Tibet: Monks, Monasteries and Mt. Everest

Kathmandu(KTM). Aug 16 2009 1606Hrs. I am back in KTM after being on a group tour (the group had 6 people) of Tibet. Wow. Still can’t believe I was in Tibet. Wow. A life experience, for sure. It was so different visiting monasteries there vs in India and Nepal. What did I notice different? For starters, there is no reference (mention or pictures) of the 14th Dalai Lama (current exiled in McLeod Ganj, India) anywhere. The monks or Tibetans make no reference as they could be flogged by the Chinese officials. Upon arrival at the Lhasa airport, all tourists had to go through customs. One would think His Holiness (HH) Dalai Lama (current 14th) probably had the commentary as the preface in the Lonely Planet Tibet (8th Edition) as a way to get the message to the surpressed Tibetans in Tibet as upon arrival at the Lhasa airport, some unlucky tourists had this page ripped out of their LP by Chinese customs, since everyone had to go through customs. After reading the preface, I really didn’t see any personal message. More so, I thought it was a diplomatic comment by his Holiness. Anyway the Chinese officials seem to think so since they were busy looking for the LP Tibet and ripping this page out. My roomie (person I was sharing the twin with since the trip was twin share, I wasn’t going to pay for the single supplement, it was too much) was lucky and did not have the page ripped out, not every LP Tibet which makes its way into Tibet gets this page ripped out. After all, there is room for error. So I have to relay this experience in reference to this page. On the one free day we were allotted in Lhasa, 4 of the group decided to go on a out of town visit to another monastery. My roomie and I decided to go and wander around Lhasa instead. In one the more off the track monasteries, while my roomie had already entered the chapel proper, I was still standing outside. A monk approached as I was holding the LP Tibet in my hands. At first I didn’t know what he wanted and was a little scared off. When I realized that all he wanted was to look at the book, I handed it over. The first thing he did was to flip to the preface page. Then he gave me the thumbs up and handed the book back to me, after which he gave me a big smile and held his palms together and bowed his head and greeted me. Then he made a gesture to go into the chapel. Once inside, a little weirded out by the experience, I handed the LP Tibet over to my roomie and wandered around a little. The next thing that happened was that the monk wanted a further look at the LP Tibet and grabbed it from my roomie. I didn’t see the whole thing but as told to me the monk then raised the preface page and held it to his head to bless himself and then handed the book back. When asked if he wanted to keep the page, as my roomie could have ripped the page and given it to the monk, the monk shook a “no” with his head and made a gesture that if caught, he would be whipped. So this whole experience was rather an eye opener to realize how surpressed the Tibetans, especially the monks are in Tibet. Interesting.

Traveling into Tibet is rather an expensive venture. The Chinese visa and Tibet permit itself was almost usd200. The flight from KTM to LXA(Lhasa) was usd380 for a 1 hour flight. Other ways into LXA is the high speed train from Beijing which other tour groups take. One cannot enter Tibet alone unless holding a Chinese passport. Yup. There were a gazillion Chinese tourists there. As usual, their guides and them were rather loud, especially in the tourist overcrowded monasteries where one had to shove and push one’s way among the visitors. So, for non Chinese, before entering Tibet, even once in China, they have to get a permit to visit the region. This generally means going through a travel agent who will arrange for a guided, typically, a Tibetan guide, and driver, unless the guide is also your driver. Then typically you have to foot their bill for room and board by the day multiplied by the number of days you want to remain in Tibet. Most tourists’ visit is limited to the Tibetan Autonomous Region, or TAR. If you do want to visit another province, then you have another permit. Just to visit the Everest Base Camp, we needed to get a permit, have our passports held while we remained in the base camp area to view Mt Everest. And even so, we were limited to 40 minutes. Very stringent all the way. So it was more economically feasible to visit with a group, which meant sharing a room with another. Oh yeah this was the rather funny part. So, due to the even number of persons in the group, the tour company paired me up with a guy since the other 2 pairs were a couple and 2 friends. It turned out well since the male roomie was gay. So no problems there. The most ridiculous thing was that at the Lhasa and Shigatse hotels, all 3 star, which, were rather luxuriously interior decorated, the bathroom had a glass wall with curtains. Go figure you could see through. But each of us observed the privacy thing and didn’t look. Anyhow, the roomie was gay so no worries there. ;)

