With priceless soft sleeper tickets in hand, we set off on a whopping 36-hour train ride to traverse the permafrost of Tibetan mountains. We were excited to experience the highest train in the world, peaking at 5,072 meters (16,640 feet)! Mountains shot up all around us, laced in glistening snow.
While the land seemed uninhabitable, every once in a while we'd see tents, yaks, and prayer flags that I'm sure were asking for summer to come quickly. With this scenery, 36 hours wasn't too bad (not to mention the welcome change from our hard sleeper days). Imagine, four berths to ourselves, a dining car, the ability to turn off the blaring morning chinese opera music, and we could even close our door!!!! Oh man, it was glorious! Extremely grateful, we were excited to start our 7 days in Tibet.
Chinese men have an addiction to smoking (60-70% of all men in China smoke). Yet with the combination of no smoking signs, the intercom announcements declaring in both English and Chinese "Please don't smoke because smoking is really, really bad for you," you'd think that they'd get the drift. But sadly, they don't. Let's just say that David likes to call me (Joe) "the enforcer" now. I like to think that I just helped fellow passengers obey the rules and add a few more years to their lives.
When we arrived at the Lhasa airport, we met our fantasticly flexible tour guide Smu (yes, that's her real name... lucky she lives in Tibet) and our horn-happy driver Mr. Fun. Our first major stop was the Potala Palace, home to 14 Dalai Lamas . With over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues, the Potala Palace is one of the most ornate and largest attractions for Buddhists and tourists alike. One of the most impressive sights was the 5th Dalai Lama's tomb which is made of 3,720 kilograms (8,200 pounds) of gold and studded with semi-precious jewels...and this was just one of the 13 tombs! I think we found a solution to the economic crisis back at home!
Next on the list was the most important monestary in the Buddhist faith, Jokhang Monestary. Outside were devoted pilgrims who make their pilgramage to prostrate themselves on the ground 10,000 times in order to humble themselves and honor their gods in hopes of gaining blessings and a better next life. A traditional dance show and David buying a Tibetan jacket (which quite literally was the talk of the town) were next on the list before our trip out to the countryside to visit the First Tibetan King's home which now functuions as a monastery. Built in 2nd Century BC, the King's Palace sits atop Jormo Zhaxi Ceri Mountain on the east bank of the Yarlung River. While there we met some monks who were in the process of hanging their traditional tibetan flags. Each color has a different meaning: Blue-sky/space, White-air/wind, Red-fire, Green-water, Yellow- earth. Just like all the other visitors, the monks like to take pictures too, so we joined in. On the drive to the hotel we stopped by a local village house and and met a local family. After meeting most of their family, sharing our family photo ablums, and laughing at the difficulties posed by translating through three languages in order to communicate, we moved on.
On our way to Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet, we stopped by Yamzho Yumco one of the three holy lakes. Standing at 5,030 meters (16,503 ft) above sea level, stunning views were definitely worthy of a few peace signs (since it seems that every Chinese person flashes one in their photos). As we drove along the countryside, we passed over forty miles of harvest-time barley stacks awaiting their turn for villagers to manually separate the grain from the chaff in the wind. Biblical lesson anyone??? Anyone??
Finally arriving in Shigaste we toured the local and largest active monestary. Once holding about 7000 monks, there are now just over 1000. There we saw the largest indoor "Future Buddha" in the world. It is over 26 meters high and weighs 276 kg decorated with solid gold and numerous precious stones. While memorable, it was our interaction with the young Buddhist monks that stands out. Just before seeing about 40 adoloscent monks chant and say their scriptures, we got to see them play around like typical teenagers. And if that wasn't memorable enough, it was our short yet powerful conversation with Se Song (Cecil, he's in the middle) that will forever stay in my mind. Despite being in the heart of Buddhist culture, there's still something that makes you think when you hear a monk respond to the question: "How long do you plan on staying here?"... "One lifetime."
After returning to Lhasa we were excited to have the opportunity to visit a local orphanage. With one of the largest age ranges of kids we'd seen (infants to 17 years old) it was great to learn more about what they were doing and have an impact on the kids for the day. And I'd just like to point out that our family pictures have come in handy lately and certainly have made communicating much more fun. And shoot! Who wouldn't be captivated by our incredibly awesome families!! Well, our 7 days went quickly and now its off to Yangshuo.
