A Monastery on a Hill

In all the excitement of the last blog, I forgot to mention our New Year's meal. Every new year, a local restaurant, Tashi, invites all the foreigners in for a free Tibetan meal. When we first arrived, we were greeted and given "Sweet Tea" which is not the sweet tea that the South boasts. Instead, it is some sort of milk, sugar, and tea concoction that is a lot better than yak butter tea. They were also pouring us generous amounts of chang, a potent Tibetan libation. Imagine the hardest apple cider you've ever had, and you'll get some idea of what chang is like. As we were waiting for the meal to start we had some conversation with some Australians. During our time overseas we've realized that if there's ever an Australian around at a party, stay close, because usually good, funny conversation will follow. Some (Kramer) would say the same about a proctologist. The real star of the night was the food. Our favorite was a local dish called bobi. It is basically a Tibetan soft-shelled taco - fried meat and veggies. The twist comes with the seasoned cream cheese that takes the place of salsa and sour cream. It was a really fun experience, and we were surprised and thankful for the generosity of the owners.

The next day we decided to visit one of the most famous monasteries in the world, the Drepung Monastery. The best, and cheapest, way to get out there is the mini-bus, so we flagged one down. We immediately noticed how packed the bus was, like most buses in China, but the Tibetans kindly made room for us. In the picture below, Kendall (who is taking the picture) is sharing the back seat of the bus with 6 or 7 people.

When the bus stopped, everyone got off and made their way up the long hill that houses the monastery on the top. There is a nice road winding up the hill, and we wondered why the bus didn't just take us there, but the walk gave us some nice surprises. At first, the monastery was just a dot on a hill, but as we got closer, we could see just how large it was. In fact, 7,000 monks used to inhabit Drepung. Here's a shot of the monastery couched between some even larger hills. We also encountered some wild life on our journey up the hill, most notably a yak! I don't know if you've ever seen a yak up close, but it doesn't look like an animal you'd like to tangle with. I got as close as I felt it would like, and then backed away as it stared me down. I can understand his nervousness; after all, since we had been in Tibet we'd tried dried Yak meat, drank Yak butter tea, bought trinkets made of Yak bone, and seen people clothed in Yak fur. There were also lots of sheep running around, and I mean a lot. Darbie's favorite one came to meet us half-way up the mountain.

The monastery is a multi-levelled beast to see in the thin air. We were even higher than Lhasa, and good breaths were hard to come by. The monastery wasn't beautiful by any stretch of the imagination, the sheep see to that. However, the history and significance of the landmark are what make it worth seeing. There are hundreds of shrines and rooms to visit, each containing images of various buddhas. The monastery charges photographers per room! Even the monks are enjoying the benefits of tourism. Thus, we don't have many pics of the shrines or temples, but really just go back to Tai'an or some other temple pics in our archive, and you can get a feel for it. Below are two pics of the monastery. The first is of a typical building in the monastery. In the second you can see just how far up we had to walk, and also how big the monastery is.

Throughout the monastery campus are prayer wheels, written mantras, and "buddhist graffitti". They often contain mantas with pictures of various Lamas or buddhas.

Here are some more sheep pictures. We're telling you these things are all over the place, doing whatever they like. There are a lot of thin alleyways in the monastery, and Darbie wasn't too pleased with what she met done one in particular.

Below is one of our favorite pictures of the entire trip.

I was a little disappointed because Tibetan monks are known for their unique debates. They challenge each other in debate, and it helps both monks to gain a better understanding of Buddhist precepts. We went to the "debating place" only to find it locked. I asked a couple of younger monks what was up only to find out that they do not debate during the New Year. Heartbroken, we made our way back down the mountain. There was another temple lower down the hill, dedicated to "the oracle." This sounded cool, but there was yet another 3 hour line to enter due to the New Year. So, we took some shots with prayer flags and hopped on a bus that was even more crowded. We would have taken a picture, but we weren't able to move. We even got some sun on our journey to the monastery.

Lhasa was a great trip, and we look forward to returning some day soon. If you're interested, be aware that not only must you have a Chinese visa, but also a Tibetan tourist permit. There are many agencies in Chengdu that can hook you up, but it takes time and planning, of course. For those of you that didn't know, you can take a train up to Lhasa. At one point it reaches the highest altitude at which a train can travel. They also provide passengers with oxygen along the way; pretty exciting, huh?