As far as taking photos inside the monasteries, there wasn’t anything else that was more expensive. On top of paying the entry fee, each chapel (generally consisting of large size Buddhas) required a photo fee. Fees ranged from usd3.00 to usd24). The video fees are even higher. Yup. The Chinese officials had found a way to make a profit. I asked our Tibetan guide when this started. The Brit couple in my group had visited Tibet 16 years ago and said then it was all free and one could take photos freely. Out Tibetan guide said around 2005 when the fee structure was imposed. A chunk goes to the Chinese government, the rest goes to the monasteries. Now the monks are not ones to demand payment. So go figure someone discovered a way to take photos. So all the photos I have were paid for in each chapel. Each monastery had 1 or more chapels. So it all starts to add up. At some chapels, photography is not permitted. Each monastery had yak butter holding the burning flames and yuan notes everywhere. The Tibetan Buddhists who visit generously leave yuan0.10 notes everywhere. Once in a while, I would leave a Yuan 1 note. You can imagine. The whole place is a cash machine. But theft is not present. The place is after all holy. You know I don’t get this whole thing about the 1000 different Buddhas, the past, present and future Buddhas, the different flavored Buddhas (power Buddha, compassion Buddha, etc.) so I will have to read up on this subject. All I know that Buddha’s birth place is Lumbini and I already visited the place of enlightenment for Buddha at Sarnath, India. I am definitely not versed in the whole subject of Buddhism. Not everyone whom you aim your camera at wants their photo taken. You’ll know as they will walk backwards at you and the kids will quickly hide their faces. But of course, there is always payment. Bad.

Overall I found Tibet a lot cleaner than Nepal. But less freedom. One could feel the air of freedom once we crossed into Nepal at Zhangmu-Kodari(Nepal) border. Once in Nepal, the chaos could be felt. The town of Zhangmu closes at a certain time and reopens at a certain time the next morning to handle the foreign traffic. So on this hilly town, there is a long line of Nepalese lorries with cargo waiting to get in and unload.

During this visit, I visited the Lhasa, Gyantse, Shigatse, Sakya, Everest Base Camp, and Zhangmu. In Lhasa there was a heavy military and we were advised to exert caution at whatever photos we took. I managed to take a group of 6 military marching around the square near the Jokhang monastery, from a roof top restaurant. The square where the last protests took place, in fact, the place where protests take place. In fact, most rooftop restaurants have observing military posts and observation video cameras, although I didn’t see any but one was pointed out to me. The night before we were to cross into Nepal, our Tibetan guide warned us to delete all photos with any military presence as the Chinese customs are known to go through cameras in its entirety and confiscating it if any military photos are found. So I sadly deleted the shot . Grrrrrr. In the end my camera wasn’t even inspected. All of us had our bags opened and thoroughly searched. They seem most interested in literature and went through our novels page by page and closely examining any printed matter. So you get the idea. No propaganda gets out. Ya. None. Or its jail.

There is just too much to tell but the 3 experiences which most stand out is the visit to hill in Sakya and to the Sera Monastery in Lhasa. At the Sera Monastery, the monks have their R&R between the hours of 3-5pm each day where they debate each other with one monk standing. The standing monk claps the right palm either open or closed onto his left hand. If he agrees, the palm is closed. If he disagrees, the palm is opened. Both are accompanied with a stamp of the right foot. It was quite interesting to watch as some pairs are more into the debate. You can tell by the enthusiasm they exude and the looks they give the tourists as they go on with their debate, and smiles they show as they are amused or the tourists are amused. I was smiling the whole time watching one older pair. Though I didn’t understand anything that was being said, I sense the enthusiasm that was present and big smiles of agreement and amusement as the debate was ongoing.

