Monday, November 9, 2015
Something important that I learned today ... Yak is an acquired taste. More about that later.
Bright and early this morning, we flew from Chongqing to Lhasa, Tibet. The bright, sunny clear skies and 28 degree temperature felt GREAT after the oppressive heat of Cambodia and the pollution of Chongqing.
We were greeted at the Lhasa airport by 4 lovely Tibetan ladies dressed in their native regalia, performing a traditional Tibetan greeting.
The first lady tied a scarf around our necks to symbolize purity and safety while in Tibet. The second lady shared a basket decorated with colorful barley sprigs, filled with grains of barley and barley flour. We were instructed to take a pinch and throw the barley into the air to make sure we wouldn't go hungry.
Next was a bowl of sacred water to dip our fingers in and flick in the air. (Or in your ear - as Gail thought were our instructions. An easy mistake. Air - Ear. Sounds similar). Here was the problem. The Barley flour followed by the sacred water made a nasty sacred paste and was difficult to "flick" anywhere - air nor ear! My jeans had to suffice. And our last greeting was a basket of goodies. Dove Chocolates and Yak Butter cookies. To my knowledge, I've never met a cookie that I didn't like ... until now. The Yak Butter cookie was rock hard so I just popped the whole thing in my mouth, which I knew immediately was a big mistake. The taste was appalling!
I wanted to do a "Tom Hanks" from the movie "Big," when he opened his mouth and let the caviar fall to the ground. I wanted to just open my mouth and let the vile tasting cookie fall out to the ground. Somehow, I maintained proper etiquette and swallowed the Yak Cookie. But it took two Dove chocolate bars and a full bottle of water to the rid my mouth of the disgusting after taste!!
Oh, by the way, Yak is an animal similar to a cow, except bigger and covered with long hair and is the main source of meat, cheese and milk in this area.
We later had opportunities to taste Yak cheese, Yak Butter Tea and Yak meat to totally confirm my earlier comment of Yak ... Yuk!!
Surrounded by the Himalayas, the altitude in Tibet is over 12,000 feet. During the ride from the Lhasa airport to the center of Tibet, we passed over 100 individual high rise apartment buildings currently under construction. There are enough new apartments to house over one million people. Our guide told us that China is taking over Tibet by slowly moving Chinese in to these apartment buildings. It won't be long before the Tibetans will be in the minority. Kind of sad, actually.
I don't really understand the politics of why this is happening and the guide made it crystal clear that he could not answer any political questions. Nor any questions about the government. An interesting side note, the government has exiled the 14th Dalai Lama. What's that all about?? Our government, with all it's faults, at least occasionally makes sense. But the Chinese government. Well, you decide.
Today, we visited Jokhang Temple. There are thousands of tourists traveling here each day, so our guide asked us to stay together in a tight group. She kept referring to "sticky rice," to let us know how to stick close together. Known as one of the most sacred Buddhist Temples, people pilgrimage to this spot from miles around.
Most of them prostrate along the way, which means, they take 3 steps and then fall to the ground, face down, extending their bodies flat with hands above their heads, rising again for another 3 steps before prostrating again, all the while chanting prayers. That's why the journey takes so long for many of them. I met a gent today, wearing a leather apron to keep his clothing from shredding who has been on this journey for two years to reach Jokhang, traveling over 800 miles. Notice the callus on his forehead and nose from prostrating so many times. I am amazed by the devotion of these pilgrims. On the way to the Temple, we passed literally hundreds of these people.
Every morning, Tibetans wake early (around 5:00) to go for a "Holy Walk" around the old town. It usually takes 3 hours to complete the walk, while constantly spinning their prayer wheels, as they murmur chants.
Stationed along the way are large prayer wheels that people reach out to spin as they walk past, again while offering up prayers. Thousands of people take the Holy Walk every morning. Again, this devotion is amazing.
Ok, back to Jokhang Temple. We could take photos outside, but the government has forbidden photos of inside the Temple. So I'll try to describe what we saw. In a nutshell, the inside of the Temple was dark and smokey from burning incense and candles. Yak Butter filled tubs with several rows of wicks burn in large tubs throughout the Temple. Pilgrims bring thermos bottles of melted Yak Butter to pour into these candle tubs as an offering. Ok, so I can add burning Yak Butter candles to my list of disgusting Yak products. Several of the folks in our group (including me) were almost overcome by the smoke and stale air. (Cough, gag, cough.)
Buddhas are everywhere. The most famous of these is the statue of a twelve year old child Buddha. Pilgrims visit this location every day depositing money at the foot of the statue and murmuring prayers.
The Temple's woodwork, which frames each room from floor to ceiling as well as the many murals painted on the walls, is hand carved with intricate designs and then beautifully painted with the five major colors of Tibet; blue representing the sky, red for fire, yellow for the earth, green for water and white for air.
