When the train first pulled into the newly built Lhasa station, it was 8:30 at night, dark, rainy and very miserable. As we drove to the Yak hotel, I couldn't help but feel the disappointment. It wasn't the Tibet I was expecting.
But next morning as I walked around with my two new friends Amanda and Ingrid, I felt like I was on top of the world.....I was on the roof of the woorld:) The tibetan quarter outside just across the street from our hotel seemed like a whole different world and it felt that here time had stood still even though there are signs of 'civilization' creeping in. The are near the Jokhang and with all the pilgrims walking the kora or prostrating in front of the kora was just an absolutely inspiring sight. Why anyone woul want to modernise or change the rhythm of life in this place I just cannot understand.
The next day we ventured out of the tibetan area and went further out and we almost felt like crying. All our joy and amazement came crashing down as we rode throuh what looked like another suburb of beijing IN TIBET. We didn't want to believe it and went straight back to the tibetan area where we were blessed by a lama during morning prayers...but even his water could not wash away the anger we felt towards people who wanted to destroy such a beautiful culture and way of life.
In the next few days we visited the monasteries of Sera ,where we saw the monks debating, and we walked the Kora around Ganden monastery and got absolutely amazing views. Ganden stands at an altitude of 3,800 meters (12,467 feet) above sea level!
After our visits to Sera and Ganden we went on an organised tour for a night at Namtso Lake. In Tibetan it means 'Heavenly Lake' and the views there and all the way there were just stunning. It is on of the largest salt water lakes and sits at an altitude of 4720m above sea level. After 3:00pm the tourist buses left and we had the whole place to ourselves. Climbng up we had breathtaking views of the lake all around us. So beautiful is the scenery here that we even managed to catch on camera chineses crews and models come to shoot adverts here.
Coming back from Namtso we had to say good bye to Amanda the next day as Ingrid and I were going to try to hitch to Everest Base Camp and see how far we could get without a permit. It was great that we had Benny and Michael (2 of the warmest, funniest and friendliest swiss guys i've ever met) coming along with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment