Lhasa has been a pleasant surprise since we landed, despite the altitude, the weather is usually sunny and in the 70s, and if anything, it's too hot as the sun at this altitude is merciless and I feel like a rotissirie chicken when I'm under its glare.
I also arrived expecting to see a beaten and subjugated nation. Of subjugation, there can be no doubt, as Chinese soldiers are everywhere, and it is illegal to even own a picture of the Dalai Lama or a Tibetan flag, but here in the Barkhor region of Lhasa, Tibetan culture continues unbowed.
As pilgrims majke the Barkhor circuit (always clockwise) around the Jokhang Temple they murmur mantras, spin prayer wheels, and occasionally stop to prostrate themselves. As you walk through the maze of market stalls selling everything from desperately needed toilet paper to inticrately designed and bejeweled daggers, you get swept up in the tide of pilgrims, but no one seems to pay you any mind.
The Barkhor
As I may have mentioned previously, the Chinese army units here always walk defiantly counter-clockwise, against the stream of the people.
There's no aggression like passive aggression...
Despite being roughly as wide, east to west, as the United States, China is just one time zone. Therefore, when I woke this morning at 5 or so (because I'm crazy, that's why. Why WOULDN"T I wake up earlier on vacation than when I go to work? Actually, I have a really hard time sleeping with anything less than four pillows.) it's still pitch dark instead of morning. The crack of dawn happens around 7:30 or so here, and nothing gets going before that.
Whirlwind tour of Lhasa's main cultural sites today. Our guide"Jesse"'s english leaves a lot to be desired, but we did the best we could. First off was Jokhang Temple, just a short walk from our hotel. Said to be the true spiritual home of Tibet (Potala Palace has long since been sterilized into a museum, and even flies a Chinese flag atop it.), Jokhang is full of pilgrims and praying monks.
Pilgrims and Monks outside the Jokhang
Outside people repeatedly prostrate themselves in front, and pilgrims making the circuit will occasionally pause to throw bits of barely and juniper branches into giant incense burners who's pillars of smoke would rival any bonfire.
Inside, you are crammed together with literally thousands of Chinese tourists, but the monks and the pilgrims go about their business as if they are totally alone. It is very dark, smoky, and cramped, but at the same time vibrant and alive. I was so pleased to see that the Chinese still allow stuff like this to occur. Some pilgrims paid money at the various shrines, while others poured melted yak butter into giant candles. Literally everything on the inside is greasy from the smoke of these yak butter candles.
Next was Norbulingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lamas. It was everything that I wanted the Forbidden City to be: quiet, shady, and not very crowded at all. We had a very pleasant time walking through the grounds and even got a chance to see the personal lodgings of the current (14th) Dalai Lama.
This is where we saw the Dalai Lama's toilet...
He had them built in 1956 and stayed in them sporadically until he was forced to flee Tibet permanently in 1959. However, my english is woefully inadequate to describe the majesty of this place in comparison to the following verbatim transcription from my ticket:
Norbulingka means "Jewel Park" in Tibetan. It is the summer palace of successive Daililamas. Now it is listed as World Hultural Heritage, State class protected unit of culture relics and appointed four class tourist site. It is a shady place with very rich plants and very important place where every year Tibetan traditional opera and folk song and dancing are performings.
Sera Monastary: Walled complex stretches into the foothills (by foothills I mean 12,000 ft mountains, but they seem like foot hills because we're already 10,00 feet up) outside of Lhasa. At one time as many as 6000 monks lived there, but the Chinese virtually shuttered the place after 1959 so now there are only 600 or so. We got to watch them debate each other. One novice sat while another stood over them asking questions and emphatically pointing and clapping their hands when they expected answers. It was pretty cool to see, but as my Tibetan is a bit rusty, I don't think I took as much out of it as I could have.
Finally, someone put some action into debate.
Drupung Monestary: Filled with statues of the many different incarnations of the Buddha, but I was most impressed with the statues of Hayagriva, who holds the Well of Life, and Vajrapane, "The Wrathful Protector." These two fearsome individuals are the protectors of the Buddha, and those of you who are either comic, or Joss Whedon fans might recognize them from their roles in the recent "Retreat" story arc of of the Buffy Season 8 comics.
Potola Palace: Home of the Dalai Lama's feom when it was first completed by the 5th Dalai Lama in the 1400s to when the 14th Dalai Lamahad to flee in 1959. Although it is mostly intact (only a few of the 1000 rooms were open, and there where some suspicially blank orange walls where I'm fairly certain ancient murals where defaced and painted over) it has none of the energy and passion that we saw in other holy sites around the city. There were no monks or pilgrims, and in fact, there were warnings against prostrations in the final security checkpoint.
We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside.
Potala is the true legacy of the Chinese occupation: a nuertered and sterile depiction of Tibetan history. In fact, accross the street the Chinese have errected a Tienanmen style monument to the "liberation" of Tibet. Liberation from the brutal and despotic regime of the Dalai Lama I guess? For some reason the monument needs a guard 24-7 or it will be vandalized...Go figure.
Why would someone want to vandalize something as culturally unique and obviously Tibetan as this?
We're leaving Lhasa tomorrow, and we've spent an amazing three days or so here.
Final Observations about Lhasa:
New Mandela Restaurant: Right off the Barkhor square with unbeatable views of Jokhang and th surounding mountains from its roof deck seating area. They will cook yak invirtually every conceivable way (my favorites were the yak burger, followed very closely by yak bbq), but also serve delicous Indian, Chinese, Nepalese, and western style dishes.
Summit Cafe: Western style coffee house. REAL espresso in their americonos (drip coffee seems nonexistant here), free wifi, and they live up to their self-proclaimed billing of having The Best Toilet in Tibet."
All the feral dogs here wear tiny prayer bells around their necks, and consist exclusively of smaller breeds: lhasa apsus (appropriately enough), pugs, shitsus, etc...
We'll be traveling through rural Tibet en route to the Everest Base Camp, before winding our way back here and flying out to Shangri La back in China proper.
Before I sign out, I wanted to talk a bit about the Crossfit training I've been doing over the past year or so. Crossfit is all about functional movements, and one of the most functional movements of all is the squat. In a proper squat, your upper legs should break parallel with the ground, your chest should be erect, and your weight should be on your heels. You should be able to lift your big toe when at the bottom of the squat position. I'll ask you to reread the subject of this email so you can figure out why I'm particularly glad I've developed this skill set recently.
Or you can just click here.
Thanks to all of you who are still reading at this point, and I'll talk to you all soon!
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