On the Roof of the World
Friday, November 28, 2008
Greetings from Yang Shuo (the new Guilin)!
It's been a long time since our last post and now we finally have the time to let you know what has been going on. If you read the last post you will know we got the chance to go to Tibet and of course we took it, and thus our story starts on thursday the 13th at 18:30 when a car picked us up at Mix Hostel and drove us to the train station for our train to Lhasa. When you go by train to Tibet you don't go into the regular train station building and wait for your train with everyone else... no no no. You go to a seperate barricaded area guarded by several guards with automatic weapons and very serious looks on their faces. All papers, permits and passports are examined very closely and finally bags are scanned by a (useless) airport style scanner. Useless because it allowed our lighters, lighter fluid and knives aboard the train.
The train to Lhasa takes 45 hours and the views are nice but not as spectacular as we had imagined them to be. The train was only half full and we had a compartment to ourselves and 1 chinese lady who was next door half the time, so besides the altitude, the ride was very comfortable. You could sometimes really notice the decreased amount of oxygen and it can leave you struggling for breath while laying still. Finally on the afternoon of the 15th we arrived in Lhasa to meet our guide: Thubten and our driver: Mr. Lee. We had a simple dinner and went quite early to bed.
We had a late start on our first day and got to Potala for our tour at 11 am (You have time slots so that it doesn't get overcrowded). Potala is amazing, simple as that an absolutely incredible feat of archicture built in the 7th century and just incredible to look at. The inside however was a little "cold" and "empty" and it felt like walking through a museum, which is what it is nowadays. Walking up the stairs was like running a marathon (AMS kicking in at this point).
Jokhang on the other hand... Never have I (we) experienced anything like it. 6 to 90 year olds, prostrating themselves outside the temple. Hundreds of people walking around the kora along Barkhor Street and a constant mumbling and humming of prayer. Teenagers in designer jeans taking a break from prostrating while talking on their newest Nokias. An awesome mix of religion and culture from an ancient society blended into a modern world. The effect is strange and beautiful at the same time. The temple itself is the religious center of Tibet and a walk around the roof gave great views of Barkhor Square (and street) coupled with the sorrounding mountains. At the end of the evening we had slight headaches, loss of appetite and slight fevers. The AMS had really kicked in now.
On day two we headed by Jeep to Yumbulagang and Trandruk. Yumbulagang is a very cool temple on a hill above a small village and the vistas were very nice indeed. Trandruk was a monastery that did not really stand out but was beautiful all the same. By this time we had gotten to know Thubten very well and it turned out he was a fantastic guide! Very knowledged in all things religious and historic, we got a thorough crash course in Tibetan Buddhism and hisory. Both are incredibly fascinating!
On day three we left Lhasa for Yamdrok lake and Kumbum Chorten. The lake itself is the highest sweet water lake at 4488 m. It is huge, shaped like a scorpion and is a very clear torquiose color. Absolutley incredible! In the afternoon we got to Kumbum Chorten which is a huge Stupa with (supposedly) 10 000 images of Buddha. It is the largest stupa in tibet and has over 100 chapels. In the monastery next to the stupa we finally got our wish and walked into to main hall only to find about 30 monks deep in prayer. The feeling and intensity made all the hairs on my neck stand on end. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever had the privilege of witnessing. In the evening we got to Shigatse (second largest city in Tibet and old capital city) for some much needed rest. By now we were getting acclimatized to the altitude but more meters were on their way!
On day 4 we drove all day to finally arrive at the worlds highest monastery, Rongbuk Monastery sitting at a pretty 4900 meters. The monastary has a guesthouse with some of the barest facilities ever but the view... oh the view... just 7 km away lays Mt. Qomolangma (pronounced Choomolama if written in english) Base Camp and from there it is only a 30 km stroll to the peak of the highest mountain in the world. Note that we used the native name as it is the original name and also the name means "Goddess Mother of the Universe" rather than Everest which doesn't mean much. I'll let the pictures do the talking... nothing can explain the feeling of looking at the sun rise over the Goddess herself!
On day 5 we drove back to Shigatse and stopped only to take in the viwes from the passes. Pang La pass is the best, where you can see several of the world's highest mountains.
