We arrived at the Lhasa airport around 4 pm and were greeted by a temporary guide that would transport us to Lhasa, 60 km away. We were bid tashi delek (hello in Tibetan) and draped with pure white scarves as a token of welcome to Tibet. We climbed on the bus and met our fellow tour members: Lars and Monica, two Germans, a Taiwanese woman, Ling and one Chinese girl, Xiang (who went by Jessica) who both work in Shenzhen as cell phone engineers. Lars and Monica, ironically, live an hour north of Tokyo working for a German engineering company. They have been in Japan for five years and Monica is fluent in the language. They turned out to be our closest companions on the trip, as we had many shared experiences being transplants in Japan exploring Tibet during our Golden Week holiday. The five of us were transported to the Mandala Hotel, our base in Lhasa for the next three days. It was here that we also met our seventh member, Barbara, a spry seventy-two year old intent on reaching Everest while her one lunged husband, Pete, toured China.
We sought out a quick dinner and found a nice restaurant with an English menu. We tried yak curry and yak pizza, both tasty dishes. Afterwards, travel fatigue and the first signs of high altitude sickness caused us all to turn in early.
The next morning (Sunday) dawned bright and beautiful with the sun not rising until well after 7 (it also doesn't get dark until after 9). We had our pick of the Mandala's continental breakfast and headed off with our trusty guide, Konchok, to the Potala Palace. Words and pictures cannot describe the immense size and sense of awe the Potala invokes. It is an incredible building to say the least. However, every tour group in the country visits the Potala at about the same time and pushing and shoving quickly takes away much of the feelings of admiration. We spent three hours climbing thousands of stairs, being shoved into corners, and watching Buddhist followers pour yak butter into the always burning candles and stuff yuan bills into every crevice they could find. Alters in front of the various buddhas were also adorned with rotting apples, sour smelling milk cartons and various other offerings hoping to be blessed.
After the Potala we went to find lunch and were directed to the New Mandala Restaurant. Here I decided to bite the bullet and order yak butter tea, the staple food of the Tibetan people. Although few others agreed, I thought it was delicious. The trick is to not think of it as tea but as a hot broth perfectly suited to warm your insides from the harsh climate of the Tibetan plateau. However, our weather on this trip was incredible and the yak butter tea still tasted good. Blue skies, a slight breeze and temperatures in the mid to upper 60s, far warmer weather then we've had in Kushiro this year.
After lunch we headed to the Jokhang Temple, housed inside of Barkhor Street. This street is circular and marks the center of old Lhasa. Buddhist followers walk clockwise day and night with prayers beads in one hand and an ever spinning prayer wheel in the other. There are also hundreds of merchants lining the street, selling their wares to foreigners and Tibetans alike, although the foreigner price is much steeper than the Tibetan, I am sure. Haggling is the name of the game and we tried our hand at it later that afternoon. The Jokhang was much smaller than the Potala but, as with most Buddhist buildings, the architecture and design were incredible. Every wall was painted in some grand mural and every door frame, window frame, molding and surface was carved and painted in vibrant greens, blues, reds and yellows. The Buddhas themselves are painted with gold paint and covered in scarves, jewels and the like, not to mention the piles of money laying at their feet. After the temple, we were free to do what we liked and all opted for an hour's break back at the hotel before doing some shopping and seeking dinner. The shopping was an adventure and Monica and I attempted to master bartering, although our skills failed when it came time to get a deal on prayer flags. Failed epically there. But, after purchasing a coral bracelet, four prayer flags and two magnets, I'd still only spent about $15 USD, so I'd call it a success. Dinner was at the Gangki Restaurant and had Lars, Monica and Corin ordering the yak burger. I found the "chicken chili" to actually be a nice chicken dish spiced with red chilies, instead of the kidney bean and ground meat style stew I was accustomed to. Barbara ordered an apple pancake that arrived over a half hour after the other meals but she noted that despite the wait, it was still quite good. Once again Konchok had managed to wear us all out and we called it a night immediately after dinner.
Please look here for photos of this part of the trip.
Monday greeted us once again with blue skies and we set out at 9:30 for the first destination of the day, Drepung Monastery at the easy side of Lhasa. Drepung managed to be quite depressing with numerous beggars using the only English they knew, "hello, money?" over and over again. Some of these people were very pushy and quickly became upset if you didn't pay up. Many of were also small children or young mothers holding sleeping babies, all with runny noses and sad eyes. The monastery itself had definitely seen better days as it used to hold over 7,000 monks in the height of Buddhism in Tibet. However, only 300 monks remain to maintain the buildings and statues and the grounds look as such. We spent the morning at Drepung and then grabbed lunch at an excellent restaurant on the newer side of Lhasa, the Yak Steak House. We felt that we had fulfilled our yak eating requirements for the trip so Monica and Lars ordered Chinese chicken and cashews while Corin ordered chicken and fried peanuts. I got a wonderful Pad Thai, even though it was my turn to wait the extra half hour it took to arrive at the table (noticing a trend here?).
Upon completing our lunch we headed over to the second site of the day, Sera Monastery located in northern Lhasa. This monastery is famous for its afternoon debates and we arrived just in time to watch the younger monks find their places. We also got to visit the library and saw three amazing sand mandalas (incredibly detailed pictures made out of colored sand which take about four months to make). The debates were highly entertaining and I would not miss them if you ever plan to visit Tibet. They started with many younger monks finding spots to lay their mats in a tree-shaded courtyard. The other half of the monks (usually the older ones) stood in front of them and asked questions/quizzed those sitting on the ground on Buddhist teachings. Before the young monk could answer, the older monk would pull back and clap his hands together. This clapping is said to eliminate the three faults of the human race: desire, ignorance, and hatred. By clapping his hands, it allowed the answering monk to reply without being hindered by these faults. With nearly 100 monks debating in the courtyard, the air was full of laughter, yelling and sharp claps. It's an experience not to be missed.
We stayed at the Sera listening to the debates for a solid hour and then decided to head back to the hotel for a quick rest. Monica and I had our sights on getting massages and wanted a short break before heading out again. We grabbed dinner with Barbara beforehand, eating at a less than classy Chinese restaurant across from our hotel. The menu's English was hilarious, although we were never brave enough to find out what exactly was "solid colored" or "sauce in elbow." The food was okay but the rice bowl was gigantic! We laughed as it arrived at our table but could barely make a dent in it. After dinner, Barbara headed back to the hotel and we ventured off to find our blind massages. Apparently, the NGO Braille Without Borders has set up a massage parlor and trained blind individuals to be masseuses. We located the place rather quickly and Corin, Lars and Monica opted for a full body Chinese massage while I went for the reflexology foot massage. All were an hour long and cost between 80-100RMB (about $14-$16). My foot massage was excellent in the most painful sense of the word, and that seemed to be the consensus from everyone else as well. Lars might have ended up with some bruising on his legs while Monica was still sore two days later. Corin's masseuse just helped his sunburn start peeling a little early. It was an experience, but what would a trip to Tibet be without them?
Please see here for Sera and Drepung pictures.
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