Miles Traveled: Chengdu to Lhasa - 2,042 miles
Total: 3,727 miles

DB & KM

Up on a Roof

After our brief stay in Chengdu, we set off for our most adventurous and farthest destination, Lhasa. If you weren't familiar with it before, I'm sure the last month has informed many of you about the situation at present. It is a complicated situation, and the truth likely lies somewhere between the "Western Media's" portrait of Tibet, and the Chinese propaganda. Don't expect the problem to go away any time soon, but we can all hope that it doesn't escalate like last month.

Our trip to Lhasa began with an interesting start. We had a 2 hour plane ride over the Himalayas which provided some incredible views. Snowy peaks reached up through the clouds and really didn't seem all that far away. As the plane and crew prepared to land, we noticed the nose pull up and the plane begin to circle. Surely enough, an announcement in Chinese soon followed after which many Chinese and Tibetans moaned. Waiting on an English announcement isn't fun when your plane is surrounded by tall, rocky peaks on either side of the plane. It ended up that we couldn't land and had to travel all the way back to Chengdu, another 2 hour flight. We landed in Chengdu, sat on the runway for about an hour and a half, and then returned to the air, though we weren't assured that the outcome would be any different - luckily, it was. As we shuffled out of the terminal and got our bags, we got an introduction to the most difficult obstacle in Tibet, the extreme altitude (about 12,100 ft.). As we exited, we got another surprise, though it was more welcome than the altitude - bright, powerful, hot sun! I don't think many people know how warm, in fact, hot, it can get in Lhasa during the day. We were forced to shed our jackets soon after leaving the airport.

Many airports in China are annoyingly far from the actual city, and none are farther than Lhasa. A good hour from the airport to the city. To take our minds off our loud and needlessly reckless driver, we focused on the landscape. Most might be surprised to learn that Lhasa, and most of Tibet, is a desert. For those that have been to Death Valley in California, that landscape is strikingly similar. Interesting that the lowest elevation and one of the highest elevations on Earth feature the same terrain. The picture below is very typical of the Tibetan landscape - dry, rocky, and just the perfect spot for the ubiquitous Tibetan Prayer Flags.

We arrived into Lhasa on Lunar New Year's Eve, aka Chinese New Year's Eve. The Tibetans also celebrate the Lunar New Year, but they call it Losar Festival. A lot of the shops and hotels were closed as we entered the town, but we managed to find a hotel. Unfortunately, it didn't have an elevator and we were on the 4th floor. The bellhop gingerly ran our bags upstairs, while we trailed very far behind. It seriously took us around ten minutes to climb the stairs with lots of breaks to sit, thankfully Jimbo was there to give us climbing tips and techniques the whole way. Everyone advises not to do too much on your first day at extreme altitude, and we thought that it wasn't a bad idea. We parked at the first restaurant open, grabbed some snacks and parked ourselves back at the hotel. It was very easy to fall asleep that night, but we were all stirred by what sounded like World War III outside on the streets. China has no regulations whatsoever on fireworks, and every type, size, and noise was displayed on the street that night. Since coming to China, fireworks have lost some of their magic to us, since we see or hear them, well, everyday. Somehow we did manage to sleep, and made the decision to change hotels. Our first hotel was lacking an essential amenity on Tibetan nights - heating. They tried to appease us with portables, but even those were malfunctioning. So our first night and day in Lhasa was not awe-inspiring.

As we checked into our new hotel, the Gorkha Hotel, and started getting more acclimated, Lhasa began to open up to us. As we checked into our second hotel (outfitted in traditional Tibetan decoration), we met the amazing staff dressed in their cultural ensembles. They offered us dried yak meat and yak butter tea as we checked-in. I can honestly advise you in avoiding both. They do have something akin to funnel cakes that is a good treat, though. We were only on the second floor of this wonderful hotel, and it was a lot more inviting and closer to the action. Check out a picture of the digs. Above you can check out three happy little girls displaying the traditional wear for Tibetans. The girls wear the fuzzy hats, and the men wear cowboy hats. If you look closely you can see two Tibetan men in the background (wearing red). You can just how different Tibetans look from Han Chinese in the pic below.

