To Xining in Qinghai Province

As the train left the Tibetan plateau the next morning, we were breathing much easier, perhaps even on a oxygen-rich high.

The scenery gradually became more typical of Han China, with terraced agriculture and deciduous forests.

Xining, the capital of Qinghai Autonomous Region, was greatly undersold by our Guangzhou agent who described it as a "nowhere" town. We found instead a reasonable size city with an obligatory city square drabbed in national colours (being China's National Day the following day) and surrounded by relatively modern buildings with departmental stores. What's more, the museum had a rich and well presented collection of Tibetan artefacts.

But we had to seel the refuge of KFC before we could find a cup of coffee.

Lhasa-Xining (2) The Scenery

Before I came on the trip I had expected the Tibetan plateau to be a boringly flat plain of high altitude most famous for the engineering of the railway that runs over it. What we found was something quite different.

The scenery was picturesque;

occasionally bare but for the railway line . . .

. . . but with striking colours and hues . . .

. . . a dry land sometimes laced with clear mountain streams . . .

. . . with a backdrop of distant snow-capped mountains . .

. . . yet elsewhere we saw patches of sandy desert . . .
. . . but mostly grassland with grazing yaks . . .
. . . watched by herdsmen and railway workers . . .
. . . when our eyes were not on the info display.

Lhasa-Xining (1) How China built a new railway

We heard much about the newly completed railway which in parts rest on subsoil permafrost and runs at altitudes higher than 5000 m above sea level. This new link for Tibet to the rest of China raises environmental and cultural concerns for some but for others it promises to bring much for the future development of Tibet. We found the train surprisingly ordinary. Perhaps the intention was not for a luxury style travel for tourists but economical transportation for the masses.

Nowadays China does everything in a big way. The massive Lhasa Station has a grand entrance hall . . .

. . . . . and an equally spacious plateform . . . .

. . . and very soft seats in the soft-seat lounge .

The locos looked surprisingly similar to the thousands all over China . . .

but the bus interchange was the biggest we have ever seen.
Inside, it was just like any other carriage, but neat and clean .
. . . with unusually modern wash basins . . .
. . . and bright dining cars which turned out to be more for the staff because we were eventually asked to leave so that they could have their dinner. After all it was the Workers' Paradise.


For all of us, the greatest comfort was from the oxygen enriched atmosphere.

Faces of Tibet

Monks Debating

None of us had expected that watching monks debating would turn out to be so absorbing. We understood not one word of what they were saying and little of their religion. Nevertheless, at the Sera Monastery we found ourselves, among hundreds of tourists, watching intensely the gestures and voices for more than an hour and almost understood the deep exchange of theological dialectics.

Below, two video clips of the monks in action.

PETER'S LETTER (5)

Dear and patient readers,

Free Day in Lhasa and whilst Kin-mun and Kay are out shopping I am taking the opportunity for an extended period at the laptop. Everyone should travel with such friends! And by the way, we all are still good friends- ain’t that a miracle?

Mind you I think I could go off a few million Buddhists quite easily if I have to suffer the cramped and dingy interiors filled with thousands of devotees and gallons of rancid yak butter again. That was yesterday when we went to the Johkang temple. In reality the problem was “us’ rather than “them” as we were encroaching on their space and devotions. There is something to be said for a non-functioning place like the Potala Palace which we ‘did’ the day before. Tourists and guides are child’s play compared with the great unwashed. One pleasant aspect though was that we were able to get onto the roof which afforded good views of the old town and the Potala Palace. Lots of “new town” buildings too but as they are largely Han Chinese areas we pretend that they aren’t there, just as I suspect that they pretend that the Tibetans really aren’t there except to attract tourism and keep business flowing. A whole big can of worms that question and as I am not partial to worms and I certainly have no answers, I’ll leave it there.

We really enjoyed the visit to the Potala Palace which happened on day two of our stay. I don’t think anyone was up to the steep climb to the levels of rooms and shrines but with gradual ascent we all made it and then very much enjoyed seeing the contents. Mostly of a religious nature for though the place was administered through the religion, the bits we saw were things like burial stupas of all the previous 13 Dali Lamas, throne rooms and audience rooms. Certainly the highlight of the visit to date, and as we only have one more monastery to see tomorrow before catching the train to the lowlands on Saturday, I think it will remain so. Mind you, the monastery at Gandan is about 40km out of town so I trust that we see a bit of the countryside. Our guide tried to talk us into an expensive trip to a holy lake some hundreds of kilometres away but precarious wellness and sense made us decline.

