Tibet I
Here we are right after the egg hunt, packed and ready to hit the road...
...and on the train from Beijing to Tibet in our four-bunk soft sleeper compartment...
...and outside the train at a stop:
It was a 48-hour train ride, through some pretty bleak country. We saw extreme poverty and extreme environmental damage, crumbling towns built on and around hills that have been terraced and tilled to death. Once we got to Tibet the scenery changed for the better. There were untouched wide open spaces and majestic mountains rising out of the permafrost. And lots of yaks, though I didn't get any shots of them.
On our second day in Lhasa, Tibet, we visited the Potala, the Dalai Lama's former residence:
The next day we hit the road for Everest Base Camp. We hired a Land Cruiser and driver, crammed into the back seat (Emma, a British girl we met on the train, went along with us and got the front seat) and drove through the high desert:
Our first stop was a dirty little town called Shigatze, where we committed accidental sacrilege. You should never walk counter-clockwise around this particular monastary, and we knew that, but we didn't know where we were when we started walking. We only realized that we were indeed committing sacrilege when we were already halfway around the monastary. It was a little awkward, especially when certain of the faithful vehemently insisted that we turn around and walk the right direction. Also awkward was when a group of tourists, walking in the correct direction, informed us in no uncertain terms of our major faux pas. Not a fun experience.
Anyway, here are a few shots of our walk.
There was an ubelievable amount of trash outside the monastary walls, some of it old prayer flags, but much of it just garbage:
Lots of yak skulls, too:
Prayer flags, and mountain goats:
This venerable monk is telling us to turn around. He did it in a nice way:
This box was outside a monk's tent. The Govinator's influence is felt even in Tibet:
This is the monastary we walked the wrong way around:
We were happy to get off that trail, happy to once more be on the right side of Tibetan etiquette. We spent the night in Shigatze and headed off in the morning for Everest.
Coming soon: The Big Mountain.
...and on the train from Beijing to Tibet in our four-bunk soft sleeper compartment...
...and outside the train at a stop:
It was a 48-hour train ride, through some pretty bleak country. We saw extreme poverty and extreme environmental damage, crumbling towns built on and around hills that have been terraced and tilled to death. Once we got to Tibet the scenery changed for the better. There were untouched wide open spaces and majestic mountains rising out of the permafrost. And lots of yaks, though I didn't get any shots of them.
On our second day in Lhasa, Tibet, we visited the Potala, the Dalai Lama's former residence:
The next day we hit the road for Everest Base Camp. We hired a Land Cruiser and driver, crammed into the back seat (Emma, a British girl we met on the train, went along with us and got the front seat) and drove through the high desert:
Our first stop was a dirty little town called Shigatze, where we committed accidental sacrilege. You should never walk counter-clockwise around this particular monastary, and we knew that, but we didn't know where we were when we started walking. We only realized that we were indeed committing sacrilege when we were already halfway around the monastary. It was a little awkward, especially when certain of the faithful vehemently insisted that we turn around and walk the right direction. Also awkward was when a group of tourists, walking in the correct direction, informed us in no uncertain terms of our major faux pas. Not a fun experience.
Anyway, here are a few shots of our walk.
There was an ubelievable amount of trash outside the monastary walls, some of it old prayer flags, but much of it just garbage:
Lots of yak skulls, too:
Prayer flags, and mountain goats:
This venerable monk is telling us to turn around. He did it in a nice way:
This box was outside a monk's tent. The Govinator's influence is felt even in Tibet:
This is the monastary we walked the wrong way around:
We were happy to get off that trail, happy to once more be on the right side of Tibetan etiquette. We spent the night in Shigatze and headed off in the morning for Everest.
Coming soon: The Big Mountain.
posted by Jordan | 10:29 AM
4 Comments:
How do they use the prayer flags? and for the record I'm totally jealous that you guys got to sleep in a sleeper car on a train...its probably not very comfortable, but it sounds like itd be awesome nonetheless!
Prayer flags and yak skulls... should I add those to our prayer room?
Steve
Hey Anissa. They just let them blow in the wind, believing that the prayers written on them will be "lifted up to heaven" continually.
Yeah, Steve, I guess even Buddhist prayer flags can be sanctified. Just change the prayers to Christian ones. Not sure about the yak skulls...
Kool pics Jordan,hope and pray you are doing well on your trip across country
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