From the top of the world

Our trip to Tibet continues to be one of amazement . The spirit of the people is so overwhelming that it is very sad to think how the Chinese have tried to absolutely destroy this blissful corner of the world. Tibet had been isolated from the rest of the world for centuries, known as the “Forbidden Kingdom.” Foreigners were not allowed in the country, and given events it seems a wise decision, but alas, that was to change dramatically.
The last 50 years have been sad ones for the Tibetans as the Chinese went about trying to systematically trash the culture. In 1950 30,000 battle-hardened Chinese troops attacked and slaughtered the 4,000 ill-equipped and ill-trained Tibetan troops. No match at all for this country which had been frozen in time and isolated from the world. In the name of liberation and destruction of “Old thought,” the Chinese purposefully tried to destroy the heart of the Tibetan culture - the Monasteries, of which there were over 6000 in the country. People were not allowed to bring food to the monks, monks were basically enslaved in work gangs, and many of the monasteries were forced to denounce the Dalai Lama or face prison. And all of this happened with the West sitting on their hands and saying nothing. The Brits and Indians even got the UN to delay any debate on the Tibetan situation as the murder continued. I’ve got to do some research when I get home and find out in which country the US was meddling at the time. Sounds like about the time we were installing the Shah as head of Iran, and we all know how that turned out. But that’s another story.
The Chinese then collectivized the farms here and forced the people to grow crops which were not well suited to the land. The result was that 100.000 people died of starvation. In all over a million people died at the business end of Chinese rifles and/or administrative policies.
Then came the “cultural revolution,”: the Red Guards which wreaked havoc throughout China, but nowhere that I know of as much as here in Tibet, where they burned and looted and literally destroyed virtually every one of the monasteries in order to bring the Tibetans to the correct way of thinking. The Dalai Lama was forced to flee to India or face imprisonment. He is still revered today here in Tibet, and he is seen as a man of peace around the world.
The good news is that things are improving here. The farmers are again allowed to grow their own crops, the monasteries are rebuilding, although on a much smaller scale, and there is a great amount of personal liberty to worship and move about for the Tibetans, as long as they don‚t try to leave Tibet, and, most importantly as long as they know who the real power is.
The bad news is that the Chinese have given economic and social benefits to ethnic Chinese who move here and it seems only a matter of time before the Tibetans are a minority in their own country. It’s similar to what the Soviets did in the Baltic states, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The other bad part is that all courses offered in higher education are given in Chinese, so again, an insidious attempt to just slowly erode the existing culture by overwhelming it.
This year they are “Celebrating” the 50th anniversary of the signing of the 17 points, a phonyed-up document where they basically told the government, “Sign, or we’ll blow up the whole country.”
To understand Tibetan society one needs to understand the Buddhist monastery life. To that end we have visited several.
Today we went to Gandan Monastery which lies about an hour and a half from Lhasa. It’s at an elevation of 14,000 (4,000 metres) and climbing up the stairs in the various chapels and rooms certainly gave reason to think about what is to come when we climb to 17,500 (5250).,The monks at the monastery actually defy the Chinese and have picture of the Dalai Lama on display in one of the rooms. As far as anybody knows, it is the only publicly displayed picture of this man of peace who the Chinese fear so. The theory is that the monks can always take it down if officials come, but they don’t come and besides, most of the officials wouldn’t even know whose picture it is. Still, if the officials found out that it was there, there would be hell to pay. Another example of how things are in this “Autonomous Region.” Our guide, Jimmy is Tibetan (Manoj is our tour leader), and he says that there are now some Chinese tour guides who tell a completely different story about events. For example, Gandan monastery once had 3,000 monks before the Red Guard came in, burned the place to the ground, and stole all the precious gems. The Chinese guide’s story is that it caught fire and burned. Well, yeah, but who lit the fire on purpose
Dave, Tony, and I then decided to climb up the mountain where there were a series of prayer flags displayed. We didn’t have much time so Tony and I bailed about half way up, which was an additional 500 feet, and encouraged Dave who really wanted to make it to the top to go for it and not worry about the time. We had the rest of the afternoon off and so what if we got back to Lhasa a little later than the schedule. He made it and said it was awesome.
Tony has a watch which tells you what elevation you are at, so we call him “meter man” and are continually asking him, how far up we’ve climbed. When we got down we asked Manoj if any of the actual treks will be that severe a climb and he smiled and said “More so.” That really gave us pause. The worst part of the statement was that it came on the second day of trekking.
Oh well, we’ll find out. I’m sure we can all make it, we’ll just take our time and not race with anybody. Everybody in both groups keeps talking about the smiling and happy Tibetans. We talked to a German woman today who had been to Nepal 7 years ago, and she said it was night and day compared with the friendliness of today. She too is entranced by the Tibetans. Everybody we meet is. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Seven Years in Tibet,” and think of the grizzled face of the old lady in whose house the Brad Pitt character lives, well, she is on every street here in Lhasa. They just have this incredible countenance about them.