The second experience I want to relay was during a hike the hill in Sakya to visit the 2 huge stupas and some monastery ruins. A monk and nun were seated near the stupas. I asked if a photo with them could be taken and right before the photographer took the photo, the nun pinched my nose. LOL. Quite a photo. After the photo was taken, the nun and monk were about to leave. As the nun started to shake my hand, I indicated head bow. Typical of the monks who bend their head and have forehead contact as a friendly departure, the nun bent her head and extended forehead contact with me. My roomie who was standing closeby took the shots of the handshake and head contact (I will post them once I receive them). The monk and nun seem most amused by me. I don’t know maybe it was some enthusiasm I exuded. LOL. The last experience I want to talk about is seeing Mt Everest! Monsoon season and clouds about, we were very lucky to see a clear Mt Everest. How often do you get to have a beer and see Mt Everest through the window? Or wake up first thing in the morning and see Mt Everest? And both times, clear with no obstructing clouds? Wow. My mind is still buzzing from it. I got to tell you sleeping at above 5100m, let alone 4500m had me lose 2 nights of sleep. Can’t breath and you are gasping for air the whole night. But it was all worth it.

The Tibetan children, especially the poorer or nomadic kids are super friendly. They say hello, wave as you walk by, or wave when a vehicle with foreigners pass. The Brit couple in my group said 16 years ago when they visited, the kids did not ask for money nor did they ask for money when their picture was taken. This time the words out of their little mouths was “money, money!” And also after you take a picture of them. So once again, I will add that the photos you see with kids probably had me shelling out yuan or two. At the time I was in Tibet, 1.0USD was equivalent to 6.5Yuan. The Yuan cannot be exchanged abroad so we all gave our extra yuan as tip to the Tibetan guide who accompanied us the whole 10 days. The Brit couple celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on this trip. The husband was a mountaineer in his younger days and they had lost 2 friends in an Everest expedition in the mid 80s.

Overall, I really enjoyed Tibet and feel very privileged to have been able to see Tibet. As it is, Portala Suqare across from the Portala Palace in Lhasa resembles Tiannamen Square in Beijing across the Forbidden City. Tourists were limited to an hour visit to the Portala Palace. And one had to produce their passport before going in, and apply for a permit the day before. Yup. In another 10 years who knows what restrictions will be in place. It was pretty red tape this time. Probably more red tape. And more resemblance to a Chinese city. In Lhasa is a statue of 2 yaks in gold. It represents the liberation of Tibet since 1959. Liberation of Tibet from itself or China’s invasion of Tibet?

EPILOGUE
Leaving Our Footprint in Kathmandu…
There is a bar restaurant in KTM called the Rum Doodle which has these footprint cardboards all over its walls and ceiling. Restricted to groups who have completed a trek (such as the one to Everest Base Camp or Annapurnas) and for some who have reached a summit each footprint bears each expedition member name and some funky drawing and sign of that person. The Everest Mountaineer Club footprints are kept behind a glass wall. Looking at the PR brochure it states that it all started with Sir E. Hillary’s autograph 23 years ago. Since then many Everest expeditions team footprints have been left behind. So on the last night for 5 of the group (not me, I have another week still) we all left to have beers at the Rum Doodle. The husband of the Brit couple and himself a mountaineer in his younger day, had a mini tour of the place with the owner and looked for his lost friends signatures among the walls who perished in Mt Everest in the mid 80s. Although we had not completed a trek, but had instead visited the Tibetan Everest Base Camp, and the man himself being an ex mountaineer, we were given the honors of filling out a footprint card which, now is nailed permanently on the ceiling of the Rum Doodle Bar Restaurant. On it each of us drew a silly doodle of what resembles our features and signed our name away. So it says EBC Tibet Aug 2009. There is caricature of a Asian girl stating “No Tibetan, No Nepalese, but World Traveler” And so, a piece of me is now permanently embedded in Kathmandu, Nepal in Aug 2009.

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