Lhasa - not as it once was - unfortunately

Tuesday 27^th June 2006

Here in Lhasa safely, a bit headachy but otherwise OK. The flight with China Air in an Airbus 319 was uneventful. Scored a window seat on the left side which is the preferred side as the plane flies in Nepalese air space to Everest then hops up and over the range to proceed to Lhasa. The weather was cloudy but the higher peaks poked through. Got some good footage.

Of monks, butter lamps and momos

So, what am I hoping for in Tibet?

Clean, clean air

Magnificent mountains thrusting upwards into an azure sky

Tinkling temple bells

Lots of different browns and greys of the Tibetan Plateau

Serene monks with shaven heads (I might have one on my return)

Saffron or red robes

Pilgrims twirling hand-held prayer wheels or walking along rows of fixed wheels - each turn sending prayers to their gods in the heavens

Red, green, blue, yellow and white prayer flags fluttering in the breeze, again, each flutter sending prayers sky-wards.

Strings of flags on hill tops and high passes, left by those who pass-by to again send prayers with each flutter, long after they have moved on

Mirror-still reflections on lakes

Tibetan costumes and hats!

Traditional housing with heavy wooden beams and painted patterns

Temple trumpets (without the sound of other people’s cameras beeping!)

The smell of burning dung

Ruddy round faces of the locals

Amber and turquoise jewellery

Beads

Satin thankas

And now for what I don’t particularly want to experience:

The Chinese dominators and what they have done to Tibet

Wind and rain

Tibetan tea (been there, done that)

Everything else I’ll try at least once!

Arrival was pretty painless but slow. Met by Karma who will be with us for

the next nine days. Jumped on a Toyota Coaster-type bus and headed for

Lhasa which was about 40 minutes away on a new road which has been made

possible due to the completion of a 2km long tunnel. From the very first

glimpses of Tibet - it's all Chinese. I'm here 20 years too late. As Lhasa gets closer, the 'problem' gets worse. Arrived at hotel, debagged and hit the streets for an hour-long walk. The weather was threatening although quite warm with the temp in the high teens, and muggy.

Around 6.30 we decided it was time for dinner so off to the ‘Snow Leopard

Restaurant’ for a lovely meal. Stuck to something 'safe' as my tummy was

not 100%. Had sizzling chicken, noodles and fried vegies. OK this morning. Walked back to the hotel, watched the video of Pashupatinath, (bbq temple in KTM), happy with results and went to bed. It is still light here ‘til after 9pm as all China works on the one time zone. Everything must be equal, of course, even if stupid. Slept well only waking to roll over and be conscious of heavy rain. I can't see anything from my windows but I'm told the mountains are covered in snow. Looking forward to that sight when I venture out.

Wednesday 28^th June 2006

in Lhasa, Jokhang Temple and Sera Monastery

This morning we visited the Jokhang Temple, the next most important to the Potala Palace. It is centuries old and it simply amazed me that it was still standing given the amount of butter and ghee that was around. The place just wreaks of butter. There are buckets and drums of the stuff everywhere. The pillars and floors, the handrails and, in particular, the many stone steps that must be negotiated within the building…all are greased with butter. As you stand on a slightly sloping step you feel yourself slowly sliding towards the edge. After a couple of hours in the place, I began to realise how a piece of buttered toast must feel! Why so much butter? It is offered to the various deities at every opportunity. Individual worshipers bring it to the temple in Thermos-like containers or as solid butter in plastic bags. It is used in butter lamps which are alight everywhere - the number of lamps is staggering. Large lamps, small ones and every size in between. The larger ones may be a metre or more in diameter. It's not unusual for a room to be lit by hundreds of small lamps, each statue illuminated by the light of burning twisted cotton wicks. What is really staggering is that the place has not burned down, that it is still standing after so many centuries with all that butter and naked flame around.