The ceiling is covered with beautiful silk handwoven into gorgeous designs, some depicting pictorial stories. Several tiny alcoves tucked into the perimeter walls are Buddha "shrines." ... sort of tiny temples within the temple. Gold guilt cabinets with glass doors to protect different types of Buddha statues line the walls. It made me think of Amen and Bob's Africa Room in their Aspen home in that there is not a surface from floor to ceiling that isn't covered with something colorful and interesting or an amazing artifact. From the roof of the Jokhang Temple, we enjoyed fabulous views of Potala Palace, Dalai Lama's Winter home. This is a pretty nice pad for a humble man. I guess the Pope has a pretty nice place, too. Guess it's just a perk of the job. Too bad he's exiled.
The Tibetan colors (blue, red, yellow, green and white) are used in Tibetan Prayer Flags which wave from roof tops of homes, businesses and even on the mountainside throughout Tibet. I think the flags are beautiful and I bought several of them to add to my tipi in Aspen.
Back at the beautiful St. Regis Hotel, we had a "typical" Tibetan family style dinner. Most of the food brought to the lazy susan on our table remained on our plates, uneaten. Finally, someone asked for some rice, which we all devoured. I mentioned earlier that Chinese food is not my favorite. Tibetan food is a close second.
Just a word about this hotel. This is the only St. Regis Hotel I've ever been to that did not have a cocktail lounge. Kind of shocking. The rooms were fabulous large suites, with amazing art work hanging around the room. It would have been one of the nicest rooms I've stayed in, except the air-conditioning and hair dryer didn't work. There must have been a breakdown in communication with the folks at the front desk because housekeeping never brought up a working hair dryer and my room was like a furnace. I finally got the NatGeo staff involved and maintenance finally came up to address the a/c issue. They unlocked and opened the window. Problem solved, except for the overwhelming smell of incense that lingers in the Tibetan air. I coughed myself to sleep.
Tuesday, November 10th, 2015
The next morning, we toured the Potala Palace, the winter residence of the Dalai Lama, except for one thing ... he's been in exile in Nepal for years. There are still lots of folks living and working here. The white portion of the building is used for government offices.
The yellow buildings are residences for the monks and used for meditation. The red portion is used for the Dalai Lama's residence. As we passed through rooms, Monks sat in little nooks quietly chanting prayers - and get this - most of them had iPhones. What do you think they do with an iPhone??? I did see a photo in one of the lectures today showing a Prayer Wheel Ap. I don't know. I just thought that was quite an interesting juxtaposition. I mean, if they have entered the 21st century ... why are they monks??
I've already described the Jokhang Temple. Just ditto the description to get a picture of the Potala Palace. They look very similar. Maybe if you see one Temple, you've seen them all. There is one major difference, though. There are 365 steps to navigate leading up to the Potala Palace. It was relatively easy ... even at altitude. Again, photos inside the Palace are forbidden.
After the Palace tour, we visited a "monk-ery" AKA the Sera Monastery. This is also the location of the local college.
Controlled by the monks, but dictated by the government, every afternoon for two hours, six days per week, the monks "debate" outside in a courtyard, basically chastising each other over the "three poisons," Ignorance, Hate and Desire. This has become a local tourist attraction. It was quite interesting to see a courtyard filled with monks arguing with one another.
Ok, so I'm totally templed out, Monked out, and tour guided out. We went back to the hotel and prepared for a special dinner tonight. November 10th, 2015 is Bruce and Gail's 25th wedding anniversary and Bruce has something special planned.
For each NatGeo trip to Tibet, they have a traditional Tibetan wedding ceremony for the group. To celebrate their 25th anniversary, Bruce wanted to renew his wedding vows with Gail, so the NatGeo people didn't have to hire actors for this performance tonight. Bruce and Gail took the stage and we had a lovely ceremony.
I am totally over China. My goal was to spend all of my Chinese money because I can't imagine why I would ever want to come back to visit this country. The people were rude and aggressive, constantly pushing and shoving. It sort of became a joke with us after a while. But its not really a joke. And the government's involvement was stifling. The government dictates what they can watch on tv, what websites they can use and have blocked internet access to social media like FaceTime and Instagram AND gmail. That's why I couldn't make blog entries. It was forbidden.
People here are very careful with their words. Cameras are EVERYWHERE constantly monitoring activities of the people. I think it would be very difficult to live in fear with this communist regime. However, the people seem to be fairly happy. Reminds me of something my Daddy used to say ... "You don't miss what you ain't never had." Guess he's right. But don't be looking for my return to China any time soon.
Tomorrow morning, we leave for India.
Something important that I learned today ... Yak is an acquired taste. More about that later.
Bright and early this morning, we flew from Chongqing to Lhasa, Tibet. The bright, sunny clear skies and 28 degree temperature felt GREAT after the oppressive heat of Cambodia and the pollution of Chongqing.
