Off to Tibet

Day 4-8 - Lhasa, Tibet
Woke up Tuesday morning feeling a little under the weather - bit of an upset stomach. But not all that bad. Had a two trips to the toilet before we headed to the airport but things weren't feeling all that shabby. I ate a GF granola bar (my bag is loaded down with them!), had some water... at the airport in Kathmandu, not too shabby. Felt like maybe it was just a bit of upset and nothing to worry about. I did take the vaccination before I left on this trip after all. On the plane - ugh! I went downhill fast! Getting off the plane my travel mates, specifically Ken and Sandy from Ireland, helped me with my bags and looked worried as I grew paler and greyer by the minute. At the immigration area the Chinese immigration officers even looked concerned and brought me water. BK, our fearless leader, watched over me and helped the others get through the checks all at the same time. He was worried it was altitude but I knew it wasn't - I knew I had eaten something in Nepal and it wasn't going very well. :( So I got on the bus and laid down the whole way to the hotel in Lhasa. Had my first experience of Tibetan toilet facilities (now in retrospect a pretty decent one at that!)... this one was kind of a trough version with half-doored stalls for privacy. I will be seeing more of the long drop versions in the near future with no privacy (the ones shown on the link I've provided are much nicer than some we encountered - wowzers!!). At any rate, I spent the rest of the night in bed and all the next day. Jenn was kind enough to bring me some plain, white rice from the restaurant they had dinner at that night and I ate some of it the next morning.


Wednesday afternoon I got up and showered and got dressed properly (i.e. got out of the clothes I was wearing the previous day and decided to sleep in for 24 hrs). My stomach was still upset but I managed to head out with Jenn in the afternoon for some lentil soup at a nearby western-style restaurant. I couldn't walk there though so we got a rickshaw- it was fun!! I went back to bed after that and the others went out for dinner. I was feeling pretty blue since I'd missed seeing a monastery and a nunnery and was not participating in any of the group meals and what-not.


Next morning, Thursday, was my first real day out and I got up and walked relatively far with Jenn for breakfast. But that just about did me in. My stomach, still a bit wonky, and now actually moving about I realized I had a lot of catching up to do with respect to acclimatising to the altitude! Lhasa is at 3500 m above sea level, making it one of the highest cities in the world. Walking was making me breathless! I had to walk really slowly. While climbing the stairs to my hotel room I had to take a rest and sit down before tackling the second flight! How humbling is that!!??


Tibet, population 2.6 million; 400,000 of whom live in Lhasa proper according to my trip notes. Though from what I was told, with the Chinese people moving there all the time the population has doubled in recent years so I'm unclear as to the actual population. The biggest attraction in Lhasa is the Potala Palace. That day, Thursday, the group went to this place, the Dalai Lama's former winter residence, for a tour. In order to get inside you have to climb up a long, steep set of stairs and then there is the 1.5 hr-long (apparently quite rushed) tour of the palace. I was not feeling well enough to leave the hotel once I got back from breakfast, and thus missed seeing this very important site. I was pretty gutted. Instead I had a long sleep and went out on my own, walking very slowly, and got some more food, trying to regain my strength and take my time acclimatising to the altitude. Eating was making me stressed out, though, I have to say. Between getting sick (therefore feeling overly cautious about what I was eating from a health-standards point of view) and then my food allergies, I was a bit of a wreck about eating and I wasn't eating much. At least there's always dal bhat.


The following day, Friday, I was finally feeling well enough to get out for more site-seeing and interaction with our group!! They are such an amazing group of people!! So we went to the Norbulingka Palace in the morning - the Dalai Lama's former summer residence. It was so nice since there was so much vegetation there! What I haven't mentioned yet is that Tibet is very dry and at altitude the dryness is amplified. It's like a desert. A cold one. And it's quite difficult to manage the dry, dusty, low-oxygenated air. The grounds of Norbulingka were paradise for air-quality!! After this we had some down time and lunch and then later in the afternoon we headed up to the Sera Monastery where we got to watch the monks debating. This was a very interesting experience. I didn't even know that monks debated!! The Sera Monastery is one of the three great university monasteries in Tibet (we got to go to two of them), so the monks here were debating philosophy - part of their studies. It was fun - quite a show. I've got some great photos from here.


I also have some great photos of life in Lhasa. It's an interesting city. There are two very distinct sections: a Chinese area that has lots of construction going on and is expanding and developing all the time; and an old Tibetan part, but which I'm told has even changed quite a lot over the past few years. Still we were able to get a taste of the old life in Lhasa. Shopping stalls line the street with yak meat and fruit and dentist offices and clothing one after another. Traffic can be rather hectic (though nothing like Kathmandu!!). One of my favourite ways to get around was by bicycle rickshaw. The Tibetan people are very curious about us - there aren't a whole lot of tourists - so they say "Hello!!" (practicing their English) and smile great big smiles at us. They are so sweet and delighted when we say "hello" back or even "tashi delek" which is the common greeting here but actually means blessings and good luck.

Tomorrow we leave for the day to spend a day "high" and sleep "low" (4500 m and then back down the 3500 m). I will blog on that later.