More on Tibet

A lot of people have asked for more information about Tibet so here are some of my impressions that have stayed with me 

Tibet -A Riot of Color

Flags, carved and brightly painted doorways and eves, wallpaper, cloth – nothing matched but it all went together with the beautiful blue skies and clear air. Besides the visual impact the devotion of the Tibetans was the next thing that made an impression on me.  Carrying prayer wheels, the kowtow, ritual walks, prayer beads, prayer flags, spinning the large prayer wheels – so much of their day seemed to be spent in devotional activities. Lastly the amount of “armed soldiers” present at the corners of most of the streets, on rooftops, and marching in small groups around the streets gave such a contrasting and jarring impression when compared to the Tibetans and scenery- It left me with an unsettled feeling.

Due to our ignorance when making our travel plans we were only allowed to stay in Lhasa – (you need to state all the places you will go which are then placed on the visa). No matter - it was still a great trip. We had 4 relaxing days in Lhasa with plenty of time to walk around, explore, eat and shop as well as visit most of the important sites.  We stayed in an Indian owned hotel. The rooms were small but functional, they had a pretty good breakfast and the Internet worked well. There were lots of foreigners but Americans seemed to be in the minority.

The food was really good. We ate yak a couple of times (which is delicious)– we tried the lamb but it was so tough we couldn’t get it off the bone. Yak tea is horrid -sort of a combination of melted butter with milk in it. Some of the restaurants allowed the beggars to come in and put their hands out for money or their bowls out for food. There were monks at the table next to us and they had a little pile of jao (less than a penny) that they would take from for each beggar. I gave my share too – only thing that confused me was when they asked for food- I wasn’t sure what to do until I saw the other tables just putting pieces of food into their bags or bowls.  They could have had ALL our Yak Tea if we had know what to do ..... The mothers with babies and children were the most aggressive but the rest were very humble and tolerable. We figured they were “harvesting" from the tourists” in preparation for the long winter.

This blog I found when I was making sure I had the correct spelling for the praying stuff – it has some great pictures and a much better description of their devotional rituals.

http://blog.absolutechinatours.com/index.php/2010-11-17/ritual-walks-and-kowtow-around-jokhang-temple/ 

Finally Teaching

I finally got to teach at NUDT! - It was my first (and only) class It has 30 students - all sophomores - and from different Colleges. Supposedly being assigned to this class is an honor - but I would have been more honored if I had a full load and not just one class. Yes - I am a full time teacher and I have ONE 2 hour class a week. The rest of the time I am 'preparing for the next class'. This class has been hand picked - it has the top 3-5 students from 7 colleges. These kids get special treatment and classes due to the fact that they will probably be pretty high up in the government in the future. I can see why - they were great today. I got the majority of the students to talk a little - which I feel is an accomplishment due to the fact that it is the first day and they aren't used to hearing me speak - I am still a little fast.

The room was sooooo hot -4th floor (no elevator) and as typical no AC, but at least I could move around - the students sit on these horribly uncomfortable little square stools for 2 hours -  I was sopping wet by the end of the two hours but I was happy. The student monitor carried my backpack the 4 blocks to the faculty bus for me. During class the student monitor will get you tea or hot water whenever you want.  I just now need them to bring and wave big fans to cool me off. The room is a computer lab (with no internet) with video language lessons from the 60's (I had a hard time watching them without laughing).

The syllabus they have for the class is so packed with requirements that it is really hard for the me to get any good conversations started. I feel off the cuff conversations and arguments are more important than the dumb videos that they make the kids watch.

Back in Changsha - Aug 2011

Ok - I am finally in my NEW apartment - no major glitches in the apartment - but TONS of frustrations in the computer/network/internet area

1 - They have a nice - brand new - windows desktop computer - but it is in Chinese - so any question they ask me - which is very often - I can not answer because I can't read - so I take a guess and click on one of the pretty buttons -- I now have lots of flashing ads from some guy named Tommy ...

2. The have Office on the computer but they forgot to authorized the copy (probably illegal anyway) so I can't use it

3. My boss keeps sending me .doc files to open but I can't because the Office copy is not authorized and no--- I can not get onto the Google doc page to open them there ...because google docs is blocked (alone with facebook, blogger, etc etc)

4. They can not hook up my Mac computer to the network - none of the passwords etc will work

5. the windows computer doesn't have speakers - so - either I stay attached to the headset/computer they gave me or I miss any skype calls - no camera either

6. NO WIRELESS as they promised - so once again I am tethered to a desk and a really uncomfortable chair

Only other major complaint is that they only gave me one class to teach -( I start on this coming Tuesday )- and I still have to work on the web page (YUCK) - they promised me I could teach this semester.....so much for promises...