We were greeted at the Lhasa airport by 4 lovely Tibetan ladies dressed in their native regalia, performing a traditional Tibetan greeting.
 |
| Pat gets her Tibetan Blessing. |
 |
| Bruce taking a Yak Cookie. Spit it out!!! |
 |
| Basket of Barley flour and grain. |
 |
| Yak photo borrowed from Wikapedia. |
We later had opportunities to taste Yak cheese, Yak Butter Tea and Yak meat to totally confirm my earlier comment of Yak ... Yuk!!
Surrounded by the Himalayas, the altitude in Tibet is over 12,000 feet. During the ride from the Lhasa airport to the center of Tibet, we passed over 100 individual high rise apartment buildings currently under construction. There are enough new apartments to house over one million people. Our guide told us that China is taking over Tibet by slowly moving Chinese in to these apartment buildings. It won't be long before the Tibetans will be in the minority. Kind of sad, actually.
 |
| Hundreds of Apartment Buildings and Condos are under construction preparing for the Chinese invasion of Tibet. |
Today, we visited Jokhang Temple. There are thousands of tourists traveling here each day, so our guide asked us to stay together in a tight group. She kept referring to "sticky rice," to let us know how to stick close together. Known as one of the most sacred Buddhist Temples, people pilgrimage to this spot from miles around.
 |
| This Pilgrim wears a leather apron to protect his clothing. |
 |
| He has traveled 800 miles to visit the temple, prostrating along the way. Took him 2 years to get this far. |
 |
| Look at the callus on this man's forehead and nose from Prostrating. |
Every morning, Tibetans wake early (around 5:00) to go for a "Holy Walk" around the old town. It usually takes 3 hours to complete the walk, while constantly spinning their prayer wheels, as they murmur chants.
 |
| Pilgrims spin these stationary prayer wheels as they mummer prayers. |
 |
| This is a portable Prayer Wheel that most people walk with during the holy walk. |
Buddhas are everywhere. The most famous of these is the statue of a twelve year old child Buddha. Pilgrims visit this location every day depositing money at the foot of the statue and murmuring prayers.
The Temple's woodwork, which frames each room from floor to ceiling as well as the many murals painted on the walls, is hand carved with intricate designs and then beautifully painted with the five major colors of Tibet; blue representing the sky, red for fire, yellow for the earth, green for water and white for air.
 |
| This shows an example of the extravagant paintings in the Temple Courtyard |
The Tibetan colors (blue, red, yellow, green and white) are used in Tibetan Prayer Flags which wave from roof tops of homes, businesses and even on the mountainside throughout Tibet. I think the flags are beautiful and I bought several of them to add to my tipi in Aspen.
Back at the beautiful St. Regis Hotel, we had a "typical" Tibetan family style dinner. Most of the food brought to the lazy susan on our table remained on our plates, uneaten. Finally, someone asked for some rice, which we all devoured. I mentioned earlier that Chinese food is not my favorite. Tibetan food is a close second.
Just a word about this hotel. This is the only St. Regis Hotel I've ever been to that did not have a cocktail lounge. Kind of shocking. The rooms were fabulous large suites, with amazing art work hanging around the room. It would have been one of the nicest rooms I've stayed in, except the air-conditioning and hair dryer didn't work. There must have been a breakdown in communication with the folks at the front desk because housekeeping never brought up a working hair dryer and my room was like a furnace. I finally got the NatGeo staff involved and maintenance finally came up to address the a/c issue. They unlocked and opened the window. Problem solved, except for the overwhelming smell of incense that lingers in the Tibetan air. I coughed myself to sleep.
Tuesday, November 10th, 2015
The next morning, we toured the Potala Palace, the winter residence of the Dalai Lama, except for one thing ... he's been in exile in Nepal for years. There are still lots of folks living and working here. The white portion of the building is used for government offices.
 |
| Potala Palace |
 |
| Advertisement for Prayer Wheel Ap for iPhone. Are you kidding me?? |
After the Palace tour, we visited a "monk-ery" AKA the Sera Monastery. This is also the location of the local college.
 |
| Monks "debate" 2 hours per day, 6 days per week. |
Ok, so I'm totally templed out, Monked out, and tour guided out. We went back to the hotel and prepared for a special dinner tonight. November 10th, 2015 is Bruce and Gail's 25th wedding anniversary and Bruce has something special planned.
 |
| Bruce & Gail renew their vows at a Tibetan Wedding Ceremony. |
I am totally over China. My goal was to spend all of my Chinese money because I can't imagine why I would ever want to come back to visit this country. The people were rude and aggressive, constantly pushing and shoving. It sort of became a joke with us after a while. But its not really a joke. And the government's involvement was stifling. The government dictates what they can watch on tv, what websites they can use and have blocked internet access to social media like FaceTime and Instagram AND gmail. That's why I couldn't make blog entries. It was forbidden.
People here are very careful with their words. Cameras are EVERYWHERE constantly monitoring activities of the people. I think it would be very difficult to live in fear with this communist regime. However, the people seem to be fairly happy. Reminds me of something my Daddy used to say ... "You don't miss what you ain't never had." Guess he's right. But don't be looking for my return to China any time soon.
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