On day 6 we visited Tashilumpo monastery in Shigatse which is the seat of the Panchen Lama. The monastery itself is huge and absolutley packed with pilgrims who try to rush around and visit every single chapel in just one day. We strolled around and enjoyed the show while furthering our knowledge in Tibetan Buddhism curtosy of Thubten. By now we know our Shakyamuni from our Bodhisattva.
On day 7 we drove back to Lhasa and spent our last afternoon and evening in Barkhor Square enjoying the sunset and soaking up every last ounce of the amazing atmosphere there.
NOTE: I have left out all our political views from this post and I urge you not to ask about them in the comments. We can talk about things like that over a cup of tea once we meet face to face.
Present day:
We arrived back in Chengdu on the 22nd we left the next day by train to Guilin. We stayed the night in Guilin and got on a bus to Yangshuo (the new Guilin), which is where we are now. Yangshuo is a really cool place. It is a small town filled with backpackers chilling out and enjoying the scenerery, which there is a lot of. We have taken a bamboo boat ride down the river and hiked up to Moon Hill. We have also caused ourselves a lot of pain in the nether regions by bicycling around in the country side. From here I guess the next move is Hong Kong or maybe Macau but we don't want to move until we know we can go to Bangkok. If we can't fly there we will take the land route into Vietnam or Laos... time will tell.
Thank you for all your comments and keep them coming! It's nice to hear from you!
Robbe and Micki
Posted byRobbe at 06:11
Wow! En sådan resa! Jag är grön av avund...:o). Skulle gärna ha upplevt den resan. Fina och värdefulla minnen för livet samlas nu på era "hårdskivor". Roligt att höra om Yang shuo, och Moon Hill. Kommer bra i håg när vi cycklade ut dit och tog foton av den vackra landsbygden. Undrar givetvis om "Susannas coffee place", och "Yang Shuo Hilton" fortfarande finns kvar vid "huvudgatan". I någon av dom caférna uttalades dom kända orden "Who ordered chicken" (intern familjejoke).
Kram! Pa Jankka
Wau, låter faktiskt spännande! Tur att ni åkte iväg till Tibet =) Stora kramar till båda!
Gabban
What can I say...FIERCE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpHFyYrNuuM
diiv(b)a
Fantastiska bilder och vilka enastående upplevelser ni får vara med om.... nåja, när kommer ni hem?
Anton
Låter härligt! Hoppas det löser sig med bangkok, det senaste e väl att flygplatsen öppnar på måndag eftermiddag men man vet ju aldrig.. Stora kramar o jolle hälsar!
Oooh! Vad ska man nudå hitta på att säga till detdär?! Här vräkte snö ner i massor förra veckoslutet, men nu är det plus igen. Milla har varit här idag och ätet 1. adventssöndagsmiddag. Glad lillajul! Dessvärre håka vi inte att läsa bloggen innan hon stack, men hon hälsar säkert också. Pi&Dan
Helt SUPER! Jag skulle nog inte klara av en resa som detdär! Här hemma bland bekvämligheterna är det tillräckligt exotiskt för mig :).
Men det är jättespännande att få följa med, och vilken författare du är, Robbe! Fantasin får föda alldeles otroligt mycket!
Ha det så bra och sköt om er! Ni får nog ett väldigt förråd fullt med alldeles speciella upplevelser, helt enastående! Nu är jag lite avundsjuk, när inte själv vågar....:)
kramar från magi (och familjen....Osku ska ha sin barettmarch imorgon !!!!)
Hej Mikaela,
Deine Mum hat mir Euren Blogg geschickt, so dass ich immer verfolge, wo Ihr garade seid - phantastisch!!! Wenn Ihr Zeit und Lust habt, dann versucht, nach Myanmar/ Birma zu reisen: ein tolles Land mit freundlichen Menschen und vielen interessanten Dingen: Golden Rock, Roard to Mandalay,....
Enjoy your trip + take care!
Big hug, Anke
Hola bambinos!
Fint att Tibet ordnade sig, det skulle vara dumt att missa det när ni hade chansen. Skulle gärna fara dit själv någon gång, så det är hyfvens att läsa lite teasers på er blogg.
Precis som tidigare talare rekommenderar jag att fara till Burma, men det görs nog bäst från Bangkok. Hör av er om det blir aktuellt så kan jag ge lite tips.
Här regnar det för minst femte dagen i rad...
Allt gott!
Joosmannen