after spending two days in chengdu (the capital of sichuan province) eating delicious mau pao dofu and hotpot, checking out panda bears, and taking in a sichuan variety show, it was off to tibet. on the trip were myself, sean, missy (an american i knew from yoga who lives in beijing), and nadine (a german who lives in sean's apartment complex).
we had heard that the first couple days after arriving in lhasa are rough because of the altitude, and they were. lhasa sits at 3650m (12,000 ft) where there is only 60% of the available oxygen as there is at sea level. despite taking some altitude medication, we essentially slept for two days straight. we had headaches, were dehydrated, and short of breath whenever we moved. but we got better and were able to explore the temples of the city.
lhasa is really an amazing place. maybe the holiest place in the world, tibetan buddhists (read: all tibetans) make pilgrimages to the temples the town is built around. we arrived smack dab in the middle of the jokhang, the holist of the holiest of places. all day people circumambulate the temple in a clockwise direction praying, chanting, and smiling. we looked a bit out of place with our backpacks and no idea where we were supposed to be going. lots of pointing and laughing.
the religious devotion is hard to describe and after reading Krishnamurti i found it impressive, but a bit silly. people here are so devoted, and so systematic in their practice. the chanting is really cool to hear. we went inside the jokhang for the evening prayers and got to watch the famous tibetan monks perform their chants. we watched for maybe an hour. so peaceful and mesmerizing.
everywhere we went we were included in the praying. people we happy to show us how to do the rituals. one temple we entered during a ceremony. the place was packed with monks listening to a lamma chanting something. we were motioned to walk right in, and even though the place was packed wall-to-wall with sitting monks, a small aisle was kept clear to we could walk clockwise around the interior of the temple, trying not to step on people. one of the monks even gave me a red cloth to wear around my head. it was intimidating to be there, but ultimately so friendly.
the day before we set out for our big 7 day rafting trip, i got really ill. i must have eaten something but it was coming out both ends and i had a fever. i was in bed sleeping and apparently sean told the guesthouse we were staying at
i won't even try to describe the scenery and hope the pictures can do a little justice to the amazingness that surrounded us daily. we rafted, went horseback riding, hiked, ate lunch in a nomadic yak fur tent with some tibetans, and were intesely checked out by the locals wherever we went. one of the rivers, had only been rafted once before so everytime we passed people they were flabbergasted. whenever we set up camp, we had a crowd of people around us watching us doing whatever we were doing. at one point 30 people just stood around and watched us eat. they were so so curious. it was fun. they especially liked my chest hair. they would pet the hair on my arm and say "yak." which is actually how you say yak in tibetan.
the guides were great and so was the food. the altitude was a bit rough. we started at 4700 m (15000 ft or 50% of available oxygen) and i had a pretty bad headache and shortness of breath. i took some diamox and we decended a bit which cleared everythign up and i was able to enjoy the rest of the trip. until i got some river bug that gave me awful diahrea. but it was tolerable, and i was still in very good spirits and enjoyed the trip immensely. (how do those sherpas do it? everest is 30000 ft!).
i have tons of pictures to go through, but i'll post some soon.
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