Some thoughts on Tibet

We have been wanting to write a wrap up Tibet post. We are struggling with what we can write with getting ourselves banned from Tibet or china, or, more importantly, getting our tour operator in trouble (loss of business license or worse). I guess that says a lot right there.

As it was apparently I'm on some kind of watch list. Our tour operator was warned to keep an eye on me while I was in the country. I was warned not to run my mouth off in public because who knows who might be listening. The funny thing is, I've never actually been a member of Free Tibet, and I don't have a very political online presence. Matt figures I must have signed some Amnesty Int'l thing, and my mom pointed out we occupied the university Jiang Zemin and his APEC guys were meeting at in the '90's. Maybe that's enough? I've never invested the time to understand the situation in Tibet well enough to have a solid informed opinion. In fact, I've known socialists who actually supported the occupation. It's funny, that that's all changed now.

Nothing herein is suggested to reflect the opinions of our guide or tour operator. It's all what we saw or discovered ourselves.

The Tibetans are pretty strictly controlled. I was surprised at the extent of the police state feel. There are checkpoints around all the major religious sites, and throughout the Tibetan section of town (not the Chinese section). They are checking everyone, but especially monks and young people for anything flammable (to protect against self immolations, which are a problem but not reported there). They also check young Tibetans' cell phones for Tibetan music or books. Frequently travel within the country by Tibetans (pilgrimages to Lhasa) is restricted. It's also near impossible for young Tibetans to get a passport, and even if they do they'll face trouble if they visit India. Our own travel permit had accumulated over a dozen official checkpoint stamps by the end. We were warned of other travelers having their India or China guidebooks confiscated because it mentions the current Dalai Lama. Ours made it through, but I had deleted the Tibet chapter from the kindle just in case. (Now I know why you can't buy any foreign published china guides in china)

There are not many jobs for young Tibetans. Tourism is a big one. While we were in Shigatse all the kids were lining up to find out how they did on the police entrance exam (to be one of the check point police, kind of glorified security guards). It's interesting to think of the young Tibetans at the check points, searching their peers.

Even though there is a significant amount of Chinese immigration to Tibet, we didn't see the same rampant expansion that was evident in China. Lhasa is surrounded by mountains, and 11% of the area is a protected wetland, so they can't go out too much. Still, the tallest building (other than Potala) is the Police HQ at 13 stories. There were random Chinese cities we passed in the train where I counted dozens of developments, each made up of 8-10 thirty-story high rises, all under construction (I am my father's daughter, I'm always looking out at cities counting cranes and building skeletons). I'm sure Tibet will continue to develop, and maybe it will be mega cities in the hinterlands near the natural resources the Chinese are seeking.

The Chinese brought in more schools and hospitals. Those are important. Also, all little kids are supposed to be going go school. Secondary education is only in Chinese so if you want your kid to go far, you need to sent them to Chinese primary, not Tibetan. Tibet does not have the water and power issues that neighboring Nepal has (thanks to the Chinese). Also, the Chinese have made impressive strides in protecting wetland and other sensitive ecosystems. The environmental regulations they enforced when building the railway were supposedly some of the strictest in the world.

Still, culture, religion and language are a lot to barter for infrastructure. The 8% of Chinese who are not Han pack in a huge amount of diversity. I would be curious to know if the Manchu or the Miao or any of the 50+ other ethnic groups have similar pressure on their culture?

Some people who support a free Tibet discourage travel there. They say that your dollars are supporting the Chinese (why we used Tibetan guide, driver, hotels, restaurants, etc.), or that by going you are tacitly supporting the occupation.

The current Dalai Lama (whose image is seriously banned in Tibet) says to go see and learn for yourself, I'm glad we did.

(The Tibetans we met were proud of their culture, this is my favorite example. I asked if there was a tradition of Tibetans climbing to the top of the high mountains around them. Our guide said no, but the first man to climb Everest was Tibetan, but he lived in Nepal, Tenzing Norgay. I asked why he climbed, and the guide told us it was because some Europeans wanted to go. Haha! No mention of Edmund Hillary, I love it)

Lhasa, Tibet

The Potala Palace seen from the Jokhang Temple.

View from the roof of Jokhang Temple.

Lhasa, with the Sera Monastery at the foot of the mountains and a hermitage (yellow building) seen half way up.