The other amazing thing about this place is the amount of money that is offered to the statues of deities and gods. There were literally sacks of the stuff …and that was what had already been collected from the statues and other 'depositing' places. Notes were stuffed into the wire mesh that protected paintings and murals, into cracks between glass panels and their frame. In fact, if you can find a place to poke a note somewhere, someone has already found that place. And, of course, nobody thinks of 'souveneiring' any of this money! Tibetans are such trusting and gentle people and in any case that money now belongs to the gods. Monks collect the money into sacks and then tip it out onto the floor for counting. We saw piles and piles of money being sorted into various denominations by monks charged, no doubt, with that responsibility. Mind you, most of these denominations are specially minted for temple giving. Most are very small denominations, something like a hundredth of one yuan. Nonetheless, the sheer volume of notes must add up to a large amount. I guess this money is used to keep the temples and the monks going.

Apart from the butter and the money, the temple was also full of wonderful relics and statues, all gilded and dressed in brilliant brocades and embroidered fabrics and precious and semi precious gems. A lot of these are behind glass but others are placed where a worshipper can bow and place their forehead on the image’s feet. There was even one group of three images placed in such a way that a devotee could crawl under them on hands and knees. The temple was full of people, more so than on other days because it's Wednesday, a special day for Buddhists because Buddha was born on a Wednesday - in Lumbini in Southern Nepal in c.563 BC.

Outside the temple there were even more people. Many pilgrims and devotees were circumambulating the entire complex. It takes about 10-15 minutes to do a circuit and many people do that circuit many times, some even for days on end. Other worshipers prostrated themselves full length on the ground, over and over again. Most of these had a special mat to lie on with protective pads for their hands as they slid them along the stone pavement that was worn shiny by years of 'polishing'.

Most individuals stayed in the same place to go up and down over and over again. But the really devout, progress right around the complex in this manner. There were indeed some wonderful images that could have been recorded except for the 850 yuan that was being charged for the privilege of doing so. I declined the offer.

Lunch was at the ‘Snow Mountain Restaurant’ again. Because it gets dark so late in the day, our tour leader likes to eat late. I don't. I can't sleep on a full stomach. So I decided to have my 'dinner' at 'lunch' time. I had a couple of hours off after that to walk off the food before we were taken by bus to the next biggest and next most important temple in Lhasa, the Sera Monastery. This one sits on the edge of the city, a few kilometers from the centre of town, in a delightful setting surrounded by mountains, some lightly dusted with snow from last night's rain.

Before going into the temple, we were taken to a small shop that was really a library and a printing place - a very dark, rather gloomy place. Here sacred writings used by Tibetans Buddhists are being faithfully restored. The Chinese destroyed many hundreds of thousands of these scripts during the Cultural Revolution and it's only now, that China has somewhat relaxed its vice-like grip over the monasteries, that the books can be reprinted. Each book is made up of long, narrow rectangular sheets of paper held between wooden covers. The text of a page is first carved in reverse on a wooden block …a very time consuming process. This block is then inked, a piece of paper placed on top and, as a hand roller is rolled across the page, the paper takes up the ink. Each wood block imprint is reproduced over and over again, each page to be part of another new book. The 'library', contained row upon row of these books - still much work to be done.

The Sera Monastery was little different from the Jokhang that we had visited in the morning but it was very interesting all the same. There was one notable difference. One hall was devoted to old artefacts from the waring days of the Tibetans. Quivers and arrows, shields and the like lined the walls. All were very dusty and hadn't been touched for what must have been decades or longer.

The most fascinating aspect of this monastery was to be seen outside in a courtyard where monks were taking part in a debating session. Small groups of maroon clad monks were debating amongst themselves, making and scoring points with and against each other. Each speaker stood to make his point and each point that he scored was accompanied by a vigorous slapping of the right hand onto the left. It was intriguing. Loud slapping noises and voices raised in debate resounded around the courtyard as a couple of hundred monks became totally involved in this important aspect of monastic life. This was not a show put on for tourists!

That fact was totally overlooked by some tourists. As we became immersed in quietly watching these debates for about half an hour, two other tour groups arrived - one of Japanese and one of Americans. We were dumbfounded at the audacity of some of these tourists when they began to wander in amongst the monks …why? Posing to have their photos taken with the monks, of course! What an insensitive disregard for the sensibilities of others! It's time we 'guests' learned to show respect.