As you can see, the style is intriguing, and the painting is ridiculously detailed. Here's another shot from inside one room, where we are displaying our New Year's gifts from the staff: A fruit basket and silk prayer shawls that serve the same purpose as prayer flags.

Because it was the New Year, there were a lot of visitors around, and a lot of Tibetans that had returned home from work in the mainland. The Tibetans are a very spiritual or superstitious lot, and many of the temples were jam-packed. Unfortunately, we were not able to enter the famous temples due to day-long line lengths, but that just gives us a reason to go back someday. The most famous landmark in Lhasa is the Potala Palace.

The first pic is the most famous place angle of the palace. It is a little surprising to find out that the Palace has a front lawn, and really isn't on a cliff (as you can see from the second pic). Nonetheless, the scale of the Palace is enormous. The palace was built in the 17th century, and was the seat of the Tibetan government, and of course the home of the Dalai Lamas. We weren't able to tour inside, but it is supposedly barren anyway. I've read that the Chinese do want to recognize it as a famous Chinese landmark, but not a Tibetan national landmark, so they have removed a lot of the palatial furnishings. From our hotel roof, we were lucky enough to get a glimpse of the Potala Palace at night. It is all lit up, and is truly beautiful. I had to zoom to get the shot, sorry about the quality.



The next famous site in Lhasa is the Jokhang Temple. While we were there the temple was abuzz with pilgrims. The temple seemed to permanently feature a line that completely wrapped around the square. The Jokhang is the oldest temple in Lhasa. Tibetans believe that the land used to be cursed, and recognize the land as a demoness. Before Buddhism could take root in Tibet, temples had to be built on certain parts of the demoness to pin her down. Therefore, there are holy temples all over Tibet said to be pinning down the demoness' hands or feet, but the Jokhang is the most holy because it was the last to be pinned down right over her heart. That is why Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world come to the Jokhang temple. As you can see from the picture to the right, fresh air can be a commodity in the center of the square as pilgrims toss offerings into the fire.

As you can see from above, the temple square is busy with activity. There are alleys all around the square, but one special one that leads pilgrims in a loop around the temple. Tibetans call this loop a kora. As they walk clockwise around the temple, over and over again, they spin prayer wheels, chant mantras, and hang prayer flags. The most dedicated pilgrims do the kora on their knees, or prostrating themselves along the way. To the right is the main alleyway. Vendors on the left, pilgrims in the middle, and a line of people waiting for the temple against the wall on the right. Below you can see some pilgrims in front of the main entrance of the Jokhang Temple. Pilgrims aren't the only people walking the kora, however, vendors line the alleys with all sorts of Tibetan "relics". All the vendors assured us that these were the real thing, and that they were very old. It is more likely that they were recently produced in Nepal and the vendors rub dirt on them. But that's all part of the fun.

There's also a more fun method to getting your prayers heard, by balloon! Many youngsters were out in the main square tying their prayer flags to balloons and letting them fly high into the Tibetan sky. Another popular method is the giant prayer wheel. Along the kora were a few small buildings that contained these giant, bronzed prayer wheels, which you can see a picture of below. They were usually very crowded with monks and pilgrims chanting as they followed clockwise with the wheel. The wheels are inscribed with mantras like Om Mani Padme Hum. Lastly to the right you can see some of the bling that sparkles atop the Jokhang Temple. There are many Buddhist symbols up top, and if you're lucky enough, you can go to the roof at the right time of day (we couldn't even get inside because of the lines).

We were lucky enough to have a great hotel location. There are tons of thin, little alleys that connect Lhasa to major points like the Jokhang Temple and kora. By the end of our stay, we could navigate these alleys and end up anywhere we needed to be. There is a lot of character to the alleys. Tibetans live, work, eat, and play in the alleys, and we got to be part of it. One fun thing we did in the alleys was go on a pony/horse ride! Many entrepreneurial Tibetans have horses lined up for kids and visitors to ride through the back alleys. We all hopped on a horse for a New Year's day ride. Check out the video below to see how it went.



Get a-long little horsie!

The next blog will be about our exhausting trip to the largest monastery in Lhasa, the Drepung Monastery.

