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Left the Snow Pigeon Hotel very early in the morning to finish sightseeing. It was important to allow enough time to drive the rough road to Samye, arrive back in Lhasa for a last overnight, and leave for Gongkor airport the next day to catch our Chengdu flight.
Samye Monastery is located about 30 kms/20 miles west ot Tsetang across the Tsangpo River. It's not easy to get there without a vehicle as it is on the opposite bank of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. Started to cross the bridge and the car broke down again. Restarted once more and now on a very bumpy, dirt road with even some sand dunes along the road. The ancient walled monastery of Samye was founded in 775 AD and was the first monastery to be built in Tibet. The complex was extensive with a new enclosing wall and gates. Only a few of the original 108 buildings remain and we explored those.
Samye Monastery
Continue reading "Samye Monastery and Lhasa to Chengdu" »
Tsedang is the cradle of Tibetan civilization and the area is filled with important historical landmarks, Samye being one of the most important. Back in Lhasa for just one night and the Hotel Shangbhala. One last walk around the Barkhor looking for a new set of prayer flags. Do not pay more than $1.00 for a medium-size set. That is the going price and just walk away if someone quotes higher. If they don't come running after you, someone else will. Just because you are a "white devil" doesn't mean "sucker" is written on your forehead. Mission accomplished, out to dinner at the Tibetan equivalent of a spicy Kentucky Fried Chicken on the second floor of a restaurant overlooking the Barkor, and a fast re-pack.
We allotted two full days for the Tsedang area to visit Samye, Yambulakhang Palace,Trandrak Monastery and Tombs of Tibetan Kings, staying in Tsedang for two nights at the Snow Pigeon Hotel. On the road, we had the second (or third) car breakdown. Same thing...probably tons of dirt in the carb. Each time, driver got out of car tools in hand...started fiddling...and sooner or later it would start running...never smoothly. ex-Marine and I held our breath each time and waited for it to give up the ghost. Motor now running we headed to Yambulakhang Palace.
Yambulakhang Palace
Continue reading "Tsedang, Yambulhakhang Palace and Trandrak Monastery" »
Gyantse lies between Lhasa and Shigatse (about 143 miles south of Lhasa). It is still a traditional, relaxed Tibetan town but who knows for how much longer. Gyantse was once a principle wool trade route to India and is encircled by an impressive wall that once contained 19 monasteries. A wonderful setting with the Nyang Chu River below and mountain ridges behind it. This monastery houses monks from the Gelugpa, Sakyapa and Kahampa orders and is the only one known to house monks from different orders in harmony. That fact is what makes Gyantse special.
The original Gyantse Dzong dates from the 14th century and little is known about its history. The ground floor of the Main Assembly Hall was a chanting hall with 48 columns decorated with old silk "thankas" along with a 26-foot high bronze Buddha image. There were over 112 chapels scattered around this complex with only 23 open to the public.
Gyantse views
Continue reading "Gyangtse: Palcho Monastery/Pelkor Chode Monastery" »
The drive from Shigatse to Gyantse was another all-day drive, longer than usual because the Chinese Government was busy doing the usual "building during the summer" routine and we had to detour all the way around.
Uphill all the way through desolate mountains and beyond the Kampa La Pass. Yamdrok Tso Lake, a beautiful turquoise blue, was below us and I would have loved to take some photos but our driver's car was acting up again and none of us wanted to stop in isolated areas in case the car wouldn't start again. (We think the carburater was completly clogged with dirt...understandable on these roads.) The road ran parallel to the Lake for several miles until we reached Nakartse. More ascents until we reached Kao La Pass (5,010m/16,437'), with its glacier touching the road.
glacier on the Kao La Pass
Continue reading "Driving From Shigatse to Gyantse" »
All the way to Tingri, ex-Marine and I kept marveling at our luck having such a crystal-clear day. With Everest's changeable weather, there is never a guarantee that you'll really be able to see the North Face of Mount Everest. So very fortunate! Again, Spring and Fall are the best times for Mount Everest viewing.
Tingri is set at an atitude of 14,600', and what a pleasure it was to almost be able to breathe again. We got to the Tingri Everest Hotel and knew from the lengthy conversation Tenzin was having with the desk clerk that something good was not happening. Sure enough, Tenzin and clerk approached with the news that clerk wanted to show us a different room because every room in the hotel was competely booked by a big Chinese group. Puzzled...we have reservations...followed the clerk out the hotel to some so-so rooms across a courtyard. Definitely sub-standard. Back in the Tingri Everest, we have a fast conversation with Tenzin and discover that the Chinese group hadn't arrived yet. With that ex-Marine heads to the desk clerk and nicely, but firmly, states that we were here...they were not...give us our room and put one of the Chinese in that room. Probably because the Hotel didn't want to lose face, they gave us the room. And, FYI, this is one of those hotels were there was only hot water between 7:30pm and Midnight, one of those things that are always after-the-fact and they neglect to tell you.
Tibetan child
Continue reading "Tingri to Shigatse" »
Today was one of the most exciting days in our lives. First, because we actually survived the night at 16,300', followed by the 8 kms/5-mile hike to the North Face of Everest Base Camp at 17,200'.
There was a full moon last night, lighting up Mount Everest. A good thing because it was impossible to sleep for many different reasons:
- Reason One - Had to turn in bed very carefully, in case one of the wood supports holding it up fell off and caused the bed to collapse;
- Reason Two - I could hear ex-Marine gasping for breath all night and even stop breathing every now and then from the altitude! Then, when I didn't hear any gasps, I'd leap out of bed and check to see if he was still alive; and
- Reason Three - Doors opened and shut throughout the night as the other lucky people staying in this dump went out to urinate, etc.
North Face of Mount Everest in all it's glory
Continue reading "North Face of Everest Base Camp" »
The drive from Shigatse to Rongbuk took the entire day, driving over several high passes. Many tourists visit the North Face of Everest by combining it with a trip to Nepal since it could be considered "on the way." Left the Shengkang Hotel in Shigatse very early and started off. The scenery was constantly changing. One minute there would be the massive Himalayas, snow caps glistening in the sun...a few minutes later, the car was struggling up towards a pass, making "s" turns all the way up (very glad I took Meclizine, a generic for motion-sickness)...and then we'd come down into vast open distances filled with farmlands.
It was planting season and boggles my mind how anything could grow in the dry, arid soil. But people were out plowing furrows throughout the entire valley with the husband controlling one or two yaks (always colorfully decorated with pom-poms) while his wife followed behind with the seeds. Such a hard, hard life...
enormous arid Tibet valley
Continue reading "Shigatse to Rongbuk Monastery At North Face Everest" »
We left Lhasa on the 920 km/600+ mile road connecting Lhasa, Tibet with Kathmandu, Nepal, known as the Friendship Highway. The stopping point for us would be the North Face of Everest on the Tibetan side before heading back to Lhasa. The "highway" ranges from black-top to gravel to dirt, depending on which section the Chinese Government is rebuilding each year and whether or not you must detour. The first, most important lesson to learn is: NEVER COUNT ON SEEING ANYTHING SCHEDULED IN YOUR ITINERARY. It isn't going to happen!
Everyone visits Shigatse for one reason - to see Tashilhumpo Monastery. Tashilhumpo is a very large complex with red and white buildings and huge "thanka" wall, built on a steep hill. It was founded in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama and is one of Tibet's four biggest Gelugpa Monasteries. Tashilhumpo housed over 4,000 monks at one time, but now there are only about 500-700. Drepung, Sera and Ganden Monasteries are a few of the other famous monasteries we visited during our trip to Nam-tso Lake years ago.