It's a fact that there are usually many things that we as visitors don't fully understand when we visit a different culture. Take the Tibetan's form of burial as an example. On the hills above the Sera Monastery there is a very important area where visitors are not permitted to go. It is where aerial or sky burials take place. Due to the very rocky ground, normal burial is out of the question and, because there's no wood, cremation is not possible either. So, what to do? For the Tibetans, vultures are the answer.

Two Tibetan beliefs are important to understand here. Firstly, Tibetans believe that their time on earth is just another step towards Nirvana – or life-ever-after. As such, the body their spirit inhabits now is useless to their spirit after death. On death, they believe that their spirit is released, liberated, freed, to be reincarnated as something else. If they have done good things in and with their life beforehand, they will come back as a better person next time. If not, they will come back as a lesser being, even as a cockroach! Secondly, Tibetans believe that although they may have finished with their body, it must be of use to some other creature.

This is where the vultures come in. The body is taken to a place above the temple where it is sliced open to make it easier for the vultures to attack it. All of the flesh is devoured in less than 30 minutes. The priest then pounds the bones to break them into smaller pieces. A second feast for the birds! It all sounds gruesome and no doubt it is, but the Tibetans have been brought up knowing that this will be their fate. Graphic murals depict sky burials on many temple walls. And yes, we may find this method of burial hard to accept, but let's think a moment. It probably sounds awful to a Tibetan to hear that, when we die, we are wedged into a wooden box and buried or burnt. What a waste, they would say! Neither way is right or wrong, just different.

Another aspect of Tibetan philosophy is that they hate to kill anything. They are extremely gentle and compassionate people. It has been known that a building site has come to a complete standstill rather than have an insect or worm knowingly killed. This is also reflected in their attitude towards the eating of meat. In Lhasa, the butchers are Muslims. If there are no Muslims, a special sect or group of Tibetans do the killing. Tibetans also believe that it is better to kill something big to provide meat, such as a yak or cow, rather than small things. This is because the yak or cow will feed many for the taking of one single life, whereas it would take many chickens, and therefore many lives, to feed the same number of people.

It was an interesting afternoon but we had to catch our bus back to town. There was time for a bit of a rest before dinner. We were in luck, finding a place where we could sit outside on the flat roof of the restaurant. It was cool and I had to put on a jumper but it was good to be outside watching the flow of people in the street. A light meal was in order after my substantial lunch. This time, a few really delicious vegetable 'momos' - Tibetan dumplings - washed down with a Tashi Delek beer. The beer was light and really too sweet for my liking but it was cold and wet and helped to keep up the fluid intake. Recipes for momos are available on the Internet. For a fun one try www.momotours.com More detailed, and probably more useful recipes are given on www.darjeelingnews.net/darjeeling and www.food-nepal.com

Now, I know I said I didn't want to eat too much before going to bed. However, I had noticed a sign back at the ‘Snow Mountain Restaurant’ that proclaimed that after 2100 hours, cakes would be half price. Another sweet tooth guy in our group and I thought that this was too good to be true, too good an opportunity to miss. So back we went at a couple of minutes after the appointed hour of 2100 and indulged in a piece of delicious Black Forest cake …and a cappuccino. What a good way to finish another wonderful and fascinating day here on the top of the world in 'Shangri La'.

