Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
This may sound like the latest euro party craze however here in Tibet its all about the burning juniper at sacred sites, monasterys, and temples which must always be circumambulated clockwise. The most devout pilgrims will spend days, even months, prostrating themselves outside the Potola Palace (former seat of the Dalai Lama) and the Jokhang Temple (Tibet's first and most holy) and walking around and around in circles. The Jokhang was our first stop on day 1 in Lhasa. Its impossible not to be swept away by the Johkang kora (pilgrim circuit) in the famous Barkhor area of Lhasa. As the pilgrims walk around the temple time and time again you get sucked in to the croud of monks and elders swinging their prayer wheels, chanting, singing and blowing trumpets. The route is also now paved with hawkers selling everything from prayer flags, scriptures, jewellary, yak butter, juniper incence and much more! The temple itself dates back to 7th century and remarkably escaped much of the cultural revolution.
On day 2 we visited the mighty Potola Palace and just to mention - it snowed. It stands over 4000m above sea level and simply can not be missed! It rises 13 stories and has over a thousand rooms. It also dates back to the 7th century although the current structure was rebuilt beginning 1645 under the reign of the 5th Dalai Lama and took 50 years to build. It is an unbelievable site, as was our afternoon trip to the Sera Monastery to see the monk "debates". Every afternoon the monks pour into the gardens on the bang of a gong to debate the scriptures. It's all in Tibetan so of course I have no idea was they were saying but it was inmmensly entertaining! Monks would cluster in groups of about 8, cross legged in a circle and one would stand centre chanting or shouting, and arguing issues with his group and every now and then lunging and clapping his hands to emphasise his point. Videos and photos will follow. Check here http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3118779&l=2b1278d101&id=613391326
Yesterday, the final day in Lhasa, I spent ambling the old city, taking photos and walking around the Johkang so many times I lost count! Sonam, our tour guide, joined me for one circuit so I could ask him to distinguish between the cheap tat (made in Nepal) in the Barkhor markets, and the real Tibetan artefacts. All in all a great day. One final note, the food is great. Well Tibetan food not so much. Basically it's yak anything, stew, sizzler, burger etc, which doesn't exactly bode well with my now 4th week of vegetarianism. But its the fusion of Indian and Nepali food that has been great after greasy Chinese food. So with all this Lhasa has been amazing. Probably my favourite "capital city" anywhere - .
A little history lesson: Lhasa itself is the traditional political and spiritual centre of the Tibetan World. The basic facts are that Tibet was pretty much independent until 1950 when a resurgent China invaded Tibet, claiming to liberate the people from feudal serfdom and bring it back into the mortherland's fold (of which China claimed it had always been part). Increasing popular unrest to the occupation resulted in a full-blown revolt in 1959, which was crushed by the Chinese Army who killed thousands of Tibetans through 1960. The Dalai Lama fled to India, with other leaders who now account for over 100,000 Tibetans in exile. There is still a push for autonomy (rather than full independence) but it seems unlikely. Lhasa today does still feel like an occupied city with army check points at most street corners and heavily armed soldiers parading the street. The Chinese however are said to be baffled by what they perceive as the continuing ingratitude of the Tibetans (pre 1950 it was a place of abject poverty - China brought roads, schools, hospitals etc) but the Tibetans are said not to have forgiven the destruction of their culture and heritage. There are always two sides to a story. I suspect as we get further away from Lhasa I may see more of the Tibetan story. Rent "Seven Years in Tibet" for a bit of an insight (not to mention a bit of Brad).
English writer and historian Patrick French wrote that "Everyone has a Tibet of the mind, a notion of a pure, distant land, a place of personal escape, the heart of lightness." So with this I leave Lhasa this morning and head south west on the Friendship Highway towards Qomolangma through the smaller towns and rural Tibet and to the Kingdom that lies beyond. The journey starts out today 261kms to Gyantse via the 4700m Kamba-la pass. The oxygen canisters are packed in the jeep! The open road beckons.
- comments