Hailar

Hailar is in Inner Mongolia -(pronounced Hi-Lar) we are going on a tour today to the grasslands and then to border of Russia and China "Manchurian" (Manzhouli).  Inner Mongolia was filled with lots of cattle, horses, sheep, goats and not many people. Lots of stories and statues of Genghis Khen. Food was ok just not as spicy as to what Changsha (and Cynthia) has gotten me used to. When we got to Manzhouli (Manchuria) which is on the border of Russia and China - all the sales people talked to me in Russian.  I guess all "us white people" look the same. Sort of strange because I hope I don't  look like any of the Russians that I saw - most of them were dressed rather inappropriately for their age. (I am trying not to use the word "sluttly").  A lot of Russians come over the border to shop in ManZhouLi for shoes, clothes and household products. All the shop signs were in Russian or Chinese and Russian.

At the Russian/China border they had a park FULL of giant Russian Stacking Dolls including NBA stars and presidents. 

 Cynthia had to take the picture of the border below - I wasn't allowed to go that close with an American Passport - wonder if it was a Chinese rule or a Russian rule?

Dunhuang - Crescent Moon Lake and the Mogao Caves

One part of our trip went to far western China - a town called Dunhuang. The 'famous' Crescent Moon Lake is located.  It started losing water in the '90s so the country in an effort to keep the tourists started adding water to the lake.

The Mogao Caves were next - overwhelming numbers of caves and spectacular wall art.

West End of the Great Wall, Jiayuguan

There isn't just ONE Great Wall Of China - there are many. Jiayuguan is the western end part of one of the important sections. Nice fort here and a popular tourist attraction with a 4 star toilet (a rarity in this area of China)

XiNing & LanZhou

Sorry Georgia - Lanzhou had the best peaches I have ever tasted. We only bought 2 - wish it had been more.

The boat ride on the Yellow River was made from blown-up pig skin. We passed on this adventure.

Overnight Train

This was my first time on an overnight train. We upgraded and got a "soft bed" which really means that 4 people are in the cabin- not 6 as in a "hard bed".  But as you can see from the picture many more people were in the cabin most of the time. Also they don't count children under 12 as a body so 2 people may be sleeping in one bed. This leg of our trip was 23 hours.  It was not too bad - we were in a car with a grandma and grandpa of a big family, also on the train, so she ended up taking care of us as well as her family - I was stuffed with all her food and snacks she brought by the time we left. No one snored too loud. Bathrooms were sort of gross but still useable. I got the bottom bunk which was pretty comfortable except that it was the community sofa during the day. I tried but I could NOT get up on the top bunk - you have to really really stretch those legs and have strong arms. I gotta work out more!

After the train we were taken to a hotel - it was HORRIBLE. I went downstairs to get a hairdryer and the receptionist was putting on her makeup and refused to turn around to help me. No hot water until they turned it on at a specific time. The rooms were occupied with lots of men playing Mahjong (they gamble on the game).  

The next morning we hopped in a car and did a tour of this area - temples, lakes, and the Yellow River. Then another 12 hour overnight train. It was drizzling a little and I fell on my BUTT on a slippery sidewalk outside of the temple, butt no permanent damage just sore and purple in some unmentionable places.

More Shopping in Tibet

OK down to the important stuff - what did I buy?  I bought a couple of cheap scarves, three Thankas (sp?), which is sort of a religious painting/shape,  that are very colorful and very detailed. I also bought some key/phone dangly things, another tea container with a picture of the Potala Palace in it, some dried yak for the train trip, and a cheap sandlewood bracelet.   I bought Zac a Tibetan style door for his NY house. The cloth door were being made by handicapped people. 

Last night we took a taxi to the park across the street from the Palace to take some pre dusk and post dusk pictures -- it was sort of drizzling so wasn't the greatest night sky but it was impressive. 

Shopping and Praying

Yesterday we had the whole day off so we wandered around and shopped and took more pictures. This is probably the most religious place I have ever visited. The people are truly devoted to their beliefs. One of the things the religious people do in the morning is walk clockwise in a large circle around this temple and couple of blocks -(maybe a quarter mile in distance)  hard to explain unless you see this mass parade. A very few devote people do it by sort of "inch worming" along and standing up in between. There are lots of cops and armed soldiers that monitor this behavior. In front of the temple is a short wall by the edge of the large cemented square.  Cynthia was still in the picture taking mode (she has a new camera)  so I sat down (remember altitude problems) ... No more than 2 minutes later a cop comes up and tells me "do not sit" even though there are many people sitting on the wall on the other side of the square --- guess I looked dangerous with my purse and camera. A little more paranoia setting in.

Blind Massage

Good Blind massage in the early evening and Dicos (Chinese version of KFC) for dinner - we were home before 9 before a big thunderstorm hit)

Side Note - The Dicos was across the street from the Blind Massage place - They had soldiers posted on the roof - with cameras and telescopes. They had a direct view into the massage place. The soldiers came over after we were done to check on our activities. They asked questions of the massage people. Paranoia was starting to set in.....

Yak not Yuck

Lunch was on our own we had Yak meat which is great, yak tea which HORRIBLE is like drinking butter with milk in it and lots of beggars that walked thru the restaurant (i always have my right pocket full of small bills for them ) some even asked for food - sad - we figured they were foraging for the winter cause in a couple of months there wont be any tourists to harvest from.