Continue reading "Shigatse and Tashilhumpo Monastery" »
The Potala Palace and Barkhor are two of my favorite sights in Tibet. The Potala Palace is now on the list of Chinese National protected cultural relics, and is a huge treasure house for Tibetan history, precious sculptures, Buddha figures, murals, antiques, and religious jewelry. Prepare to do a lot of walking since the entire complex covers over 32 acres. Most of the Potala is off-limits but the Palace is still a long climb up, rises 13 stories and has over 1,000 rooms.
The Potala Palace is located on the Red Hill of Lhasa and was rebuilt by the 5th Dalai Lama in 1645. It has remained the seat of Dalai Lamas and is also the political center of Tibet. The White Palace (administration ) and the Red Palace (religious) are two separate entities. The Red Palace was painted red (represents stateliness and power) after the death of the 5th Dalai Lama, and this is where the religious statues, stupas and precious cultural relics are found.
magnificent Potala Palace
Continue reading "The Potala Palace and Around Barkhor Square" »
Standing in the Gongkar Airport (Lhasa), a young man came rushing up to us..."Steve...Sheila...don't you remember me?" It was Lopsang, our guide on the Mt. Khawarkarpo Trek in China ( read "Mt. Khawarkarpo Trek," April 7, 2006). Of all the places...in all the world.... Lopsang started his own guiding business and was leading two Frenchmen on a trip around Tibet. We promptly made arrangements to meet for dinner one night in Lhasa.
Tenzin, our Tibetan guide, was also standing in the baggage area holding up a big sign. Out to the vehicle, met our driver, Tenzin II, and hit the road to Lhasa with a stop along the way to see some beautiful Buddha rock carvings. A brief pause for the first of many Toyota breakdowns while Tenzin II fiddled around with wrenches and screwdrivers until it coughed into life. Instant woozy feelings at the 3,700m/11,975' altitude, and we both started drinking water like mad. In the few years since our last visit, everything had changed tremendously. The Chinese Government was busy building new roads, new buildings and Lhasa had become more than half Chinese with Han workers flooding in from all over China hoping to get in on new business opportunities. This included building the new railway which has since opened. The workers were also building a new road from the Airport into Lhasa in anticipation of an upcoming visit by China's President.
Lhasa City Map
Continue reading "Revisiting Lhasa" »
Air? This time we flew United from Chicago to Beijing and instantly connected to an Air China flight going to Chengdu. Chengdu is the usual departure point for Tibet and most tour operators will meet you there with air tickets to Lhasa and entry documents. (See below.)
Visa? You must have a Chinese Visa which is easy to get at your local Chinese Embassy/Consulate. In Chicago, you can pay extra and arrange for one in the same day. But, you must arrange the air and permits to Lhasa through a tour operator. Chengdu is the easiest place to arrange this and Tomas took care of all the formalities for us.
Hotels? The entire trip was hotel/guesthouse based with no camping. We only needed one hotel for Chengdu at the end of this trip and decided on the Sheraton Chengdu Lido.
Continue reading "Planning A Return to Tibet" »
With all the emphasis on treks to Mount Everest Base Camp in Nepal and climbing the South Face to the top, people tend to forget about the other route, Tibet's North Face. The Nepal trip takes 10 days of trekking from Lukla to Everest Base Camp and then another 10 days returning to Lukla. ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I did a shorter version of this trek as far as Tengboche (read "Mt. Everest Escapade," November 21, 2006) but still had a desire to see Mount Everest closer than that. A lot of reading and I discovered that you could actually DRIVE to Rongbuk, in Tibet, and then hike to the North Face of Everest Base Camp, approximately 8 kms/5 miles away. Now that sounded like something easily attainable, and the thought of returning to Tibet was a big plus. (read "Heart of Tibet," July 1, 2006). I really wanted to revisit Lhasa and the stupendous Potala Palace, along with other important monasteries missed on the previous trip to Tibet.
With specific sights in mind, a group tour just wasn't going to do the job so we contacted Tomas at Footloose Travel, to explore prices and options. Tomas had previously arranged a three-week trip to Ladakh for us (read "Ladakh, A Summer Destination," March 31, 2006) and arranges a myriad of individual trips and group tours around the world.
