Tibet - part II

The air is thin, crisp and cool. The thick clouds around me will mean that no photos will show the beauty of my rock's viewpoint, as most of the mountain tops are covered by these monsterous clouds of hundreds of shades of white and gray that I fear will never show in the photos below, while the thin, whispy fog moves quickly over the mountain's surface, visibly passing beside me.



The sun is out at last, warming the back of my neck, while the hard, white rock I'm sitting has been strangly comfortable for the past hour or so. I can hear birds all around me, their singing carrying across these deep valleys.


The valley in front of me contains three farming villages, with a multitude of green shaded crops that light up the ground in front of me against the barron, brown mountain slopes (see below).



The long, sweeping valley to my right is the lowest of them all, with thousands of little streams and waterways joining and dispanding as they quietly flow through this mountain path.

Behind me is a small Buddhist village situated on the top of a small hill, which is being engulfed by thick fog as I'm writing in my diary. Between the village and my rock, yaks pass time by, grazing amongst the steep, grassy incline.

On my left are a number of mountain peaks that we've just climbed along with two buddhist pilgrims. At 4,500m above sea level (thats a lot!), each mountain peak strangely contains blue, yellow, green, red and white flags used by Tibetan pilgrims to send their prayers to the gods. Also at each peak, the two pilgrims would re-stock a basic fire with dry branches and leaves, setting it alightto create a wonderful smelling smoke that rises from the top of each peak. The two pilgrims pass me having finished their task. We exchange a little conversation in Tibetan and say goodbye as they walk back to the Buddhist village behind me.

I feel really special to be sitting this high up, to be surrounded by such beauty, in a place that so many dream about, but never find the opportunity to visit.

I feel peaceful, calm and relieved that I'm writing this all down. I'd like to sit here for longer, waiting for some of the thick clouds to pass by, allowing me a glipse of the mountain tops they hide.

Now it's time to move from my rock on a Himalayan mountain peak, to explore the Buddhist Village behind me.

In the middle of this Buddhist village are a magnificant red temple and a white debating courthouse. This Buddhist village belongs to the same group as the debating monks in the previous post, so there was another opportunity to see a much bigger debate within the monks present.

I slipped out half way through, to see a few monks and a chef cooking the monk's lunch, dumplings cooked over a fierce, flaming fire with potatoes, onions and rice. A simple meal.

After the debate, the monks wandered off to do their own thing, they really do seem to be incredibly relaxed, thoughtful and also delighted when a foreigner speaks basic Tibetan to them. One of the monks in the red temple even took time with me to teach me some extra words!

It was worth getting up at 6am, it was worth pushing and fighting with a mob of Tibetans to get onto the bus, it was worth not getting a real seat on the 90min bus and it was worth the direct, hard trek up the steep incline, because this really was an incredible experience with Tibetan monks and incredible views, high up in the Himalayan mountains.

Tibet - part I

I've arrived in Tibet.

A holy site that many Buddhists dream about visiting, a city that for centuries was closed to outsiders, and a location so high up into the Himalayan mountains that it's referred to as the roof of the world.

In Tibet, I'm standing in Lhasa, the capital city. My housemate Natalie booked this trip for herself months ago, and at the last minute I decided to take some holiday and join her. It was tough to get everything sorted in time, but we're finally here, in Tibet!

Monks

A Tibetan Monk.

This one is from the Sera Monastery, part of the Dalai Lama's school of Buddhism

With deep red flowing robes, short or shaven hair, with prayer beads in their hands, they look like you'd expect Monks to look.

25 monks, sitting on white stones, surrounded by many large green trees that provide shade to the monks and tourists alike, we are all sitting in this small courtyard within the Sera monastery, waiting for the debating to begin.

There's a lot that Western education could learn from these Tibetan monks. Many of these monks spend their lifetime to achieve enlightenment and debating is one of the methods of learning to help them fully understand the reasoning behind the text that they're studying. It's a much deeper and interactive level of learning. The process is designed to ensure their study isn't just theoretical and memorise/regurgitate, but is really understood and encourages retentive learning. One book I read says that there is a saying "Are you learning in your books or in your head?"

However there were a few suprises. The monks push each other a little, sometimes knocking the other onto the ground, while they emphasis their points by clapping loudly. I imagined Buddhist monks to be peaceful, not playfighting, detaing, smiling and laughing. It made them seem strangely normal, and I respect them even more for this. However if you contrast this to their leader the Dalai Lama (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama), I wonder what would happen if he behaved like this in front of the world's leaders and the UN?! Would anything change? Probably not.

It was also suprising to see monks with Nike sandals, silver watches and mobile phones.

However these monks really do seem to lve simple lives. Whle wandering through a sunny inner courtyard surrounded by the monk's living quarters, we found that their bedrooms are no more than 6 foot by 8 foot. Half of the room is taken up by a roll mat/mattress, with the other half containing a chair and desk, full of books and papers for theri Buddhist studies. Also we saw 3 monks hand washing their feet and clothes in buckets with cold water from an outside tap. So if anyone ever tells you Tibetan monks are spoilt and rich, then while it's possible that some are, the majority liver very simple, but meaningful lives.

Altitude

At over 3,500m above sea level, Lhasa (the capital) is high up. With less air and a lower oxygen level if makes breathing difficult and thins the blood. You end up breathing more often and much deeper to compensate for this, and we're both a little tired from the lower oxygen getting to our system.

Additionally, you end up drinking much more water (4-6 litres per day) and pee even more often than usual, and you have to be careful about the sun, because although it isn't that hot (low 20s celcius), we're closer to the sun with less atmosphere to protect us so it's much easier to burn.

With 36 hours gone in the capital of Tibet so far, it is an amazingly beautiful and peaceful city. If you learn a little of the language :) then the locals are really kind and friendlty. I have another 7 days left to travel in Lhasa and around Tibet, and I already love it here.

From Tibet with Love...