Our TibetenAdventure
by Kristine Kell
In August 2002, my family and I finally scheduled and began our much-anticipated journey to Tibet. The trip started in Chengdu and, suffice it to say, the pandas are adorable and the big Buddha is HUGE!!! And, the Sichuan food is fantastic. Our flight to Lhasa was delayed leaving Chengdu (by 1 _ hours) but that didn't stop the flight attendants from serving breakfast while on the ground. That wouldn't happen where I'm from! What we didn't know at the time was that these apparent delays (and cancellations) for various reasons are fairly commonplace going into and out of Lhasa. We finally took off and we pretty much all slept the whole way there (we had to leave our hotel at 4 AM for our 6 AM flight that left at 7:30 AM Ð arghh!). During the flight, we were awakened by fellow passengers as we crossed over snow-capped mountains Ð what a spectacular sight. According to our Lonely Planet book, photography from airplanes is prohibited but the rules are not followed on Lhasa flights as everyone was taking pictures out the windows. It was shortly thereafter that we began our descent into Lhasa-all of us were very excited. We all descended onto the tarmac via stairs.

The Lhasa airport is situated approximately 95 km from Lhasa and it sits in a valley surrounded by immense mountains. I was struck by the fact that at that moment, I was standing at approximately 3600 meters and yet these mountains around me were just towering over the valley. Another thing that struck me was a queasy feeling in my stomach and a very light head-ahhh, this is altitude sickness.

We walked into the baggage claim area (very slowly) and waited for our bags to be unloaded. We had to catch our breath after walking that very short distance and we noticed that we couldn't converse normally. That is, we kept our conversation to a minimum because we all got so out of breath. Very weird sensation-not necessarily uncomfortable, just weird. Our bags didn't come out very quickly but the seafood did! Boxes and boxes of seafood that were leaking all over the baggage claim belt. We hoped our duffle bags hadn't been underneath one of those seafood boxes and we also made the decision NOT to eat any seafood while in Tibet! Our guide was waiting for us outside of the luggage area. With some difficulty, we managed to get ourselves and our luggage into the Toyota Landcruiser that was waiting for us. The four of us sat on a single bench seat-we're a close family but this was a little ridiculous. We headed off to Lhasa which was 95 km away on a two-lane paved road. We didn't realize the significance of that fact until later in our trip.

As we traveled through the valley to Lhasa, we enjoyed the beautiful views. There were fields of barley being harvested along the roadside. After the barley is harvested, it is wrapped in bundles and then propped up together with other bundles to form a teepee-type shape. The fields were covered with these teepee shapes of drying barley. We also were able to get our first glimpses of Tibetan villages and homes. They are remarkably similar to the homes found in the southwest of the United States. They are made of mud and are generally rectangular in shape. All the ones we saw were two stories Ð the first floor was for the animals, the second for the families. All the houses had raised sections on all four corners on the roof. From these raised areas the people flew prayer flags which are pieces of colored cloth that have Buddhist prayers on them. The flags are red, green, yellow, blue and white and they represent fire, wood, earth, water and iron. When the flags blow in the breeze, the Tibetans believe that the prayers that are on them are released into the wind and that these prayers purify the wind and bless their homes. The homes had courtyards where their animals were during the day. The fences around the courtyards were covered with disks of animal dung that is dried and then used in the winter as fuel to cook with. They were actually quite decorative in a way-all these circular dung patties clinging to walls and the sides of some of the homes! Many of the houses also had beautifully painted window panes and decorative doorways. Some had stripes of red and black painted-one to each side of the house. These were for protection for the house and its occupants.

Every so often on our journey to Lhasa that day we travelled alongside a large river. The water was low but incredibly clear. There were what appeared to be river birch trees lining the banks of the river and we saw people stopped on the side of the road having picnics by these trees and the river. I don't remember the name of the river but I do remember that it eventually dumps water into the mighty Brahmaputra river further downstream. About an hour into our drive to Lhasa, we stopped to view a Buddha that was carved and painted on the side of a mountain. It was here we got to experience a Tibetan toilet for the first time. In hindsight, it was actually a very nice toilet! It was still of the "squatty"Ó variety however, and the pipes didn't go straight down. All the "waste"Ó traveled down a tiled ramp to the back of the building where everything just accumulated. 'Nuff said! After the restroom, we got our first look at a yak. This spot was obviously a tourist spot and the yak man was ready for us. His yak was decorated with bells and red yarn on his horns. He had long black fur that was coarse to the touch. We took the kid's picture on the back of that yak Ð it was the first of many yaks we would see in the coming days.

