Blue Sky and Buddha

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It turns out that the sky is still blue although our excursion to Tibet was our first visual confirmation since our arrival in China.  The wait was worth it though since the sky in Tibet is the bluest I've ever seen.

In order to get into Tibet you have to have a special permit and then there are rules that you have to have a guide and be on a tour.  Megan was nice enough to organize our flights in and out and our tour and we were greeted by our very friendly guide Lobsang at the airport.  Suddenly, we were spoiled travelers.  We had a guide, a driver and a pretty nice hotel room.  It was so luxury we didn't know what to do.  (Maryann you won't believe that by the end of our time there we were talking about how we missed the community feeling of the hostel!)

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The schedule was very relaxed in Tibet because of the extreme altitude (Lhasa is at about 3,500 m) and just because the place is more relaxed.  We saw the Dreprung and Sera monasteries, the Jokhang Temple and, of course, the Potola Palace.  They were great but we got a little Buddha'd out.  For those who don't really understand Tibetan Buddishm its a bit overwhelming to try to get a handle on the shear number of Buddhas and their various incarnations.  Believe me there are multiple statues of each and our guide seemed to think it was perfectly normal.  He patiently tried to explain the multiple incarnations, the history behind the movement in Tibet, the various Dalai Lamas.  Despite the fact that these were all repeated multiple times, I still picked up about 10%.

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The entire city has a tons of Buddhist pilgrims.  At first, the sight of hundreds of pilgrims with their prayer wheels, incense, and prostrating themselves for prayer is a bit crazy but then you start to get used to it and it seems more normal.  I'm still amazed at the number of hours that are spent on religion, but I think the Tibetans need something to focus on these days.

Overall we really enjoyed Tibet.  It has a lot of personality, more so than the giant, overcrowded Chinese cities, and the people are very friendly.  Strangely, we noticed that the place reminded us a lot of the American Southwest or Mexico.  The colors and patterns of clothing are similar, there is a lot of turquoise and the Tibetans resemble the American Indians of the southwest more than they do the Chinese.

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Also, I'd heard horrible stories (and never one even mildly good story) about the food in Tibet, but we are happy to report that it was some of the best we had in China.  We never had a bad meal and some were extremely tasty.  The yak steak is the local specialty and it was quite good.  There is also a decent amount of good Indian food.

Overall, quite a lovely place.  I'd like to go back and do some trekking, although with the altitude I'd probably be able to hike about 1 mile a day.