Thursday 29^th June 2006

in Lhasa Potala Palace

It's 0630 and I'm first up again. Had to wait over 4 mins for the hot water to run through the pipes, and again, I've wandered the corridors of the Kyichu Hotel in the dark to turn on the computers (3) in the Business Centre. One of our group, John, turned 87 today. He is doing remarkable well, just a bit tottery on some of the steep steps. Won't accept a helping hand, so we all just tend to be watchful and have hands at the ready to catch him if he slips or falls. Hope I’m as able at 87! Perhaps the highlight of coming to Lhasa is a to visit the Potala Palace, whether you are a Tibetan, Chinese or other foreigner. The building is so imposing, sitting on top of its hill. When our guide was a boy he lived in front of the Palace and swam in the lakes and river which ran through the village that was the Lhasa of old. And that was not all that long ago. Our guide must be in his late forties/early fifties. The Chinese moved the village and shoved it around the back of the Potala. The reason? They said that it was not attractive, and maybe that was the case, but what they've built instead are awful, square concrete boxes. They have built similar along the road from the airport, these with some typical Tibetan decorations. But they are all empty, just empty shells to make the place look better, to make it look "Tibetan"! Back to the Potala. It is a very long slow climb up to the visiting levels of the Palace. Over one thousand rooms all magnificently decorated in gold, brocades, embroidery, and bright paint work. No photographs allowed inside, not even for a fee. The various Dalai Lamas lived here, even the 14^th who was forced to flee to Dharamsala in northern India, where he has set up the Tibetan Government in Exile. I did buy a book that has better pictures in it than I could have taken, particularly of the statues and artefacts.

The altitude at around 4,200 m certainly slows one down. Most of the group are taking tablets and are suffering all sorts of side effects like tingling toes and fingers etc. They still huff and puff, even going up and down the stairs in the hotel, let alone along the long steep ramps to the top of a hill. Everybody is short on breath. We spent over three hours at the Potala before coming back to the hotel. I had lunch with Howard in a small 'backpacker' restaurant. Probably the best food we have had so far. I had a lemon, ginger and honey tea and fried noodles and vegetables, without the fried, all for 12 yuan. Then I had 45 mins to myself before it was time to get going again on a bus to drive a few kilometres to the Summer Palaces at Norbulinka. Each of the Dalai Lamas, from the 7^th (?) to the 14^th had a summer palace built within this large area that was once quite separate from the town/city of Lhasa. Now it has been swallowed up by the expanding city. Only a few of the palaces can be visited. Some were completely destroyed by the Chinese, some are being rebuilt and others were left intact. When the final crunch came, the Chinese asked the locals to tell them where the Dalai Lama was within the compound…so that they could miss him with their intended firepower on taking over Lhasa. Thankfully there was so much suspicion already within the local Tibetan community that no one gave away his whereabouts. Instead, although the Dalai Lama wished to stay with his people and not to flee, the time had come for him to go if he was to stay alive. We saw the gate through which he fled, under the cover of darkness, dressed as a soldier. His run for safety to India is now history.

Now fifty plus years later, Lhasa is a large city of two million people and about 65% of them are relocated Chinese! It seems that the best policy to conquer a people and eradicate their culture is to smother them with your own. The traditional life of the Tibetans is being squeezed in many ways but perhaps the most potent is the limitation on the number of monks. Buddhism is the keynote of Tibetan culture and to limit that is to limit the sway it has over everyday life. Add to that, education in the Chinese language and you have a pretty good recipe for making Tibetan tradition redundant in Tibet. It is obvious to the visitor that the Chinese now really dominate Tibet.

We were told that for a Tibetan to complain about the situation leads to punishment; even imprisonment. One example: our guide's brother had his legs broken because he dared to participate in a demonstration march. He was thrown into 're-education' prison for several years "Don't feel sorry for my family,” he said. "Every Tibetan family can tell a similar story."

So, I really am too late to see the true Tibet. But we have been able to visit some of the temples and to witness many Tibetans (especially older ones) still living by their faith. I'm hopeful of seeing more of the traditional way of life when we go further away from Lhasa on our drive back to Nepal.

