Leaving Chengdu early in the morning in the rain. Wei got
the van and we drove on the freeway watching colorful umbrellas, Red ponchos
driving E-scooters and the freeway lined with colorful flowers on both sides.
From Lhasa (in the hotel resting):
Flight to Lhasa was beautiful with snow-covered mountains
peaking up from underneath a solid white cloud layer. It is a very unsettling
feeling to look out from the plane window and see the mountains right by your
side, sometimes higher than you. The drive
from the airport to the city was an education in mountains, rivers and people.
Our guide is Tibetan. Air is clean, sky is blue and the Sun is very bright and
strong. It is 68 degrees and feels great. The mountains are bare rocks of many
formations and colors, but no vegetation. (It is high desert). No snow so far.
On the way, we saw small farms of Barley and Canola, Yaks and the river Brahmaputra.
It is a holy river in Indian and Tibetan mythology. Its origin is from Mount
Kailash where the Hindu Gods live and run the world.
Our Tibet permit was checked a million times, making us
realize how restricted the Tibet visits are. I feel grateful for this
opportunity. Entering Lhasa, the first thing you see is construction of
multistory buildings - lots and lots of them and mostly empty. People of Tibet live in small single-family
homes with courtyards, where they keep their animal family. Lhasa is a city of only 16,000 people but is
turning into a major Chinese city.
The hotel is nice; our receptionist is a Tibetan from India
and speaks fairly good Hindi. This is a surprise and he said there are many
people like him living in Lhasa. He was sent to India as a refugee kid and has
returned after 30 years. He wants to work at the family shop and take care of
the parents.
After a long rest, (four hours), we went out for a little adventure
at 8pm. Found the core of the Tibet town and were totally amazed. The Buddhist
temple (Bhakor Temple) was all lit up. There was the smell of burning incense
and people were making KORA (going around the temple and praying with the
praying wheel or even doing salutations or just walking). Families, kids, young
and old, and tourists (few) were all doing it and it was beautiful.
Shops in the town
It is interesting to watch people with a prayer wheel in one
hand and the cell phone in the other hand and performing the KORA.
Kids
Temple at 9 pm.
Pile of Prayer shawls
Today is a rest day - we did take the altitude pills and hopefully
we will be all ready to explore tomorrow.
Good night from the top of the world.
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