Hi everyone,
July was a really big month, in fact it was so big that I’ve had to split it into two posts. This post is about Chengdu and Tibet and the second post is about everything else that happened in July.
Sheree’s parent’s arrived on the 30th of June. We picked them up from the train station at 5:20 in the morning (which meant that we had to wake up at about 4:30 am). Sheree took them back to our apartment and I caught the subway to work (it was a long day).
On Saturday Sheree’s parent’s spent the day recovering from their travels. On Sunday we went to Church and after Church we went to Kiss for Sheree’s birthday. A couple of our friends from Beijing met us there and Sheree got lots of presents but the one she liked the most was her parents being there. After lunch we rushed home, grabbed our bags and flew to Chengdu. We had organized airport pickup at Chengdu so when we landed we got taken straight to the hostel.
On Monday we went to see Giant Pandas and Red Pandas at the Panda breeding center. We got to see lots of adult pandas and about 10 baby pandas. We even got to see a panda that was less than a week old in a humidicrib. After the pandas we went to a Temple and had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that specialized in fake meat dishes. Some of the food was a bit weird but it was lots of fun. When we got home I sat on the front step with my father-in-law and watched people go about their lives for a couple of hours.
On Monday night I double checked the airplane tickets and found out that they had been issued for Wednesday instead of Tuesday. On Tuesday morning it was raining so everyone relaxed at the hostel while I called our travel agent and got the date changed on the tickets, it was a bit inconvenient but not that big a deal because they were electronic tickets so we just had to show our passports at the airport and not the actual tickets.
We arrived at Lhasa that afternoon and went straight to the hotel. The altitude made all of us short of breath so we had an early night. The next morning Sheree and I went to the supermarket and bought big bottles of water and some snacks. The supermarket was less than 100 meters from the hotel but we were still out of breath by the time we got there. While we were short on breath Sheree’s parents were suffering from altitude sickness. After lunch Sheree’s parents felt a little better so we went to the Potala Palace.
I always thought there was just one Buddha (the big fat laughing Buddha) but there are lots of Buddhas and I never saw the laughing Buddha in Tibet. The Potala Palace is one of three sacred sites in Tibet that was spared during the Cultural Revolution. The governor of Tibet was able to convince Chairman Mao that these three sites were famous and shouldn’t be destroyed to avoid backlash from the global community. During the Cultural Revolution all the other temples and monasteries were vandalized. Often the monks where able to carry off the most valuable relics before the soldiers arrived but all the paintings on the walls of the monasteries where whitewashed. After the Potala Palace we went to the Dreung Monastery which was vandalized. They have restored most of the monastery but they have deliberately left one wall whitewashed so tourists can see what was done during the Cultural Revolution.
On Thursday we went to Jokhang Monastery and the Barkhor street markets. The monastery was ok but it wasn’t as impressive as Potala Palace. The markets were reasonable but apart from a few obviously local products like “I Love Tibet” T-shirts the rest of the markets were just like every other Chinese market. After lunch we went to the Sera Monastery which was much more interesting. It’s one of a few functioning colleges for monks. To become a monk you basically have to memorize a bunch of scriptures. Monday to Saturday they get together in a courtyard next to the monastery and debate. When our guide told us they debated I expected to see a few people sitting at the front talking like a western debate. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Their debating consisted of many mini groups with one person asking questions and another person answering the questions, with lots of clapping, stomping of feet and pray beads being shaken. There were probably about 100 little groups all debating at the same time. It was so loud that we sometimes found it hard to talking to teach other.
??Thursday night we took a pedicab ride to the markets to have dinner. Mum and Dad in one and Sheree and I in the other, it started to rain during our ride, but had stopped by the time we got there. We had dinner at a lovely open-air restaurant that looked out over the markets and the monastery we had seen the previous day. The mountains were in the background and we ate great food with the sun setting behind us. After dinner Sheree and her Mum went and did some shopping whilst us men, stayed at the restaurant having a few drinks. We eventually joined them and made our way to the city square ? where we were told there would be a ?water and light show? set to music. Lots of people were beginning to crowd around and we knew we were in the right spot. Right on 9pm the water spurted high up into the air ? many people were standing too close and got wet ? it was funny. It was amazing and too hard to describe but I will try. ??
On Friday we went to Ganden Monastery which is about 2 hours outside of Lhasa and way up in the mountains. The road to get to the monastery was recently paved so it was really nice but it weaves back and forth like a coil of rope. After we finished looking at the monastery we had the option of hiking for 2 hours around the mountain, or not. Sheree’s parent’s weren’t feeling that well and Sheree wasn’t wearing the right shoes for hiking but I really wanted to make the most of my last day in Tibet. In the end I decided to compromise and climb to the top of the mountain instead, which was only supposed to take an hour instead of 2 hours. About 2/3rds of the way up I went over a crest and realized how far I had to go. At that stage I was stopping every 10 meters for a rest because of the altitude so I cut across the mountain to the ridge so that I could see what was on the other side. The view was amazing. I’ve made a couple of panoramic photos but they don’t do it justice. After I climbed down we went back to the hotel for a rest before we went back to the markets to do some last minute shopping.
From Chengdu and Lhasa
One of the reasons why we went to Tibet was to go on the new train that connects Tibet to the rest of China. The train trip took 47 hours and the food was worse than airline food but the scenery was fantastic. On the first day we went through the mountains which were breathtaking. One of the things that really puzzled us was the Chinese guards that were posted every couple of kilometers facing away from the train on both sides. I’ve asked a couple of people in Beijing about them but no one seems to know about them.
On the second day we start following a river. The road on the other side of the river was miserable but they were building a four lane highway above the river that will make a massive difference when it’s finished.
After lunch we left the river and went through some more cities and agricultural areas. The biggest difference between Australia and China is that in China they use everything. The farms went all the way up the hills with terracing no matter how step they were.
If you want to see some more of our photos check out our online gallery.
Till next time,
Nathaniel & Sheree Brown.
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