7 Days in Tibet, Part 1

byjetrbby80316

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Updated 7 years ago

Last night I was reflecting back on an amazing journey. One that transported me for 7 days to the revered land of Buddhism located at the base of the “ceiling of the world”.

It was a dreary overcast day in early July. We began our epic journey from Katmandu, Nepal to one of the highest capital cities in the world during the early dawn light. The air was damp yet balmy, and we could feel a warm condensation dripping off our faces.

We boarded our small aircraft run by Southwest China, embarking on a 2 ½ hour flight.

As we crossed the border out of Nepal into Tibet under a sheltering sky, we could view the billowy white summits of 6 of the 10 tallest mountains in the world, all part of the famous Himalayan Mountain range, all peaks rising above 8000 meters tall.

In the distance we could see Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Manaslu, Annapurna, - and of course the grandest of them all, Mount Everest perfectly right-centered in the background. These mountains all straddle the border of Tibet-Nepal along the Tibet plateau.

To the far left, one could also catch a glimpse of the revered “Fishtail” mountain (Machapuchare), while although quite smaller than the “Mighty 6” has particularly been sacred to the god Shiva, and has long been off limits to climbing.

As we disembarked from the plane, I was at first expecting the thin air to belabor my breathing, and was anticipating a quasi-choking sensation .After all, we had ascended 3,000 meters in less than 3 hours, and there was no time for acclimatization. The early detections of Altitude Mountain sickness (AMS) surely would be felt.

To my great surprise, no breathing difficulties whatsoever. Nothing.

Our Intrepid Adventure

As we exited the small airport with the surrounding mountains in the backdrop, we were summoned by a short and stocky man who appeared to be a Tibetan local, and he waved us to climb aboard the vehicle.

Reluctantly, we climbed aboard this rather rickety 9-seat mini-bus that looked much like a relic leftover from the Chinese Civil war. We were now off on a 2 hour trek from the airport to our accommodations in the main city – but would we even get there?

And it was monsoon season, Oh My God!

Immediately after the bus began moving, I recall being driven over extremely muddy rugged terrain, traversing narrow dirt mountain roads without any guard rails, with an ever-looming 600 meter drop off the edge of the road into a deadly steep river valley canyon.

I remember thinking to myself we could be riding on the surface of the moon, while feeling equal parts undeniable incredible exhilaration and simultaneously fearing for my life!

Shortly after traversing danger, an act of God came upon us masquerading, and I was enthused by a welcome distraction– oh look, adult nomadic tribesmen on yaks!

At one point we made a slow hair-pin turn while meeting head on with a diesel truck coming the other way. As we edged precariously near the edge, all of a sudden I felt the back rear wheel slip – “Oh **** me!! Lucky for us, the back wheel quickly recovered, as we made it past the diesel.

“Don’t worry we know these roads, the scariest part of the ride is over!” assured our ebullient local Tibetan guide. Exhausted and shaken, I fell asleep on our ever so hazardous journey for the next hour. Very thankful!

Alas, I would awaken to see we had indeed reached our final long-awaited destination!

The Old City of Lhasa

We stayed in the Old City of Lhasa. Shortly upon entering the gates of the city, I could see and feel a heavy People’s Republic of China presence. The feeling of a territory besieged by martial law.

Lhasa, which means "Land of the Gods" and is over 1,300 years old,. It is one of the highest cities in the world at 12,002 feet (3,658 m). We were staying in the eastern part of the city, near the Jokhang Temple and Barkhor neighborhood, where Tibetan influence is still strong and evident

Soon we were in the center of the Old City, where we were staying at the Old Lhasa Hotel. This Old Lhasa hotel is located on the famous main road of the old city named Barkhor Street, an ancient circular road that runs 2 kilometers long and encircles the famous Jokhang Temple.

Immediately outside our hotel door, we noticed a very curious ritualistic practice by the local Tibetans. When walking in a circle along Barkhor Street, all the Tibetan locals only walked in a clockwise motion.

Well, what could this phenomena be?

Walking the Koras

To understand this phenomena, you will discover such Tibetan practitioners believe that a walking pilgrimage along this street equals a journey covering the whole of Tibet. A journey to find their spiritual nirvana.

Such practitioners believe that spiritual enlightenment is achieved by walking these koras, which are walking paths around sacred sites where one circumambulates, usually while praying, meditating or prostrating. Almost every temple and monastery will have a kora, and these are great places to mingle with Tibetans from all walks of life.

Notice that all Tibetan Buddhists walk in a clockwise direction when circumambulating.

WE actually learned this the hard way, as the first day while walking to the market on this street, we unknowingly began walking in a counter-clockwise direction – I cannot tell you the amount of “amused” looks we received from the local Tibetans !

Not only were they amused by us, on our "wrong way journey" we met some Tibetan children making funny faces at us! Oh, children (and people) are the same everywhere!

Barkhor Street is one of Old City’s 3 main walking koras, a very ancient round street built in the 7th century A.D. surrounding the Jokhang Temple that locals always have been very proud of. It is one of three traditional street circles for which locals take such a walking pilgrimage journey.

As a symbol of Lhasa, it is a magical place showing the original outlook of Lhasa.

