December 25, 2013 – Christmas Day in Lhasa

Merry, Merry — Tashi delek (Greetings). Thanks to everyone for all the medical advice..

Where to begin..?

Last night after settling into the hotel, we realized we were totally exhausted, so after a nap and shower (which by the way Pemba told us not to take a shower for another 24 hours since the water would stimulate too much circulation in the blood — advice we did not heed as I felt like I was never filthier), we opted to just eat at the hotel and then really sleep.

That was probably a mistake. There was some kind of Christmas Eve buffet going on (??) in the restaurant so we ate in the bar and the food was pretty awful… and service was slower than you can imagine. It took us more than 20 minutes to get soup. Anyway, we then unpacked and headed to bed…

Had breakfast and met up with Pemba. This is quite awkward for us as we’ve never had a guide before. But as I mentioned in an earlier note, our travel in and out of Tibet is really complicated and we were unable to get the Tibet Travel Permit without linking to a travel agent who then would only get us the permit if we used their guide. Trust me, we were in communication with more than 20 companies who could get the permit, but none would do it unless we used their guide. So this arrangement seemed the most benign — guide in the morning from 10-1 and then we are supposedly “napping” until 10am the next day (but obviously bopping around on our own!).

So at 10, off we went to Potola Palace — a towering structure that can be seen virtually from any spot in Lhasa. The story is that the Fifth Dalai Lama, started building the Palace in 1645 after one of his spiritual advisers said that the site was a perfect location for the seat of government — because it is situated between two monasteries and the old city of Lhasa. According to Pemba, it was built on top of the remains of an earlier fortress, from 637. Today, the Potala Palace is a museum, tended to by monks.

The building contains over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues – and is 384 ft. tall on top of a hill making it about 1,000 ft. in total above the valley floor. And yes we climbed to the top! In spite of altitude, thin air, pollution, etc. I thought I was going to die! Probably, I have to admit, that without Pemba’s encouragement, I for one would probably have stopped midway (or maybe even sooner)..

The Palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. At the time there were no buildings anywhere close to the palace, but now there are lots of buildings at the base of the hill. This concerned UNESCO, and the Chinese government enacted a height limit for the area. Significant UNESCO dollars have been pumped in for renovation.

Anyway, once you reach about halfway you enter a “residential” portion on one side and the “religious” portion on the other. Frankly both looked very religious to me. Because it was winter and there were not many tourists other than pilgrims from the countryside, you are allowed to stay as long as you want. In the summer you get a short period (cannot even imagine doing the climb in any shorter time span). Tibetans bring offerings to the statues .. money.. yak butter (which is really like wax) and all throughout the place you see the yak butter with wicks burning. People also throw white silky scarves in certain places. No photography is allowed once you enter the inside of the structures.. which was incredibly difficult for us.. But we followed the rules. Most of all the pilgrims are farmers at this time of year because the harvest season is over. For some of these people it is an annual venture; for others it is a once-in-a lifetime experience. Some people prostate themselves periodically as they go through the temple.

One monk asked Pemba where we were from because he thought Mike was Russian and looked like Putin! (Mike said he was a much nicer person than Putin and the monk laughed.) People are very curious about us; they stare at us all the time and little kids say something that sounds like “hello.” One guy wanted his picture taken with Mike. Imagine that…. reverse tourism. Everyone has an iPhone. They worship Steve Jobs because he made iPhones with Tibetan characters. When Jobs died Tibetan people had some kind of ceremony. He’s like the second Dalai Lama.

As we departed we were able to snap away as the pilgrim farmers circumambulated the Palace.

After this we went for lunch.. Mike had sizzling yak steak and I had momo stuffed with yak. And then we left Pemba (amid all of his warnings about our safety) and were off on our own (guide-less) to the old section of Lhasa.. and on a mission to find a shop called Dropenling that we had heard about where you can buy authentic Tibetan-made products and where the proceeds all go to support Tibetan village artisans. (We have researched these kinds of places in all of our travels to developing nations and it is always a big success.) No one at the hotel had ever heard of it, but they found it on the Internet (as had we) and explained (in general) where it was.. so off we went.. It was in the oldest section, close to the mosque and Muslim part of town. It took a while, but we did find the shop… It was closed.. But in that same area in a courtyard were lots of metal smiths hammering out parts to come together to make a statue of — what else — Buddha. We continued our walk and exploration down the narrow alleys.. and for a short time joined in with the pilgrims who walk around Barkor Street in the same direction circumnavigating Jokang Temple.. This happens daily at particular times of day..

At about 5 we headed back to the hotel… to rest and figure out where dinner will be.

When we were about 5 minutes from the hotel we hopped into a pedal-driven rickshaw to get to the hotel… All the other rickshaw drivers were laughing and yelling something to our driver. We calculated that these two Americans with all their clothes and cameras and heavy gear and boots and winter clothing (and four tangerines that we purchased in a local stand) probably weighed about 300 lbs and the Tibetan driver probably weighed about 140 lbs. Fortunately it was a flat road.

That’s about it for today; tomorrow (and tonight) is another day. Again, morning with Pemba to some cave to see some big Buddha and then we are on our own again. By the way, Pemba’s parents walk around the Potala Palace at the base which is a hefty walk every morning at 8 am and then they do the climb to the top every month. They are 80 years old!!!

Kaleshu (Goodbye)

Fern