Tibet map
Continue reading "Tibet's North Face of Everest" »
It was a brutally hard driving day all the way back to Lhasa. You had to grit your teeth, try to absorb all the bumps and jarring over the non-existant "roads" (that were killing my back), and hope that there wouldn't be too many hold-ups. Alas, at one point, there was a huge traffic jam of cars and trucks, trying to ford a river because the bridge had washed away. Thank goodness for 4WD!
And when we drove back over the 17,000' pass from Nam Tso, it had snowed overnight. Several trucks had gone off the road and were lying down the side of the mountain. Very scary!
top of 17,000' pass
Continue reading "Driving Back to Lhasa" »
On one of our daily walks, I bought fossils for my grandchildren and gave them this simple explanation: "About 300 millions year ago, Tibet was under the ocean. Then the Continents of Asia and India collided and Tibet was pushed up from below the ocean to become the highest plateau in the world." I hope they found that interesting....I did.
We were on our way to Nam Tso, the second largest salt lake in Tibet, set at 15,000' on the Jhang Thang plateau. It is 70 miles long, and a sanctuary for migratory birds making their long journeys across Asia. But first, it was up and over a 17,000' pass. (The views were worth getting out of the car and freezing.)
Continue reading "Nam Tso and Tashiy Do Hermitage" »
There were daily road problems...flat tires, vehicles getting stuck, minor repairs and various other truck delays. Always something...but we had a good-humored group and spent the time taking photos, short walks, exchanging stories and making the best of it.
We spent several hours, waiting at one bridge View image for some sort of truck hold up.
Then another truck hold-up, while it was pushed out of the mud. That took many helpers (along with brute strength) to accomplish.
Continue reading "On The Road to Nam Tso" »
The camp crew was busy working (nothing unusual about that) while some of our group went exploring. But we stayed behind - relaxing - sitting in the sun - interacting with the local villagers that were always hanging around the camp, interested in what we were doing...staring at us....looking in our tents to see what was there - and just talking among each other.
"ex-Marine" and I also had fun amusing the children. One of our camp crew translated my world-famous rendition of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes..." into Tibetan and the children had a wonderful time following along. I pride myself on the fact that children in little villages around the World, now can sing this song in English and their native language!
Continue reading "Another Day at Reting Monastery" »
Each day's drive contained different sights, and walks.
On this day, we passed by children watching and waving from their homes... View image...
and it wasn't until we walked by that it dawned on us their fences were made from dried dung - cow, goat, yak - picked up, shaped into patties and dried! Very geometric.
dung patties
Reting Monastery, at 13,350', is one of the great Kadampa monasteries in central Tibet. This was also destroyed in the Cultural Revolution but has been partially rebuilt. Reting is in an ancient, beautiful Juniper forest. The rebirth of Reting signifies defiance of the religious plight the Tibetan people underwent during 1959-1984 - the infamous "25-year night."
Reting
Continue reading "Reting Monastery" »
Drigung Monastery, also over 13,000', is built on a very steep ridge above a broad valley. It was badly damaged during the Cultural Revolution and now has about 120 monks in residence.
There was much to see our the next day's drive to Drigung Monastery. Tibetan images painted on rocks.....View image...
a lone Monastery on a hill... View image...
and homes of nomads.
Continue reading "Drigung Monastery" »
We left Lhasa, driving across high passes, to visit three magnificent monasteries: Ganden, Reting and Drigung.
The top of each pass had crowds of Tibetans selling prayer flags - long and short strings - large and small. The Prayer flags are inscribed with Buddhist auspicious symbols, invocations, prayers, mantras - and each flag is a different color. Buddhists place these flags outside their homes and places of spiritual practice (always on a pass) for the wind to carry prayers to the heavens.
The buying trick was to wait until our 4WD's were loaded and ready to leave...the prices dropped fast.
