We have now arrived safely and well in Nepal after ten days in Tibet, with limited internet access and no access to facebook and blogging, etc, due to the Chinese internet restrictions. There is so much to say about Tibet that I do not know where to start, so for the time being I will have to stick to a few highlights... We flew into Lhasa and spent 4 days there, before moving West to the border with Nepal via Gyangtse, Shigatse, Sakya, Shelkar, Everest National Park and base camp and Zhangmu (the miserable border town).
1. Tibet is intensely spiritual and everywhere you go there are people actively practising Buddhism - spinning prayer wheels as they go about their everyday business, adding colourful prayer flags to every possible location, prostrating themselves in front of temples and in the middle of main roads as part of their pilgrimage.* We were both in awe of Potala Palace in particular, strikingly red and white and set above Lhasa, and still very much an active spiritual centre for Tibetan Buddhism.
2. As it's quite difficult to get the Tibet permits for each area of the 'country' and the 'political situation is so uncertain, there were hardly any tourists in Tibet, and most of those we saw or met were staying in Lhasa only (on a cheap package deal from Chengdu in China). We appreciated this most at Everest base camp (an awe-inspiring experience under normal circumstances) and for sunrise there, as we were literally the only tourists there. How may great places in the world can you watch the sunrise alone these days? (See picture!)
3. The scenery is spectacular - the mountains are ENORMOUS and the skies were bright blue throughout our ten days there, with the exception of a light snowfall one afternoon in Lhasa, which coated the mountains around the city and made it even more beautiful.
4. The people are so friendly and welcoming, and this is in part because they are aware of the support in the West in the plight for Tibetan autonomy. This extends from the city centres to the rural villages, and across all age groups.
5. Many things are unexpected - including caving with a monk who has lived alone for 18 years in a tiny monastery at the base of Everest, which is usually closed to the public by the Chinese military. We were lucky on the day we were there in that the military had not turned up, and so the monk led us on a spiritual journey through TINY nooks and crevices underground, with the aim partly being to help us appreciate the natural beauty of the world - which we definitely did after emerging from 20 uncomfortable, dirty, cramped minutes in the dark into the bright lights at the foot of the greatest mountain on earth.
Low points included the food, the cold temperatures, the altitude sickness and the general lethargy we felt as a result of these! Also, the Chinese government is continuing to stamp its mark over the Tibetan culture and cityscapes, for example by placing a Chinese flag in amongst each collection of prayer flags, and banning young people from joining the monastery without paying sufficient funds and collecting many government stamps and approvals. This extent of this is really very upsetting when you hear about it from within Tibet itself and from Tibetans.
*Not sure if 'pilgramage'is religious-ly correct, but you get the idea...