After the yak photo session, we continued to Lhasa and arrived shortly thereafter without much fanfare. I don't know what I expected-maybe a big decorative gate or something but Lhasa looked just like any other town here in China when we first entered from the highway. We drove to our hotel (Lhasa hotel formerly known as the Holiday Inn) and checked in-grateful to be there so we could relax and rest. We decided to skip lunch in favor of resting and agreed to meet the guide in the lobby later so we could go out to dinner. We had read in our Lonely Planet guidebook that you should spend your first couple of days in Lhasa resting before starting any heavy touring. We didn't have a couple of days on our schedule (we were due to go touring the next morning) so we wanted to rest as much as possible on our arrival day.

After sleeping a couple of hours, it was time to go to dinner. Our guide took us to a restaurant called The Mad Yak Ð a horribly touristy restaurant with a performance after dinner "showcasing"Ó Tibetan dance, costume and song. The food available was both Tibetan and Chinese so we ate a little of each. Some folks may really enjoy the Tibetan food Ð we, however, did not. We got to try the yak butter tea, barley beer and tsampa.

Yak butter tea is made from yak butter, salt, milk, soda, tea leaves and hot water. It is churned up in something resembling a butter churn and then put in giant thermoses. Right before the tea is served, they shake the thermoses to make sure all the ingredients are mixed together. What does it taste like? Well, to me, it tasted like what a yak smells like. That smell was very unpleasant for me-that coupled with drinking hot butter just really didn't do it for me. Our guide couldn't get enough-he did point out that the tea was very good for chapped lips! I'll use Chapstick thank you. The barley beer was ok Ð a little better than the tea I thought. The other barley product, the tsampa, wasn't quite as appetizing though. It is made with roasted barley flour and again the yak butter. It had the consistency of cornbread that didn't rise when baking-flat and very dense. Again, I think because of the yak ingredients, it didn't prove to be too appetizing for me. We ended up eating more food from the Chinese side of the buffet. After dinner, we were treated to a poorly performed cultural "extravaganza'Ó of traditional Tibetan dances, songs and costumes. The performers were half-hearted in their presentation which was a bit disappointing. The worst part though was that certain members of the audience felt the need to have pictures of themselves taken with the performers while the show was going on. They were on the stage, in front of the performers and in general, causing a lot of problems so we ended up leaving. We wanted to get back to the hotel anyway, we had a big day the next day.

The next day we headed to the Potala first which was the building that the Dalai Lama ran the government from. It is now vacant apart from all the tourists who visit. It is awe-inspiring to see it and equally amazing to tour it. It has 999 rooms (if I remember correctly) and is a virtual maze of chapels, reception halls, meditation areas, and prayer areas. It is actually divided into two sections, the Red Palace and the White Palace. The Red Palace consisted mainly of chapels and various rooms devoted to different Buddhas. The White Palace is where the Dalai Lama's personal areas were located Ð most notably his bedroom and meditation area. It takes quite a bit of energy to tour the Potala Ð there are lots of stairs and ladders to get up and down to the various floors. We stopped many times just to catch our breath!