Kathleen has recovered from her illness, Sanjay had a tough night, Dale continues to have the trots as do some others, and everybody is trying desperately to stay off Avo‚s ( an Aussie of Armenian extraction) “Board of Death,” the unofficial tally of who’s not feeling well.
The five of us on our trek, Dave, Tony, Kathleen, and Carol and myself are a nice fit and we interact well. In the other group there is an American family mom, dad, and 13 year old daughter taking a year travel around the world, Avo, who keeps everybody happy, and a mixture of others.
I particularly like Sanjay and Annu, a brother and sister from London area who are of Indian extraction. Hindu by birth, they are an incredibly open to everything. They are my favorites. We have lots of talks about lots of different subjects. I’ll be sorry to see them split off when the other group does its things in a few days.
We have visited several more monasteries and while it has been very enlightening, I must admit that I’m a little “Monasteried” out. Sort of like visiting cathedral after cathedral in Europe.
So tomorrow we begin to move. One night each in Gyantse, Shigatse, and Shegar. Then we begin our trek and head for the other back side of the moon.
Lhasa has been fascinating. Carol and I keep nudging each other to see what the other has seen. We just sat for a half an hour today and watched people walking in the Barkhor, the market area. Simply fascinating.
Tibetans have mastered the opposite of the MacDonald’s “Super sizing.” Each block has hundreds of shops on it. Each shop is about 15 feet wide and deep, with the family living behind and/or above. Pool is extremely popular here, so there are lots of “Pool Parlors,” with one table each. Barber shops have maybe two chairs in them, record stores have a couple of hundred CD’s and that’s it.
But my favorite is the “Movie Theatre.” It is the same 15X15 size, and they have three or four benches which hold four people each, and there is a regular sized TV screen attached to a DVD player. Naturally, they sell all sorts of liquids, soda, beer etc. The same with restaurants, just a couple of tables and a few patrons.
Traffic in Lhasa is absolutely crazy. There are a few traffic signals which give a general hint to what is going on. But don’t be a pedestrian and think that because you have the green walking man that you can venture out and cross safely. Where there is no control, the right of way goes to those bold enough to take it. Our bus is rather old so that the driver operates under the theory that everybody else has more to lose than he does, so he just jumps out in front of everybody. Pedestrians usually walk out into the middle of the street when traffic permits and just stay there until it clears in the other direction. Carol and I absolutely cracked up today when we were parking at a Monastery and a very portly, newly arrived, American walked out in front of the bus, knowing that the bus would stop for him since he had already gotten to the point where the bus wanted to go. His eyes just got bigger and bigger and bigger as the bus inched closer and closer to him. There couldn’t have been more than one foot between them before he finally moved as the bus kept coming forward.
One thing that actually does help is that they have a separate lane separated from the main traffic by a metal barrier for non motorized traffic. Rickshaws, and bicycles can safely navigate traffic without endangering themselves. That is until they get on smaller streets where the barrier lane does not exist.
Carol particularly likes the pants for the little, non potty-trained babies. There are two legs attached at the top, but no crotch, so that mom can just hold them out in front and the little bare-butted babies let it all hang out, literally and figuratively.
We went out for dinner and planned on coming right back to send this email, but decided to go by the barber shop and say goodbye to the barber family. They were in the process of putting together little sachet purses to give out on Sunday, Buddha’s birthday. They had the bags made, but since they were only putting the bags together and didn’t have all the ingredients for the sachet, the husband/dad motioned for us to wait and he left.
We played with the baby who is just Max’s age, we had a brochure from another travel company which had lots of Tibet pictures in it. They looked through it, we showed them where we were going and tried our best to communicate. We got names across finally and after about a half-an-hour the husband showed back up with the white silk scarves which we had been given upon our arrival in Tibet and he gave us the sachets to hang in the car for a safe journey. We thanked them and prepared to say goodbye, and then the kicker. Out came the baby in a complete Tibetan winter outfit. Fur hat, long coat, red tie around the waist, it was just totally precious. Naturally we thought we were through with pictures so we didn’t have our cameras. We hustled back the hotel, then back to the barber shop for pictures all around again. Then it was hugs around, exchanging address, and final goodbyes.
Lhasa was wonderful. It was very interesting, very beautiful with the stark mountains all around, and it filled our hearts seeing the spirit of the Tibetan people. But as always with our trips, it is the interaction we achieve that will be our fondest and most long lasting memories. Grandma, the Barber, her sister, her husband, and of course the baby.
What a wonderful way to send us on our way across Tibet. I don‚t know how it can get any better than this, but somehow, we know that there are further adventures out there, and hopefully, meeting some more people like my barber and her family.
Here’s hoping that you are all well. We think of you often and always with love in our hearts.
Carol and Jim