Go Tell It On the Mountain 2

April 9 - 11, 2017

Nyams mgur: "Songs of Experience"- Tibetan poetry.  

It was a somewhat bumpy three-hour flight from Chongqing to Lhasa, with glimpses of snow-capped mountains along the way.  At first glance, the Lhasa landscape looked desolate and desert-like, with few patches of trees.

Security in Lhasa is tight.  We had to show our passports and Tibet travel papers to get out of the airport, then again at the entrance to the city, a kind of "Check Point Charlie."  Our guide, Penpa, was waiting for us outside the terminal with a sign, and recognized us before we saw him.  He welcomed us warmly, and ceremonially tied white scarves, or khatas, around our necks as a sign of peace and celebration.  We happily climbed into a Ford Transit for our ride into the city. 

with our guide, Penpa

the dashing driver

The drive from the airport was eye-opening - literally.  The sun at 3600 meters (12,000 feet) elevation seemed particularly intense, like we were looking at everything on an HDTV.  Sturdy stone buildings all looked clean and new.  The guide said all the new construction was for the many Chinese moving into the area.  Now more Chinese are living in Tibet than Tibetans, many of whom have emigrated to Nepal or India. 

Tibetans don't speak Chinese, they speak Tibetan, a language based on Sanskrit; I kept a cheat sheet of the basics in my bag.  A formal hello is "Dah-sheh-dee-lae," a more informal hi is "Goon-kahm-sah," and thank-you is "Too-dteh-che." (We were never sure we were saying these correctly, as we heard many variations during our stay.)

The landscape is pretty harsh-looking - few barley farms with farmers toiling sans machinery, some grazing yaks, and lots and lots of rocks.  Spots of color brightened the way in circles of prayer flags.  According to Wikipedia: 

Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom... Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras (printed on the flags) will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space. Therefore, prayer flags are thought to bring benefit to all.  

We traveled on a modern highway, with tunnels through the mountains.  As we neared the city, the guide pointed out Potala Palace on the side of a mountain.  This was the home of the Dalai Lama until his escape to India in 1959.  Penpa told the story of how a Tibetan king sent a hundred young men to India to study Buddhism, but only two survived to return.  

Lhasa is a neat, bustling city tucked on a plain between mountains, with a surprising amount of cars on the road.  A majority of the people wear traditional clothing - women with long woven dresses, wrapped waists and braided hair, the men in smart felt hats.  I found the style of dress quite similar to the mountain people of South America. Many people carried prayer beads or prayer wheels as they walked.

We were driven to the St. Regis, a lovely hotel with lots of beautiful Tibetan artwork.  We were greeted by Leonid, an English-speaking Russian "customer experience manager." He took very good care of us, along with our "butler," Nicholas, who brought us hot tea at check-in.  The hotel is sprawling - it was quite a walk from the lobby to our room, and the high altitude made the walk seem even longer.  The room was huge, with lots of nice touches, including a humidifier to help with the very dry air of Lhasa.  More startling were the two canisters of oxygen as part of the mini bar, and a red SOS button at the side of the bed.  A doctor is kept on staff for guests suffering from the high altitude - luckily, we didn't need to use any of these extras.  We were both pretty wiped, though, and took the recommended nap after we got settled.  

We sampled the buffet dinner, which was a bit pricey for what was offered, but our guide had advised that we stick to hotel food.  We saw Leonid at dinner, and he suggested we head up to the sixth floor after dinner for an excellent view of the beautifully lit Potala Palace.  It got dark quite late here, around nine p.m., and we soon understood that all of China must be on Beijing Standard Time.  Tibet is a good deal west of Beijing, but other parts of China are even further west.  This is like NYC and LA being in the same time zone.  In any case, the view of the palace was indeed excellent.

This banner of China's great leaders is displayed everywhere

Potala Palace in the distance

The mountains behind the palace are not visible at night

Thankfully, we had one more day of down time before our tour, because I woke up with what felt like a hangover - tired, headache, etc.  I was out of breath from the short walk to breakfast.  We ate a small meal, then went back to the room to crash again.

More shots from the lovely lobby

 

In the afternoon, we pushed ourselves to go out for a walk, and discovered that the real beauty of Tibet is in its people.  We got many curious looks, some suspicious looks, and some smiling "hello"s.  The people have the most beautiful, ruddy-cheeked faces, full of character.  We wandered up a few streets and luckily found our way into the Old Town area.  We were fascinated by the huge slabs of fresh red meat out in some of the stalls, some still with fur on it.  Tim picked up an inexpensive fedora-type hat like the locals wear.  

The hotel grounds

 

Out on the street...

lots of (yak?) meat stalls

entrance to the market

the mosque

We came upon the Muslim area, with a mosque, and men wearing skull caps.  An old man was reading aloud from the Quran in his little shop.  In the middle of the market was a security check point, and we decided it was a good place to head back the other way.  Tim was worried about losing the pocket knife he was carrying.

We walked back to the hotel, had a soup and sandwich, and turned in early.  Tomorrow would begin our guided tour.