopping after lunch and ended up buying two Thangkas - traditional Tibetan paintings. The evening was spent packing for the next day’s rail journey. All our doubts about Lhasa laid to rest, we were sad to leave but excited about what lay ahead.