Lhasa: a city of multiple faces
Another great day in Lhasa. After a rainy night the air was cool and fresh as we left for our last day of sightseeing. Today we visited the Jokhang Temple and the Sera Monastery. The difference being that a Monastery teaches all subjects from religion to geography to science where a Temple focus on mostly religion. Both were great visits as well as seeing more of the people of Lhasa. Again, hospital it is not possible for me to share everything I saw and learned but here is a brief overview. The Jokhang Temple is the spiritual center of Tibet. It was built in 647AD and is the oldest temple in Tibet. Every year, cheap millions of pilgrims make a long pilgrimage to Jokhang. The famous Barkhor Street was initially the way on which the pilgrims prostrated themselves and crawled around Jokhang Temple. Today, Tibetan people still follow this custom, moving clockwise around Jokhang Temple every dawn and dusk. See my video on the main dispatch page of Buddhist Life in Lhasa. As always, the faces tell the story: The Sera Monastery is in northern Lhasa and is one of three famous monasteries in Lhasa along with the Drepung Monastery and the Ganden Monastery. The primary hall is the Coqen Hall, which was built in 1710, is a four-story building. We were allowed to take photographs inside the Hall. An interesting part of a visit to the Sera Monastery is the “Debating Monks” As a part of their study, lamas must participate in debates to further their understanding and then move to more advanced levels of study. The debates in the Sera Monastery are unique among the three famous monasteries in Lhasa. They occur each day and are overseen by the Lamas. I was not sure if this was performance art for the tourist or the real thing. After watching for a while, I think is quite real and intense but still light hearted for some. Please see the video on the main dispatch page. So back to the question I posed a day or so ago: Is Lhasa a city of legends or is it a modern Chinese city full of commerce and wealth? The answer, I think is both. It is certainly a booming modern city with tall buildings and more under construction. Everyone has mobile phones and the streets are packed at rush hours with new cars. The shopping is good as well. The Temples and Monasteries hold the past with a firm grip. And the Tibetan people refuse to let go of their past as shown by the throngs praying outside the temples and making offerings inside. Their clothing and timeless faces tell their story so well. It was an honor to visit Lhasa and her people. The team is doing well, no serious health problem and we are all acclimatizing well here at 11,000′. Tomorrow we are off on the Friendship Highway to Shigatse visiting the Tashilunpo Monastery en route. I will miss my high speed internet connection! Please remember to look at the two new videos on the main dispatch page Please remember Memories are Everything Climb On! Alan
The Potala, Home of the Dalai Lamas
What a day! This is why I wanted to come to Lhasa. We made two visits to scared places: Norbulingka, the summer home of the Dalai Lamas and the Potala, the winter home of the Dalai Lamas. Both places were inspirational and gave me new insight into the culture of the Tibetans and the Buddhist religion. It is completely impossible for me to share with you via this dispatch what I saw and learned so I encourage you to research these places on the web or even better plan a visit here! However, here is a brief overview and some pictures of the outside since no photography is allowed inside the Palaces. NorbuLingka was the summer Palace for the Dalai Lama. It was built in 1755. Each year from mid-March to the end of October the Dalai Lama would move residence from the Potala Palace for the hot summer. It is a beautiful, peaceful and quiet campus of over 340 rooms in many buildings surrounding by flowers, grass and flowing water. It is easy to see how mediation could happen here. The winter palace was the Potala Palace. It sits on Marpo Ri hill, about 400 feet above the Lhasa valley. The Palace is 13 stories high and towers above everything in Lhasa. Early legends tell of a sacred cave that was the dwelling place of the Bodhisattva Chenresi (Avilokiteshvara). The cave was also used as a meditation re by Tibetan Emperor Songtsen Gampo who then built a palace on the hill in 637. The present Palace was built around this cave in 1645 during the reign of the fifth Dalai Lama. There are two separate Palaces, the Red Palace and the White Palace. Red is where the Dalai Lama lived and served as the religious center of the Palace and the White was for the government offices of Tibet. It took over 7000 workers and 1500 artists and craftsman to complete the Palace. It is built using mud, wood and straw mostly! There are so many people touring the Potala that you are limited to one hour. We quickly strolled through room after room after room. Each one more breath taking than the previous one. They held statues, living quarters, meditation rooms, beds, chairs, gold models and then the most stunning of all, the pagodas which hold the remains for eight previous Dalai Lamas. Just thinking of the history represented by the murals, carvings and the very vessels was amazing. In each room a Monk sat quietly on a bed of quilts observing the visitors. Occasionally he would ask for someone to remove a hat or not touch a mural but mostly he sat quietly often chanting prayers. At one point I saw a mother cat her her two kittens. I foolishly asked about the history of the cats … well consider where I was! “They are here for the mice.” I was gently told. Anyway, nice work if you can get if for a cat! The views of Lhasa were excellent from the Potala. All in all it was a great day and we were acclimatizing! Tomorrow more tourist activities before leaving Lhasa on the way to Shisha Base camp. Please remember – Memories are everything Climb On! Alan
Lhasa, Tibet
We made it to Lhasa! After an early morning start we made the short trip to the Kathmandu airport for our 10:30 flight on Air China to the capital of Tibet. I guess it is a commentary on modern times and Jamie’s organizational skills since our travels went quite smooth. The 2 hour flight on an Airbus 320 was punctuational and comfortable. It was somewhat cloudy over Nepal so we had limited views of the Himalayas but one 8000m Hill was poking through the clouds. I was excited to see Lhasa since it has so much history. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Was it the old city of legends or was it a modern Chinese city full of commerce and wealth? The flight path followed the Yellow River, ask the largest river in Tibet, revealing a large Monastery along the banks. The landscape was very mountainous without many trees or green areas. Soon we landed at a very modern airport and went through a series of straightforward entry procedures. Our Tibetan guide met us and soon all 13 of us were in a modern van for the hour and half trip to Lhasa. The airport is 30 miles from the city proper since it is quite mountainous around Lhasa. Our guide explained with great pride about the new tunnel that saved over an hour in travel time. The roads were all paved and commerce was in full force as we passed several multi story government buildings, an oil refinery and other sites for manufacturing as well as housing for the workers. Quite surprising when you consider just how remote we were. Take a look at a map and you will see that Lhasa is located in the middle of, well, nowhere! Occasionally we saw the small farm with prayer flags waving in the breeze or a local in traditional garb walking the roads. The traffic was well controlled, much different from the organized chaos of Kathmandu. We entered the city and one of the first sights was a Buick and Volkswagen dealership but late model Toyota Land Cruisers seemed to be the vehicle of choice. Arriving at the hotel, I was pleased and surprised to see two old friends. Ang Tshering who is a Sherpa who organizes and leads local logistics mostly for Adventure Consultants and was here to lead a Cho Oyu climb. I was with him on Ama Dablam and Everest so it was great to see his gold filled smile once again. I also saw , leading an RMI Cho Oyu trip, whom I was in Pakistan last year. Once again it goes to show what a small world it is. The hotel is quite modern. Aptly named The Himalaya Hotel, it seems to be the place for mountain expeditions and western tourists. The rooms are modern, clean and comfortable ( this is starting to sound like a Fodor’s report!) In fact there is an Internet connection with 100 mbs speed! We will be here for three nights and play tourist while acclimatizing (yes, we are on a climbing expedition!) since Lhasa is at 11,000 feet. So, Lhasa appears to be a modern Chinese city with all the trappings. But a quick walk about reveals another side. More on that in the next dispatch. Please remember Memories are Everything. Climb On! Alan