DB & KM

Mission Accomplished

We caught a bus back to Chengdu from Emei Shan. Chengdu is one of the largest cities in China. They are currently building a subway line in the main area of town, so traffic was a nightmare. Even worse, city buses changed their routes with no rhyme or reason, so navigating the city was a pain. Additionally, Chengdu doesn't have too much in terms of landmarks or sites to see. BUT, they do have one biggie on the city limits, the Giant Panda Breeding Research Center.

We'll get to that in a minute, but first some other pictures. By the time we reached Chengdu, we already had our fill of obscure city temples, so we skipped those. Chengdu does have some great areas of the city that are renovated to look like old China. They really pull it off without looking fake. Our hotel in Chengdu was a traditional Chinese hotel with courtyard, and in fact, the entire street was called the architecture street with tons of renovated old buildings. During the day, the staff or other guests would push the tables together for improvised ping pong games!

Chengdu also has a lot of great parks. It's common to see entire families out in the parks either at the kid "fantasy land" where all the little girls wear pretty elaborate princess crowns or the older members playing cards or fishing in the park ponds with bamboo poles for their lunch. Here are some pics that were taken in or around the many parks of Chengdu. The picture below is pretty funny too look at it, and of course, it has a funny story. Inside the People's Park is a fun-house set in an abandoned underground tunnel. We had heard that it was pretty tacky, and I don't think the fun-house even reaches that. Articles like the tiger(?) below point the way to the actual fun-house which is just a particle board maze shrouded in complete darkness. After each turn, a motion display of some type pops up and tries to scare people. Unfortunately, all of the displays are of the same or lesser quality as the tiger you see below with most not even working. The scariest thing was the thought of breaking our necks from the total darkness. That was 5 yuan down the toilet.

Chengdu is also famous for the giant Mao Zedong statue that salutes the main city square. In the background stands the Chengdu Science and Technology Museum; something that Mao would have supported, no doubt. Although, just opposite Mao (unpictured) is a street overruning with capitalist delights from Gucci, Prada, Rolex, etc. I don't think Mao would have approved, but maybe that's why they placed the statue there poised to shame any Chinese shoppers exiting the store. We were also lucky enough to partake in some great Western food in Chengdu. Tex-Mex!! It was our second attempt at "Mexican" cuisine, and it came of much better than the first. If you're ever in Chengdu or Shanghai, be sure to hit Peter's Tex-Mex (Sorry, no pics. We were more concerned with eating). There's really not much else to say about Chengdu, so bring on the pandas! The research center is a ways out of town. We decided to take off pretty early because the pandas generally sleep all day after their massive breakfast. The plan worked, and we got to see pandas of all shapes and sizes in action. They have different areas for the pandas based on their size, we decided to see what the big 'uns were up to first. We were greeted warmly.We were just in time to see the adult pandas eating. They eat a ton of bamboo, and once one started, we didn't see it stop. Pandas have a special thumb that helps them grasp and hold the bamboo. The peel off the leaves in, hold a bunch in their hand, and start munching. We've got a video of it, after the picture below.

After watching pandas eat for a while, we headed over to the sub-adult pandas. We saw a lot more pandas eating, but this time they were having a family meal.

They sit close so that they can prop up their bamboo on their nearest friend. Once again, we watched a lot of eating (and even some green pooing) and then made our way to the adolescent pandas (don't worry, they're next to last). The adolescents have a lot more energy. They had eaten, and were already out playing. Going down isn't as easy as going up. He held himself in this position before finally just tumbling to the ground. He was eager to get to his friend below so they could wrestle. Close to the adolescent pen is where they keep all the real panda cubs, affectionally called "the babies" by Darbie. I have seen a lot of cute things in my life, but upon seeing "the babies" I had to resist the urge to curl up into the fetal position and melt. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us take pictures of the babies because they are afraid the babies would get scared. The cubs were very active. They are kept in little rooms with teeter-totters, balls, and climbing towers, and they happily play with all those things. They love to try to squeeze through things, and climb to the top of things, only to fall down to the ground and do it all over again. One room contained four or five babies that were about to be fed. They were amazingly playful with the workers, hugging their legs as soon as they walk in the room. They got very excited when they saw their baby bottles and each time they were given one they would grab it with two paws, shove it into their mouths, and instantly fall onto their backs in glee. Each time this would happen this would draw "awwws" and giggles from the small crowd gathered to watch. Remembering our dear readers, I broke the rules (and got busted), and took a quick shot when a baby panda came over to the window to greet us. He's waving.