Keir came down with a gum infection yesterday and did my trick of paying a visit to the local dental services. $5 for the visit, $1 for the pills. He’ll doubtless dine out on the experience but the upshot was that he has antibiotics which seem to be working. He has been sent out to do some shopping whilst I do this and seemed well enough for the task. I still have periods of listlessness and breathing problems but they seem to come right after a while. The others have caught colds but are not letting such things stop them getting out and about. I think I should be able to add a snap or two just to give you an idea of things. Hope it works because Hotmail is a bit lousy with the space available for attachments.

One interesting Buddhist thing we did yesterday was go to an out of town monastery to watch a daily debating forum they have in a courtyard. It is just the monks debating matters of faith amongst themselves and the detail is not available to the viewers unless you are a Tibetan trained in theology. It lacked one’s involvement as a consequence but it was an interesting bit of theatre. Lots off noise and hand slapping as they made their points to each other.

I am sure that this is more than enough to digest, and I haven’t even mentioned the food! It is all very agreeable- even the yak meat, my only objection is that the daily lunches run to about 10 courses and I am never that hungry. Today I get to choose a simple snack of my own once K gets back from the shopping trip.

Lots of love,

P

Jokhang Temple

While the Potala is the political base of the Dalai Lamas, the Jokhang Temple is the spiritual base of the Tibetan people.

Everyday thousands of pilgrims and devotees pray in their characteristic ritual of repeated prostrations.
Others paraded around the temple .......
......many spinning their prayer wheels.

A panoramic view of the Potala Square

The main square in front of the Potala Palace is huge, like the Tiananmen Square in Beijing or the Red Square in Moscow. Here is a panoramic view, beginning with the "Memorial to the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" which faces the Potala Palace.

Lhasa at last !

We flew to Lhasa from Zhongdian and was immediately surprised by the modern facilities - the modern airport building and the impressive tunnel through a mountain range that cut travelling time from the airport to Lhasa.

On the way, a roadside fresco with offerings of silk scarves.
But of course we were all looking forward to seeing the Potala Palace, the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas which we visited on our second day.

The building was imposing and with nearly all of us suffering from one form of altitude illness or another, the ascent was most trying ...........




But we all managed it.

PETER'S LETTER (4)

Blessing of the Lord Budda upon you all,

Here we are at the top of the world, or fairly close to it, and having a riotous eve with our fellow travellers eating watermelon which our guide graciously gave us as down payment on his tip. Well that is my cynical assessment, but the watermelon is sweet and lovely, as is being here in Lhasa.

Had the most wonderful flight up from Shangri-la this morning on China Southern ( yep a real airline with real service and clean modern aircraft) but the highlight was the views from the window- every 5 minutes I am sure that I saw Everest but probably in reality it was over the clouds to the south. Wonderful shots of glaciers, lakes and valleys carved by the ice, living geography. The descent into Lhasa airport was spectacular too as we came down a parallel valley just over the ridge of peaks, did a sharp u-turn and made a smooth landing. Far better than I could have done on my flight simulator but I’ll have to try it when I get home- just for the fun of it. Mind you the place is about 60km out of town so there was some sightseeing on the way in, and a stop at a shrine where I did a marvellous trick of falling backwards into a rubbish drum. There’s a clown in every group.
On the downside I have come down with a bit of altitude sickness- well headaches at least. Have managed to eat a lovely meal tonight so there is no danger that I will waste away. We also managed a walk around our nearest Buddhist temple with hundreds of devotees who periodically stop and prostate themselves in the most energetic and athletic manner. Would remove my gut in a hundred moves I reckon so there’s an incentive if ever I could avoid one. Never feel too comfortable with all this obvious religion but there is no doubt that the people certainly feel and live their faith. That’s the native Tibetans but of course there are sizeable numbers of Han Chinese who make sure that the wheels of commerce move smoothly for things other than the nic nacs and handicrafts that the Tibetans sell. The new town is every bit a modern Chinese city but of course the colour and the movement is in the old part.

Since the last report we had our last days in Shangri-la, visiting the local monastery which was substantial and very vibrant, and dare I say it, colourful. The steps were a bit of a killer for Keir, who’s knees are not the best. Will have to gird his loins before we do the Potala Palace in the next day or two, hopefully he will be able to get a telescopic walking stick to help his effort.

Enough for now folks, will just have to sever this marvellous fibre-optic connection available in the hotel room as Kin Mun has need of his laptop. Should be back in a couple of days so get ready with the delete button!!

All the best,
P& K

Getting Ready for Tibet

With Tibet travellers Jessie and Seong. Peter and Kier, where the bloody hell are you ?