Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Day 03 - Lhasa Attractions / 10:58 pm
Day 03 - Lhasa (Tibet)
27 Apr 2007 (Wed):
Temp: -2 to 14c
It was a snowy morning...the 2nd floor breakfast buffet was defintely not our taste. The headaches & giddyness is still hanging around. Oh, Im glad to have 'survived' a night here. Lol. I bet this is the 1st time I dragged the time so long as the moment I stood to walk, I was rather breathless, same to the others. Walking a fleet of stairs have to be taken step by step with an intermitten rest. Gosh, feels like an old man trapped in a young body =p. The breakfast buffet was in a mess...all the remnants left by the PRC tour groups. The cooking style was Sichuan..but the looks of the food makes us one to puke. In the end, i struggled to eat what seems edible and un-oily to me...generally its just man-tou and half-boiled eggs. The milk is the most popular beverage there (whose milk? i think its the yak coz theres a huge stench!)
The 1st humor I had in the hotel was the hotel welcome booklet, it reads:
" Welcome the presence of Your Excellency in the manor hotel of vacation of celestial foot island. Dear guests, the group of bazaar invests a comprehensive entity which manages accomodation, food & beverages with as a organic whole amusement built of a huge sum of money in the manor hotel the island vacation of celestial foot" =P
There is a restaurant is labelled as " Hides the meal Western Food Restaurant". Y? Coz the hanzi is read as "zang can xi can ting".
We left at 0900h, later than scheduled. The mountains are now covered with a white sheet of snow...the weather is chilly with a temp around 6c.
27 Apr 2007 (Wed):
Temp: -2 to 14c
It was a snowy morning...the 2nd floor breakfast buffet was defintely not our taste. The headaches & giddyness is still hanging around. Oh, Im glad to have 'survived' a night here. Lol. I bet this is the 1st time I dragged the time so long as the moment I stood to walk, I was rather breathless, same to the others. Walking a fleet of stairs have to be taken step by step with an intermitten rest. Gosh, feels like an old man trapped in a young body =p. The breakfast buffet was in a mess...all the remnants left by the PRC tour groups. The cooking style was Sichuan..but the looks of the food makes us one to puke. In the end, i struggled to eat what seems edible and un-oily to me...generally its just man-tou and half-boiled eggs. The milk is the most popular beverage there (whose milk? i think its the yak coz theres a huge stench!)
The 1st humor I had in the hotel was the hotel welcome booklet, it reads:
" Welcome the presence of Your Excellency in the manor hotel of vacation of celestial foot island. Dear guests, the group of bazaar invests a comprehensive entity which manages accomodation, food & beverages with as a organic whole amusement built of a huge sum of money in the manor hotel the island vacation of celestial foot" =P
There is a restaurant is labelled as " Hides the meal Western Food Restaurant". Y? Coz the hanzi is read as "zang can xi can ting".
We left at 0900h, later than scheduled. The mountains are now covered with a white sheet of snow...the weather is chilly with a temp around 6c.
While travelling on streets, its is very very common to see the locals spinning a prayer wheel in their hands while walking. It is actually a pilgrim circuit done almost everyday by the religious Tibetans....and most of them are elderly people. It is even amazing to see people walking backwards throughout the whole journey! Mind you...the weather is like 2-6c early in the morning.Our 1st stop is at the square in front of the Potala. Potala is a vast white-and-ochre fortress soaring over one of the highest cities one of the world. The Potala dominates the Lhasa skyline and as the residence of the Dalai Lamas, it serves as a symbolic focus for Tibetan hopes of self-govt.
Pilgrims kneeling and praying at the holy site.
Lhasa's cardinal landmark - Potala Palace, one of the wonders of Eastern architecture
Our tour-guide>>>
A symbolic structure to state that it is a protected structure and a UNESCO Protected Heritage Site
The Potala is a sructure of massive proportions, an awe-inspiring place, sitting on Marpo-Ri, a 130m high hill. Pilgrims get free access ton Mon, Wed, Fri, otherwise tourists have to reserve the admission tickets one day in advance due to popularity. There is a strict rule that it can only admit about 500+ people per day and there is a time limit to enter and exit.Security is very strict, the admission price is also costly. Modern X-ray machines are found at the entrance to ensure no prohibited items are brought in. Photography of the interior is strictly prohibited and forbidden and all rooms are wired with motion sensors and video cameras.