Wooden printing blocks in the printing house of the Sera Monastery.

Student monks debate the philosophies of Buddhism.

Prayer flags after the sunset.

The iconic Potala Palace.

Hits of oxygen about 3 dollars at our hotel. We fortunately were fine with the altitude change.

Momos! Tibetan dumplings.

One of the many 'auspicious' peaks of the mountains that surround Lhasa (note the prayer flags).

The Potala Palace dominates the skyline at night.

We really are having a wonderful time in Lhasa. Our Tibetan guide and Tibetan tour organizer have made the experience really valuable.

Our first full day we visited the Jokhang temple in the morning. The devotion of the pilgrims prostrating themselves outside the temple (some of whom have made the 30 day trip from their village in this fashion) is moving. The temple was built 1300 years ago by the popular King Songsten Gampo. Originally it was built to house an image of Buddha brought to Tibet by the king's Nepalese wife, but it is actually the Jowa Sakyamuni (sacred statue of Buddha brought by the Chinese wife) that makes this temple the spiritual heart of Tibet.

In the afternoon we went to the Sera monastery, where pilgrims stand in line for hours to be blessed with health and longevity. Also, the young monks here spend their afternoons in active and lively debate about logic and philosophy (with lots of claps and stomps, I think to emphasize their points).

Today we visited Potala palace, which is a marvel in any century. Most notably it is the former residence of the Dalai Lama(s). It was also both the spiritual and governmental center of Tibet. Deep within the palace there are two chapels that remain from the original 7th century structure. The rest of the palace was built between the 17th and 20th century. It contains a thousand rooms, over 200,000 statues, and the tombs of 8 former Dalai Lamas (5, 7-13). There are a series of tunnels built throughout the palace in case the need arose to make a hasty exit. And there were, at one time, rumored to be hidden rooms that contained enough wealth to built the palace again. 

Later we wandered through the Tibetan and Muslim parts of town. People have been so much friendlier than we are used to, and are quick to smile back at us and thank us for using our poorly pronounced Tibetan greetings. It is low season, and it was particularly hard to get permits to visit the past few months, so other than a handful of Chinese tourists, and the pilgrims, we're it. We haven't seen any other foreigners, and we are the only guests in our hotel. 

- Bree

Chengdu to Lhasa, Tibet

Sunrise on the train to Tibet.

Frozen shore of a lake in Tibet, didn't catch the name and can't find it on the map.

From a Colorado middle school, bought in Mongolia and read on the train to Tibet. But is it better than the movie?

Just in case.... the last 12hrs of the train is all above 10,000ft

In our awesome hotel room, post train, pre showers. 

We made it to Lhasa, Tibet this afternoon after a 44hr train from Chengdu. The train was the cleanest train we had been on in China, apparently doesn't even dump their sewage onto the tracks! (most of trains so far have, so, don't walk on the train tracks in Russia or China, just fyi).

The Chinese are obviously pretty proud of the Lhasa train, there were a series of special announcements about it made on board. They told us about going through the highest railroad pass at 5072m (16,640 ft), about how they can keep the permafrost from turning boggy in the summer, and about their environmental preservation. There are a lot of announcements on Chinese trains (from early morning until bedtime, hours of announcements, what are they saying?!?) but this was the first time anything has been in English.

After bedtime, but before lights out, a woman came in to my compartment to ask if I was a doctor (2 foreigners on the train, it was worth a shot I guess). I said I was a nurse and she said "lady sick". I got dressed and followed her down the car. The woman had some trouble breathing, but no nausea or pain at all. We had just recently crossed above 3000m so it was likely the altitude. The train medic arrived,  and after a quick assessment came to the same conclusion. He gave her some tiny little grains from a tiny little bottle (if you've ever taking traditional Chinese medicines you know the kind I'm talking about). It is still hard for me to think of traditional Chinese medications as rescue or emergency meds. I realize that is an arrogant western medical view.

I was worried about altitude sickness here. I had shortness of breath, headaches and nausea in La Paz, Bolivia last August, while taking a variety of western meds (and despite many cups of coca tea). In Chengdu, we couldn't find Diamox in Chinese pharmacies, and instead are taking Hong jing tian (rhodiola). So far we are feeling good.

Tonight we were told to take it easy, to speed acclimatization and avoid altitude sickness. I did have noodles with yak meat though. It was chewy.

- Bree