Week 15 - Tibet

Our route through China and Tibet

Hangin with the locals

Potala Palace

Chillin by the lake

Yakity Yak

On the way to see Mt Everest - its the tall one in the background

Tashidele everyone!!!

Concluding our China trip; have a look at the map on the email and you will see where be have been travelling.

We have just finished an incredible seven days in Tibet, and it was definitely one of the best experiences of our trip so far!

Tibet is a very strange and unique place. Firstly, Tibetans are one of the biggest groups of people in the world without their own country! As they are ruled by China, it's not the kindest type of landlord...Walking through Lhasa kind of reminded me of pictures or movies when Germany occupied countries in the 1940's. The military is everywhere and carrying huge machine guns on every corner. I certainly feel for the Tibetans. In addition, there are snipers on many of the rooftops, regular patrols of soldiers in riot gear. The people seem to be nice and simple, spiritual and nomadic people. China being a communist country also employs many of Stalin's tricks of monitoring what people say and dealing harshly with anyone speaking poorly of the regime. The temples typically more than 1000 years old, are beautiful, but irk me as the locals all give money to the hundreds of shrines, and I'm told most of this goes to the Chinese government rather than the community, monasteries or temples. Thus they are kind of keeping the people poor while funding the military, certainly partially through these donations. I'm not sure why people continue to give money.... On top of this the Chinese are trying to erase the Tibetan history. We were in one temple 1200 years old which were the walls (depicting Tibetan religious history) was just painted over...

So how do you travel to Tibet and see all this loveliness; well, unless you are Chinese, you need to go on an organised tour. And they check your permit on a daily basis. From what I saw, I do not see any way a foreigner can travel in Tibet without the tour group - We were very lucky having 5 fun people in our group!

So what did we eat there - Yak, Yak and more Yak!! If you're wondering, what's a yak, see the picture on the email; its the animal Marina is sitting on; no she didn't eat it after... :D

Even with all the government hubbub, it's still a phenomenal place to see and an hour in Tibet will amaze you for years to come!

So where did we go;

Lhasa > Shigatse > Everest Base Camp > Giangmu > and now Kathmandu

Monday: ALTITUDE - We arrived in Lhasa 3500 meters (over 10,000 feet) via plane which is not the best way if you are interested in acclimatising first. I'm told its the highest city in the world! So after we checked to the hotel, it hit us. Somewhat of a drunken and dizzy feeling and no it wasn't the wine on the plane ;D Its certainly a strange situation and after food and rest it went away. Just in time for the night as we hit one of the local bars.

Tuesday: Wow LHASA - This city is utterly amazing and our tours around the monastery's was quite enlightening - with the money donations being outright counted by what we expect are fake monks assisting the Chinese. That being said, the people around were so friendly and we managed to have a bit of fun chatting with them. They loved Marina's blond hair and were playing with it.. We certainly visited at an excellent time as about half of the nomads or country people were coming to Lhasa for the winter. So the city was buzzing with excitement and the Nomads are always in traditional dress so lots of amazing colours.

Wednesday: Potala Palace - If you have ever seen a sight of Tibet, you will mostly likely have seen the palace that sits above on the hill. Its the picture of the palace we are in front of. Its a beautiful place and full of hundreds of holy rooms with shrines dedicated to budda, the dali lama, and monks.

Thursday: Tibetan club - We started our journey out of Lhasa on our way to Mount Everest. This day we passed through the mountains along beautifully turquoise green lakes at 4500 meters (14,000 feet) arriving in Shigatse. Along the way we passed a holy river which is one of the ways Tibetans are buried.. Well not really buried, they are tossed in the river. Thankfully we didn't see any bodies. The other way is to leave the body on top of the mountain for birds... So I tried really hard not to die in Tibet...Not my ideal choices... That night we went to a Tibetan nightclub; which was pretty fun as it was pretty much a show with Tibetan dancers and different skits... The crowd was entirely Tibetan so it was fascinating to see a show like this that's not for tourists.

Friday: Tibetan Hospital - Before you worry, I'll tell you now, Marina and I are fine... So this day we were driving to the Mount Everest Base camp at 5200 meters (16,000 feet). This isn't really that high considering the mountain peaks at 8848 meters (27,500 feet). So on the way we had to go over a very high pass and one of the girls in our group had trouble with the altitude so we needed to turn back and take her to the hospital. Driving, although slower than flying is a fast accent and can cause trouble. After seeing the hospital, let me say, I never want to go in another 3rd world country hospital again. She and her fiance stayed there for the night and we carried on just being able to see Mount Everest with the sunset! More on Everest below. We stayed just before Everest Base Camp (which is where the climbers start) at the Rongbuk monastery. The temperature inside the room alone was probably -10C (15F). We put about 4 blankets on top of us and slept not only in our clothes, but with our jackets, hats and gloves... It was miserable.

Saturday: MOUNT EVEREST - When seeing this beast it was all worth it! We got up to see the world's tallest mountain at sunrise and get our pictures. We hiked up a small hill next to Everest to get our photos. There the wind was so strong, it nearly blew the camera out of my hand. Within 10 minutes both my fingers and toes were numb! It was FREEZING!!! But I couldn't really care as we were seeing a site I have wanted to see for so many years. Everest is gorgeous. It looks just like what a mountain is supposed to look like with the triangle top. The mountain was still about 3km (2 miles) and as much as I wanted to go climb up it (a bit) I didn't have the $25,000 which is required for a permit to climb even slightly up it... She would be worth it though as its a beautiful mountain....

Sunday: Crossing the boarder - On Sunday we were leaving Tibet. The way to leave Tibet and go into Nepal is via the Friendship Bridge. A bit ironic as there are soldiers up and down the bridge carrying machine guns. I guess China is a bit worried about big bad Nepal. :D Going into Nepal was crazy. Being separated by a 50 meter bridge, 2 hours and 15 minutes for a time change, and the militia, its night and day apart. Nepal gives me images of what India will be like; very chaotic! So we are now in Nepal and getting settled. That night while drinking Everest Beer, we watched Arsenal smash Manchester City 3-0 (English Premier League)! Certainly a good cap to the night!

So what is next for us; Since we have been in Nepal we have been making preparations for the trip, buying our flight to Bangladesh, sorting our Indian visa, and arranging our permits for trekking. We leave tomorrow for Pokhara which is near Annapurna. We will be trekking the Annapurna circuit; well maybe not all 202km (125 miles), as we are trying to stick to 7 days, but we will see.

Until next time,

Dan and Marina