Potala Palace

 All of my Tibet posts were removed from my blog sometime in 2013 - but I was lucky enough to have found my drafts in my old files. I will probably edit them a little differently - but at least they will be in my blog 

 Potala Palace - that climb was way more challenging than the lighthouse. I had started taking my altitude pills a couple of days before but it was really, really hard - But I MADE it. Beautiful and worth it.  Never knew that besides all the monks that live there there are lots of monks buried there - the tombs are unbelievable - the 5th thru the 13th head guys are entombed with lots of jewels and gold decorating their tombs.

Tibet & Military Presence

Arriving in the city center the first thing I noticed was the heavy military present. Soldiers were stationed on top of the buildings with cameras and telescopes. There was a soldier stationed at the corner of our hotel's street and we saw many more during our 4 days. It is rare to see a gun in China. Even at NUDT there were few guns visible. China always made me feel a little paranoid but this cranked up my paranoia a couple of notches. American Tourists were scarce- mostly European or Asian.

Our Lhasa Arrival

After my visa had been carefully checked at least 7 times we finally arrived at the Tibetan airport and could not find our guide. We waited about 30 minutes and finally figured out that quides are not allowed to come into the building. They are required to stay across the street (which the view of them was blocked by the city buses) during one of our trips outside to take pictures of the beautiful blue sky, mountain and clouds, I spotted lots of people across the street with Chinese signs. Cynthia went across the street to read them and found our guide and driver. The guide gave us both silk scarfs as a welcoming gift. It was a 40 minute ride into Lhasa and the scenery looked a lot like New Mexico - outcrop rocks and dry. The barley fields and blue blue sky were picture worthy.

Back in Changsha

I am back in Changsha - I had a great time at home, ate all my favorite American foods and saw most of the important people in my life. So with a jet lagged brain I am now getting ready for our big trip.

We accomplished a lot of our "trip chores" today. Cynthia helped me move my extra luggage over to my old apartment and up the 4 flights of stairs (rumor has it – that we will move to the new apartment sometime before the 15^th) (NUDT told us when we left that they would have already moved us BEFORE we got back- obviously not the case) I repacked my carryon for our 2 week adventure and then to the bank. That was the interesting part...

I needed to exchange dollars to Yuan so we actually did it with an illegal street deal with a 'Huang Niu Dang' person (word to word translation is Yellow Cow party - sort of like ticket scalpers) - We got a slightly better rate than what the bank was offering (12 Yuan - about 2 dollars extra for a 4000 dollar transaction) but the best part being that we didn't have to wait in a very long line, show lots of ID, fill out forms or pay any fee. The only negative was having to walk about 4 blocks to Cynthia's bank so that her bank could check out the Yuan in their fancy counter machines to make sure they were not counterfeit. It is strange how some things work here and even though the businesses are illegal they are fairly safe and widely used (The Huang Niu Dong people were boldly sitting on a ledge right in front of the bank with no one stopping them ) This same day we also encouraged another illegal activity. We used a Hei Che today - Hei Che translates to black car- which is an unlicensed cab. You agree on a price before hand and they take you where you need to go. If I am alone I can't use the "hei che" due to lack of language abilities. Of course there are many more – the DVD stores, knock off markets, and of course the well publicized “Apple Stores”.

Its Friday morning now - 4 am -- wide awake as per my usual "jet lag" symptoms- so that is why I am answering and writing emails at this time of the day. Today we are finishing packing and recharging all our electronic stuff. We need to head to town to shop in Watsons - sort of a version of a drug store without the drugs - mostly shampoos, facial masks, soaps, etc - I need to purchase some of my favorite travel size Japanese shampoo and conditioner- then we will lunch at Cynthia's parents house. We leave Changsha at 8 this evening. Sometime today when non-jet lagged Cynthia wakes up at a normal time - I will get her to translate our itinerary into English so I can send it to you - We stayed in an airport hotel before our flight to Tibet. We had to ration the toilet paper.

Side note I did get a great massage yesterday after a great lunch. Both were in a 5 star hotel. The lunch was what they called buffet style - but to me it was more 'cafeteria style' --you walked around looking at the sample displays of food and gave them your card with your table number on it - You picked what you wanted - they recorded it on the card, cooked it and then brought it to the table. There were four of us Cynthia and Cynthia's dad along with one of his PHd students (who treated us all) and myself. We ate most of 15 different dishes they brought ( How come they are all so thin and small...not fair...). Anyway we had fish, crab, beef, pork, 2 types of tofu, a mushroom salad, green beans, a really big white bean (looked like a lima bean on steroids), another vegatable dish, spicy noodles, one of my favorite pumpkin things, a "vegetable rollup", pear soup-like dish, a pineapple flavored pastry and of course they brought fruit for dessert. I feel full just listing it all - we both skipped dinner.