After we managed to pull ourselves away from the cubs, it was time for Darbie to get better acquainted with a panda. She had to get sterilized and covered so she wouldn't spread her nasty human germs to the panda.I didn't miss this moment, and we now proudly present the world premiere of Darbie's panda holding video:

Here's a picture of Darbie and "Little Girl" in case you want to put it on a coffee mug, mouse pad or t-shirt.

Oh yeah, we saw some red pandas, but we won't spend too much time with them. After all, they're the lesser panda. They're pretty cute too, though, it is pretty nasty how they attack each other's tails. You can see a pretty nasty tail in the picture below.

Eww. That's why they are they lesser panda.

Miles Traveled: Emei to Chengdu - 80 miles

Total: 1685 miles

DB&KM

Meet the Monkeys

On our way back to Chengdu, we stopped over to see Mt. Emei. The mountain, like many mountains in China, is famous for some unapparent reason. But, it is a UNESCO world heritage site, and truly one of the more beautiful spots we visited during our trip. The mountain is pretty tall, over 10,000 feet, so needless to say, we couldn't hike to the top in one day. We decided to take a bus to the mid-way point of the mountain, cable car up a little higher and hike back down. There's also an option to take a two hour bus ride directly to the top (which is supposed to be beautiful), but anyone that's been on a Chinese bus for 2 hours, windy mountain roads or not, knows that can be distressing.

Remember how I said China charges for everything? Can you imagine paying $120/person to visit a mountain?, well that's the case at Mt. Emei. That doesn't even include the bus ride up the mountain (another $45/person), the cable car to the middle ($30/person), or any of the monasteries, monkey food, etc. Some of you think, well it is RMB, but that's a heck of a lot for native Chinese. We got into Disneyland for about as much as it took to get to Mt. Emei. The mountain had a lot to deliver. When we got to our destination, we found ourselves once again in a Winter Wonderland.

If you look at the path behind Darbie, you'll see what we were dealing with. Packed snow and ice covered the trail. Not too big of a deal until we came to the stair portion of the descent. Our faithful readers will remember that the Chinese prefer concrete stair paths to hiking trails on their mountains; this presents a problem during the winter months. After slipping down a few steps, we were fortunate enough to find home-made Chinese crampons! Kendall was eager to slip some on since all he had on the trip were indoor soccer shoes.

Pretty hi-tech. But, they actually did the job; no more slips. As you can see, Kendall's foot is a little bigger than the Chinese average. As we hiked further down the mountain, the snow started to melt and disappear. We eagerly made our way to Mt. Emei's most famous attraction, the monkeys!These Tibetan Macaques are native to the mountain. There are signs all around the mountain asking visitors not to feed anything other than their special monkey food. We bought a few packs of the monkey food expecting it to last us a good while. Not so. As we entered the habitat where most of the monkeys reside and play, a monkey came over and took all three of our complete packets. We didn't even get to open the packets up for the monkey, he took care of all that (check out the picture above, excuse his junk). He shoved all three packets in his mouth, went back to his favorite spot, and started munching. We decided that we might need some more monkey food. Further up the trail a more aggressive monkey, clearly the monkey leader, took our replacement monkey food and growled at as for more. Thankfully, the mountain employs even more aggressive Chinese ladies with large bamboo poles. Here's a video, unfortunately after we just had a scary monkey confrontation, listen to the fear in my voice.




Needless to say, we didn't stay at the monkey exhibit as long as we had originally planned. After watching the ladies whack a few more monkeys, we left, not forgetting to watch our backs. We passed a lot more scenic places on our way down. Waterfalls, blue lakes, and streams all dotted the landscape of the mountain. Here are a few more pictures.

I had to put this picture in black and white, otherwise it would just be a very white blur. At least this way we are supposed to be that white. Below you'll see a pretty cool bridge over some very blue water.


Mt. Emei is the most beautiful mountain that we've been. I would love to return - if the admission ticket doesn't rise - and go all the way to the top where a huge golden statue sits. There are also many monasteries to visit, even the famous Crouching Tiger Monastery. After we were done with the mountain, we grabbed some food and bused to our next destination, Chengdu.

Miles from Leshan to Emei Shan - 21 miles

Total: 1605 miles

DB & KM