After visiting the Potala, we went to the Jokhang which is THE most important religious structure in Tibet. It houses the most revered Buddha image in all of Tibet. Incidentally, this Buddha image was brought to Tibet by the Tibetan king's Chinese wife. The most striking thing about the Johkang is not the building Ð it is the pilgrims who come. Many prostrate themselves in front of the main entrance Ð some for hours, some for days. They are generally wearing some sort of leather apron and have wood strapped to their hands to protect their bodies during all the prostration/worshipping that they do. Some pilgrims are so devoted that they travel great distances by foot prostrating approximately every 3 steps until they reach the Johkang. (In actuality, they place their feet where their hands were moments earlier when they were in the prostrated position) Inside the Johkang are many chapels and Buddha images. The air is thick with the smell of yak butter candles and of the sounds of pilgrims saying their mantras, which is quite hypnotic. Some parts of the Johkang are touched by the pilgrims, other places are just circled a prescribed number of times Ð it depends on the ritual that the pilgrim is performing. In one of the rooms, there were many wooden posts (roof supports I think) that had teeth imbedded in the cracks of the wood. These teeth were from pilgrims who died on their way to the Johkang-their family members or friends continued the pilgrimage and brought something from the dead pilgrim so that he/she could "make'Ó it all the way to this holy site. We also went onto the roof of the Johkang and got a nice look over the city of Lhasa. It was while we were on the roof that we got a glimpse at some construction workers putting a roof on a building in the traditional Tibetan way Ð with song and dance! It was wonderful! All the workers had a long stick (like a broom stick) with either a round or rectangular piece on the end. They would all line up at one end of the roof and start singing a "building song". While they sang, they would slowly make their way to the other side of the roof all the while laying down the mud/straw with the sticks in a very choreographed fashion. We just sat down and watched Ð it was truly fascinating!

After leaving the Johkang, we followed in the pilgrim's footsteps and walked around the Barkhor which is a pilgrimage circuit that goes around the Johkang. In addition to its religious function, the Barkhor was a bustling marketplace where everything from horseback riding gear to prayer flags to tent fabric could be purchased. It is very much like any street market here in China but with different merchandise so it was quite fun looking around and shopping! Of course there are real relics and those ever-popular "real"Ó relics so be careful. This is actually a great place to buy prayer flags, prayer wheels, thangkas (religious drawings) and anything else Tibetan.

After today, we were very tired so we went back to the hotel and packed our things because we were heading out on our road trip the following day. Our first stop was Shigatse which is the second-largest town in Tibet. We took the "long way"-which basically meant very little paved roads and a very scary drive! (Oh for the paved road we were on coming from the airport!) Our Tibetan driver was quite the brave one (well, maybe brave shouldn't be the word I use-He had a penchant for passing on the right going up (or down) one-lane, dirt mountain roads that had no guard rails. The only thing we could see out the window was the sheer drop-we couldn't see any road. I don't even know if scary adequately describes the ride! I know we leaned into the mountain a lot in hopes that we could keep the truck from falling off the cliff! (Not that our leaning would have done any good). This was especially fun when our driver was passing one of many big blue pilgrim trucks that were full of people on their way to visit sacred Buddhist temples. When we weren't worrying about falling off the cliff, we were enjoying spectacular scenery that all belonged on postcards. One vista was better than the next-it was hard to know what to take pictures of and what not to. We chose to take pictures of most all of it! The mountains were green and there were yaks grazing on them. There were some little villages below that had barley fields literally carved out of the mountainside. In between the barley fields were bright yellow mustard fields. For lunch, we picnicked on the banks of a holy lake called Yamdrok-Tso. It is an amazing turquoise blue color. If you could see it from the air, it is basically the shape of a scorpion. Since there are no bridges crossing over the lake, we had to drive around it to continue on our journey to Shigatse. As our drive continued, we had to go over small streams and do some 4-wheel driving through muddy areas. We passed many villages where the people would be out by the roadside trying to sell yak cheese and a special mushroom found locally. Some people also would be selling crystals and fossils that they had found in their wanderings. We saw huge glaciers, rivers rushing with freezing water, and nomads walking with their yaks. The yaks were carrying everything-tent, food, and any other supplies needed.

After maybe 7 hours of driving, we came to a town called Gyantse which has the largest stupa in Tibet. (a stupa is a round mound or tower that is a Buddhist shrine). This one was called Gyantse Kumbum-it has 77 different temples (very small) and 100,000 Buddha images. The architecture was very interesting but the most interesting thing was that 2 local Tibetan girls followed our kids the whole way through. It became a game to see if they could lose them in the chapels! I'm quite certain that is what our kids will remember from Gyantse!

A few more hours of driving and we were finally at our destination for the night-Shigatse. We didn't have the energy nor the desire to do any sightseeing after 10 hours of rough roads so we ate and went to bed! We needed our strength for yet another day of driving. Next stop-New Tingri (AKA Shegar).

End of Part 1É.Stay tuned for the final part in the December Issue