There are steep steps almost every corners and almost everyone there is feeling breathless walking up...The ground floor of the red palace is the Chapel of the Holy Born and statues of the Dalai Lamas. The assembly hall is dominated by a huge 12.6m high chorten of the fifth Dalai Lama, gilded with some 3700kg of gold. Basically, this whole palace is huge and the pillars are built in solid wood with grand architecture and wonderful paintings from the wall to ceiling. There are several sacred chapels and tombs decorated with jewels and gold and not to worry, the cold temperature has enabled alot of preservation of ancient paintings and sculptures. Different rooms belong to different Dalai Lamas...and its a historical eye-opener...its a never-ending walk for a historian geek. The history and the story spans a few hundred years which I shall not state here.
Lastly, the roof of the white palace as spectacular views of Lhasa and the murals are plentiful of a description of Bodhgaya, where Buddha achieved enlightenment.
The rear view of Lhasa city from Potala Palace
The Lhasa railway station (highest railroad in the world)is the white arc situated at the foot of the mountain.
Rows of Tibetan prayer flags hung across the walls...
If you realise, now's the non-peak season, hence the low number of tourists around....Lunch was unfortunately, or should i say fortunately (since the food taste not bad) at the same place as yesterday. However, the feeling of looking at the same dishes isnt pleasing..ok...its slightly different only.
We made our way to Barkhor Square through many shopping districts with branded-name stores like Adidas, Baleno, foreign banks, etc. Barkhor Square was a large plaza that was cleared in 1985 and renovated in 2000. By clearing the plaza, the Chinese govt can keep an eye on the activities of the locals through video cameras, but the square has still become a focus for protest several years ago.
Close to the entrance to the Jokhang is a constant stream of Tibetans following the Barkhor circumambulation route in a clock-wise direction. Nobody walks anticlockwise otherwise the Tibetans will tell you to turn around. The Barkhor circuit is more like a flea market on both sides with all the fake antiques, Tibetan prayer beads, prayer wheels, religious photos, religious flags, carvings, etc...as long as things that are mainly religious and is Tibetan. The stores seems to be countless and they are known to sell at an exhorbitant price...so beware. In fact, hardly any tourist seem to buy any of those wares and I must comment that tourists seems to be a minority there...haha
Water vat to store rainwater in the event of fire (during ancient times)...
Praying towards the Jokhang Temple
Prayer wheels....
Spinning prayer wheel...
Giving offerings by lighting yak-butter candle
Barkhor Circuit Market in the evening
We went to the Jokhang Monastery first..Known as the Tsuglhakhang in Tibetan, it is the most revered religious structure in Tibet. It was built to face Nepal to honour Princess Bhrikuti, hence its very common to see people prostrating infront of the monastery regardless of whether the elderly have arthritis or watsoever...they prostrate like a thousand times faithfully.Interestingly, at such a touristy place, beggars are rare to be found but you'll see many locals wearing very simple, tattered, wooly clothes. The Jokhang is thick with the smell of putrid yak butter, and there is a murmur of mantras in the background. Like all monastery, it has a long history behind it. In the early Cultural Revolution, it was desecrated by the Red Guards, and part of it was unfortunately turned to a pigsty, thats why many things is no longer that ancient after restoration and refurbishment, though the basic layout and some structure remains. Admission fee is rmb 70 (S$14)
In the front of the entrance to the Jokhang is a forecourt that is perpetually crowded and pilgrims polishing their flagstones by their prostrations. Just inside the entrance are the Four Guardian Kings, rows of flickering buttre lamps. Entry to the Jokhang is a short dark corridor punctuated midway by a chapel on either side. The chapel to the right houses several naga goddess (naga=water spirits). The inner sanctum houses more important images of Buddhism and Dalai Lamas and chapels of different religious stuff. It is restored in the way that will stun you...theres too many stories and things to marvel in every single chapel...