Over the pass to visit Ganden Monastery, once one of the three great religious centers for the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
Continue reading "Ganden Monastery" »
The Potala Palace has over 1,000 rooms. Everyone has seen the image in documentaries, articles, newspapers, or on calendars but the reality of standing at the bottom and looking up at this gigantic 13-story complex is spine-tingling! The Potala contained living quarters of the Dalai Lamas, chapels and many government offices, treasures and storerooms. Parts date from the 7th century while the 5th Dalai Lama did more recent renovations 300 years ago.
A person could spend days visiting the Potala Palace, and we enjoyed it so much that it was a repeat experience on the next trip we took back to Lhasa. (The North Face of Everest). This Tibetan experience was even more special due to Roger Williams. After all, when you visit monasteries and your guide is fluent in Tibetan, and has studied with the Dalai Lama, what more could you ask for? Another group of tourists came up to us after eavesdropping on Roger's explanations, and asked, "Where did you find that wonderful guide?" "Ex-Marine" told them he found Roger wandering around the streets, hired him for $1.00, and they believed him!
woodblock of Potala Palace
Continue reading "Potala Palace, Lhasa" »
We piled out of the hotel on our tour bus headed for dinner when Roger asked where Bob was. No one had seen him and Bob hadn't left any message about not joining us for dinner. With that, Roger went back into the hotel to ring his room. To make a three-day story short, they had to break down Bob's hotel room door, and found him unconscious.
Bob spent a week in the Lhasa hospital with both Cerebral and Pulmonary Edema caused by Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), and then had to be medivac'd by special jet to Singapore once he was stabilized. TRAVEL INSURANCE!
Keep in mind that Bob was in excellent condition. He was a biker, in good health but AMS can strike anyone. There are several important precautions everyone should take to avoid Acute Mountain Sickness:
Continue reading "Acute Mountain Sickness" »
Tashi Delek! (means "Hello" in Tibetan)
Our group of 12 met up at the Chengdu airport and were transferred to a hotel for the night (you almost always misconnect) - 3 Illini - New Jersey - Colorado - Atlanta - and the remainder from California. Originally, 13 people were scheduled for "Heart of Tibet", but Bill (from Tennessee) broke his hip before departure and cancelled. (Why you need Travel Insurance!) Next morning, we flew to Lhasa. The Gongkar airport is 60 miles outside of Lhasa (altitude of 11,830') and the religious, cultural and economic center of Tibet. We were reminded again that it's only since 1980, foreigners have been allowed to enter Tibet. Group itinerary was subject to change at any time by the Chinese Government. They can make changes in tourist regulations, or even close an area to visit. The 11,830' altitude hits right away with a "woozy", unsteady feeling...when you move too fast, it feels as if you are going to fall over.
Our Lhasa Himalaya Hotel, was about a five-block walk from the Barkhor. We tried to walk to it, but gave up after two blocks when exhaustion set in.
view of Potala Palace from our hotel
Settled down for a brief rest in the room, just looking out our window at the spectacular Potala Palace. It was hard to believe we were actually here!
Continue reading "Lhasa Arrival - Tashi Delek!" »
Even more information along with travel suggestions started arriving from Wilderness Travel.
Air? Flew United from Chicago to Hong Kong, then Dragon Air to Chengdu, and from there with the group to Lhasa. All air travel into Tibet is usually ticketed by your tour operator. You can also fly from Beijing to Chengdu. Nine out of 10 times, you are going to misconnect so plan on staying the night somewhere. In Hong Kong, it was the Regal Airport Hotel, but some of our group came a few days earlier and stayed at the YMCA in Hong Kong. That's right...the YMCA. It is next door to the famous Peninsula Hotel on the Kowloon side and a LOT less expensive.
Visa? You must have a Chinese visa which had to be processed through Wilderness' Visa Service - permission was then given by the Chinese Consulate for the group as a whole. There is a huge amount of bureaucracy involved in getting permission to enter Tibet. Remember how difficult is was for Brad |