Friday 30^th June 2006

in Lhasa, Drepung Monastery

We heard when we came down for dinner last night that our guide had been

arrested. Appears he was not licensed (whether lapsed or not, who knows)

and the tour company has been heavily fined. Therefore, we will have a new

guide for the rest of the tour. It put a damper on things. This morning we found out a little more about yesterday's guide problem. As usual things weren't as bad as first thought. Sure, he shouldn't have been working with foreigners, it is forbidden by the Chinese to have studied outside Tibet and then to guide foreign tourists. Hear say is that 1000 guides were brought here to do the jobs of the Tibetans, with of course, a Chinese slant to everything. Our guide has been black-banned and cannot work with anybody who has dealings with foreigners. He turned up at the hotel at lunchtime and was terribly apologetic that he was not going to finish the trip with us - and so are we. We have a new guide, Chamba, a nice enough fellow who I'm sure will slip into the previous guide's shoes easily. He in fact took us to the Drepung Monastery - my favourite so far. It is right on the edge of the city with expansive views over the town. It was also not so busy, makes a huge difference. Still has all the usual chapels, figures and brilliant decorations though. What interested me the most was the kitchen. It was fired up by a large fire and even bigger pots. They were huge. Rows and rows of different sized ladles, pots and pans. There were butter churns and various containers made of wood with brass decorations. When we arrived a monk was kneading dough. A little later we found out what it was to be used for - momos. We had also spotted a couple of dishes with a meat and vegetable mix in them. It was these two ingredients that were combined with expertise by the dough-kneading monk. With deft fingers he broke off small pieces of dough and rolled them onto balls about the size of an all-day sucker. A neat row of these were made before each ball was rolled out into a thin circle. These were then filled with a portion of the meat and vegie mix and fashioned into the traditional shape for momos. A couple of steaming pots were brought over and the momos placed inside for cooking. The light in this large, two-story high kitchen was not good but with the camera as wide open as possible, some good shots were taken. Shafts of light poured in wherever possible. These were emphasised as they pierced the smoky atmosphere. It was a medieval affair. Would have loved to stay for lunch!

On our way out we stopped at a small shop within the walls of the monastery for a break as John had fallen earlier. What did we all fear? Not too much the worse for wear except he looked as though the cat had dragged him in. Muddy cream trousers etc. He'll be OK. During this break, I took the opportunity of bringing my new guide up to speed as to my needs in the hat department. I was particularly lucky as this very shop had two. I grabbed one while Jim, our Lhasa Apso breeding tour mate from Hazlebrook, bought the other. I'm now a Yellow Head and all I need is the monks maroon outfit and a 'little-less-than-a-Number-One- haircut' - and I won’t be allowed home! Back to the hotel as this afternoon is a rest period to do the last minute shopping and some packing as we leave for Kathmandu tomorrow morning at 8. Had to have some lunch and could not go past yesterday's establishment where it was 'obligatory' for me at least, to have momos. Good, they were too. A mug of lemon, honey and ginger tea washed them down.

One of the things that had to be bought for the group were prayer flags so we could leave them on the high passes we will be crossing on our road trip to Kathmandu. I volunteered along with two others to do the buying.

Another hat came my way (cowrie shells and beads) along with a tee shirt

(fixed price at 35 yuan) and a couple of peaches for 30 cents each.

Bargaining is great fun, prayer flags down from 25 to 15 yuan, hat from 500

to 100 and various other reductions after punching into a calculator what we

were prepared to pay. This would be deleted by the stall keeper and another

round of 'best price, last price' offers would begin. Often this theatre would be watched by a crowd of disbelieving Tibetans. They inevitably enjoyed the purchase as well. Tonight we are off to a Traditional dinner and show where all the national costumes, instruments, singing and dancing will be enjoyed by all - if it doesn't go on too long! As mentioned it is off to Kathmandu tomorrow morning by road. It is going to take us about 7 days to get to KTM, a different bed each night. There are email facilities at Shigatse but no more until KTM, so there will be a break in contact. And once emails are again available, I'll be almost home. By the way, tomorrow, 1 July, is the opening day of the new railway from Beijing to Lhasa. Many flags have been put up and school children can be seen practising their marching, all in uniform and carrying ghastly coloured bunches of plastic flowers. It will be colourful if nothing else! I'm glad

we'll be leaving before all the government officials and dignitaries arrive to

muck up the day. So until some time down the track its 'ta ta' from the roof of the world.

Love to All

David