Legend has it that in the year 647, Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo built the Jokhang Temple. Due to its magnificence, it quickly attracted thousands of Buddhist pilgrims. As a result, a trodden path appeared.

Tibetans consider this street as the “holy route”, a passage to their spiritual elevation and a renowned circle for spinning the prayer wheels. The prayer wheels line the outside of buildings along the street, where locals spin them as they walk along the path..

That is the origin of Barkhor Street. Today even still, there are so many walking pilgrims holding the prayer wheels while walking clockwise along this street from dawn to dark.

Majestic Potala Palace

The former home of the Dalai Lama was the winter residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising. It is now a museum and ONESCO World Heritage Site.

Enclosed within its massive walls, gates and turrets built of rammed earth and stone, the White and Red Palaces and ancillary buildings of the Potala Palace, a place containing the winter palace of the Dalai Lama from the 7th century symbolizes Tibetan Buddhism and its central role in the traditional administration of Tibet.

For a true authentic “Tibetan experience,” we spent the late afternoon walking around the Potang Shakor, the prayer path around the bottom of the Potala Palace. Extending the entire circumference of the exterior of the palace, the outer exterior walls along this path surrounding the palace were adorned with 1000 prayer wheels.

Here we were fortunate to find Tibetans from all walks of life, Lhasa folk and walking pilgrims, doing what many of them do every day or as often as they can, circling the Potala, praying for long life, good health, and return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, for all sentient beings.

Tibet’s Plight in Recent history

Tibet’s plight in recent history with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its claimed illegitimate usurp of Tibetan Buddhism as told by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) is a tragic and sad story indeed. The history of the conflict between the CTA and the PRC has been mired in bloodshed stemming from long-opposed socio-political ideologies.

From 1951 to the present day, the territory of Tibet has been administered by the People's Republic of China, which is a situation the Central Tibetan Administration still to this day considers an illegitimate military occupation.

The position of the CTA is that Tibet has always been and continues to be a distinct nation with a long history of independence.

The highly religious people of Tibet, who practice a unique form of Buddhism, suffered under communist China’s anti-religious legislation.

The following is a brief timeline of important events in Tibet’s recent history:

1) Founded in October 1949 by the victorious Communists under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the People's Republic of China (PRC) wasted no time commanding a new Chinese presence in Tibet. In October 1950, the People's Liberation Army forcibly entered the Tibetan area of Chamdo, defeating resistance from the Tibetan army.

2) In 1951, negotiations between the Chinese government and Tibetans resulted in the Seventeen Point Agreement, which formalized China's sovereignty over Tibet, but was repudiated by the present Tibetan Government-In-Exile.

3) This Tibetan-Chinese agreement was signed in which the nation became a “national autonomous region” of China, supposedly under the traditional rule of the Dalai Lama but actually under the control of a Chinese communist commission.

4) It was obvious to the Chinese from the beginning that incorporating Tibet into Communist China would bring two opposite social systems face-to-face. However in Tibet, the Chinese Communists opted not to place social reform as an immediate priority.

5) From 1951 to 1959, traditional Tibetan society with its lords and manorial estates were allowed and continued to function unchanged. Despite the presence of twenty thousand Chinese soldiers in Central Tibet, the Dalai Lama's government was permitted to maintain important symbols from its de facto independence period.

6) After years of scattered protests, there was a major rebellion that erupted against Chinese rule in Tibet in March 1959 called the Lhasa Uprising, which was put down with the cost of great bloodshed and lasting bitterness on the part of the Tibetans. The Tibetan government-in-exile reports variously, 85,000, 86,000, and 87,000 deaths for Tibetans during the rebellion.

7) The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) was forced to flee as the uprising was crushed by Chinese troops. On March 31, 1959, he began a permanent exile in India, settling at Dharamsala in Punjab, where he established a democratically based shadow Tibetan government. Thousands of Tibetan refugees followed the Dhali Lama to India.

8) The government of India accepted the Tibetan refugees. India designated land for the refugees in the mountainous region of Dharamsala, India, where the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile are now based. This happened following the Lhasa Uprising and the Dalai Lama's flight from Tibet in 1959,

9) The community of Tibetans in exile established in Dharamsala, India has expanded since 1959. Tibetans have recreated Tibetan monasteries in India and these now house tens of thousands of monks. They have also recreated Tibetan schools and hospitals, and founded the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.

Well, that completes our short but fascinating and important history lesson of Tibet since 1950. This nearly scratches the surface of the complex social and political relationship Tibet has had and continues to have with the People's Republic of China. A relationship that is both sad and tragic.

Okay, it’s been a long 2 days and my feet are tired!

Time for a short break at a local Tibetan tea house to enjoy the national favorite Tibetan drink – Yak Butter Tea!

This completes our first 2 days of our epic journey to Tibet in the Old City of Lhasa.

Tomorrow we will visit her ancient monasteries and Tibetan monks, art and street music scene, and share some more of Tibet’s amazing culture.

Also stay tuned for new incredible true stories I will share from my trip to Tibet as we will climb together to even higher settlements, the Himalayan towns of Shigaste, and Gyanste.

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to share any comments.

Cheers,

Kaju