Top of Jokhang Monastery
View of Barkhor Square from Jokhang Monastry
Pot bellied stone incense burners (sangkang) in front of Jokhang - 4 in total, marking the extremities of the Barkhor circuit.
Roof of Jokhang Monastery
In fact, the security to enter Jokhang Monastry is rather lax and for the 1st time, I saw a cat in Tibet...a really thick fur cat scratching a wooden pole...lol. Now, we head on to Sera Monastery (admission RMB 55; S$11) through a rocky road at the foot of another mountain. Its approx 5km north of central Lhasa, considered one of Lhasa's Gelugpa monasteries with a huge monastic population of around 5000 monks last time. There is a debating courtyard where you see monks debating and questioning each other about religious stuff.
After the brief visit, we travelled back to Lhasa city via interesting sights like Tibet Army Hospital (army camps are common in Tibet to control the place), market with raw meat hanging around. Dinner is at the same old place..same dishes with unknown bones & shredded meat. The only thing i dared to eat was the wintermelon soup which was erm..oily too.
Historical warplane in Tibetan Museum
Entrance to Tibetan MuseumBefore that, we were brought to Tibetan Medicine College, another comission-making stop for the guides. It was another introduction of how effective highland Tibetan herbs & roots are good to cure all kinds of aliments. I think the only fascinating fact i learnt is that only 30 types of ants are edible in the 300 that is found on Earth...and boy...they do sell mountains of fried ants. The Tibetan Dzi Museum was the next tourist shop where we were told more about the skybeads..and how to tell the real from the fake. I guess you wont need to tell the geniuine as it is easily and cheaply available in Chinatown Sg.
The evening was basically shopping around Lhasa Central...the shopping districts (Ahh...the shopping centre is big!). Generally the prices are slightly higher or almost the same standards of our homeland. The fruits are not fresh, and are charged at a premium price. Seafoods are defintely rare in highland areas, if there are, it is rock hard frozen fish. Best of all, Lhasa is the 1st environmentally friendly city in China. Plastic bags are banned here. All your purchases will be given in a biodegradable fabric bag =)
It was an unpleasant night...The power generator was down. Apparently, electrictity is obtained from solar power and there is no power in the daytime to conserve it for the night. As it was generally cloudy for today, I believe there was insufficient energy to go around. The warm air generator wasnt faulty, the telephone cables were down, the toilet bowls can't flush...so bad that most guests just left their door ajar with staffs rushing around to appease everybody's unsatisfaction. The night continued with sudden breakdowns & restoration...it seems so torturing to sleep in freezing weather too...
We know life's hard, truth is hard, lies are hard, they are all hard to accept when they have been
found out, and i'm rushing history homework on the Abyissian Crisis about Italy and Abyssia going into war and that the League Of Nations cannot stop this from happening, and beacuse they are formed by means to stop war and
peace-keep the countries together, they have thus failed to achieve that. I think i tend to hold a class for history instead of telling you about me, i'm basically a what subject-realted lover (humanities) and thus
I am more analytical and critical about things, and likes to study about dead people, haha. lol. it's history what can you expect and also geography, it amazes me. I really like it alot, so what have you? Again to find this answer
you need to enter into your own reality and reflect
it's amazing. amzing how people change the way of things, like how I used to hate outdoors in Band
felt it was a complete waste of time, i've acquired to like it more, i guess people change, their thereotical means and applications in life just goes on into a new direction, and see things in another perspective, i guess- it's
all in the mind. It really amazes me how these comes into action, from someone so pessimistic has changed his own view of things, and thus my friend is scoring much better, being more optimisitc and not think of his old way of suicidal
thoughts, which are pretty daunting. and thus we need to see things, in another light, another perspective and another new way, to enable us to open up our minds, and make more new things, the new way it is. 
