May 28, 2006

Lhasa's Sacred Buddhas and Smiling Pilgrims

3600m high is really hard on the body, especially after arriving from 1300m. Just walking down the steet or up a hill is an exertion. The mind is a lot slower. Just this morning, I followed Shazz down the stairs and watched him struggle to open a sliding glass door. What he hadn't noticed was that it was actually half open. So I let him fumble away for a few moments, then slipped past him to the other side. I looked back at him staring at me in slack-jawed amazement. "I thought you did a magic trick!" he later exclaimed. Luckily, the human body is an amazing thing and it's much easier to do stuff today than it was yesterday since our body is acclimatizing.

Lhasa is an incredible place. Our flight was spectacular, as it took us right past Everest and then brought us sharply down into the valley. Surrounded by "small" himalayan foothills (which are only 4600m high, almost as high as Mont Blanc, Europe's highest point), it is a small charming town. It is teeming with smiling Buddhist pilgrims who have travelled from remote provinces for their once-in-a-lifetime chance to do the kora around Lhasa's many sacred monastaries. They are dressed festively, either laughing with their families, or deep in concentration as they spin their prayer wheels and mumble mantas. They are curious, too. Many don't hesitate to stare openly at me, while others have grinned as they pointed to my Big Nose ("you are very lucky!" my guide explained this morning), or touched my hairy arms. Older peasants will happily stick their tongues out as us in response to our smiles, as a sign of respect.

We have spent our time exploring a number of monastaries. Our first introduction to Lhasa was outside the Jokhang, one of Tibet's most sacred monastaries. While we couldn't go inside, we joined the hundreds of pilgrims as they walked through the narrow streets lined with souvenir stalls.

The Potala was the Dalai Lama's Royal Palace, and is a huge structure filled with dark, drafty chapels that are littered with figures of the various buddhas and protectors. Pilgrims shuffle by, offering prayers, money, and yak butter to the dieties, while silent monks finger their prayer beads. We then went to Drepung Monastary, which is halfway up a mountain. At one point, it housed over 10,000 monks. The views over the valley were incredible, and the chapels were beautiful and serene. My favorite room was the massive assembly hall, in which the monks had hung ancient, colorful tapestries from the ceiling and had lined with 4m high Buddha statues. Our final stop was the Sera Monastary, where we were treated to the Monks' afternoon prayers. Over 60 monks sat in a small assembly room and hummed memorized mantras. Bells punctuated each prayer. It was wonderful.

Tomorrow we're off to a monastary that's at 4500m and is about 40km outside Lhasa. Should be fun. I'm also trying to organize my trip back overland to Kathmandu, which is proving to be more challenging than I expected (due to the fact that there are fewer tourists here than normal).

The food leaves a lot to be desired. Yak meat is tough and stringy. The noodles are bland and oily. We have yet to try Yak Butter Tea, which we have been told tastes like rotting moldy socks. Mmmm.

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