Llasa and Kathmandu
I came to Kathmandu yesterday and it's one of the most amazing places I have seen so far. But starting from the beginning.
The last evening in Chengdu was really nice. I talked to Heike about alternative medicine and we will keep in touch since we are so interested in different types of it. I went to bed thinking I would quickly fall asleep to wake up at 5 am next morning to catch the plane to Llasa but I started talking with Bret from the States who shared my bed (he occupied the ground floor of the bunk bed and I, free from any fears now, resided on the top floor), and also Maria from Sweden and one nice Englishmen whose name I forgot, unfortunatelly. Lying in our beds in darkness we talked about faith, religion and life in general until we all fell asleep. I love conversations such as these (and the collective teeth-brushing at the collective sink). The next morning I was picked up by a minivan and with a group of six other people were transported to the airport. To go to Tibet you have to get a permission and you have to be a part of the group so for the flight I was a part of the group; nobody cares whether the group stays together or not after they disembark at Llasa. The airport looked nice and fairly modern. The food on the plane of Chinese airlines was rotten, the flight attendants were not specifically nice (Swiss is still the best), the bathroom not really clean.... but I got to Llasa safe and that is all that counts. It is about an hour's drive from the airport to Llasa and the scenery was nice along the way - mountaneous, dry with some shallow-looking lakes. There were no factories in sight and air seemed much cleaner than I could smell and feel before. Right after I left the plane I started feeling the familiar headache, dizzines and the tightness in my chest - the typical symptoms of the high altitude sickness which hounted me for the next 24 hours. I followed the tourists to the Yak Hotel which has a variety of accomodations, from dorm beds for $2 to a suite for $150. I got the dorm room and shared it with some Chinese people. I have to say that at first I was very disappointed with Llasa. Usually I have no expectations whatsoever but I have heard so much about Llasa... Mr. Kryg told me that it has changed a lot over the years, that the Tibetan tradition is slowly disappearing, and that it was good I was going before it was too late. I felt at first that I got there too late already... When the bus entered the city center I immediately saw the Pacala Palace, the house of the Dalai Lamas, but then the streets resembled these of a typical Chinese town, with all the advertisement, department stores, restaurants, etc. I was expecting a small town with none of these modern achievements... Llasa is separated into two parts: the Chinese and the Tibetan. There is a part of it which is totally Tibetan with the traditional whitewashed Tibetan buildings and painted black around the windows but in general the presence of the Chinese style is predominant. The first day I walked around the city, its both parts, and just looked into the various markets, narrow streets, and the life happening on them. When I was in the Tibetan part many people, dressed in their traditional clothing and wearing amazing jewellery of silver and various stones, came very close to my face and stared at me. Women where pointing at me and showing me to their kids. The kids looked at me with eyes wide open with surprise. I felt like a freak of nature and was wondering why I got all this attention. I surely wasn't the first white tourist who came to Llasa... One of the tourists pointed out to me later that many of these people were pilgrims who came to Llasa from remote regions of Tibet and who had never seen a fair-haired and fair-skinned person before. Isn't this amazing?
I don't know how the internet works here. I will see how long it will take for this to be posted and I will continue with my story of the amazing few days shortly.
The last evening in Chengdu was really nice. I talked to Heike about alternative medicine and we will keep in touch since we are so interested in different types of it. I went to bed thinking I would quickly fall asleep to wake up at 5 am next morning to catch the plane to Llasa but I started talking with Bret from the States who shared my bed (he occupied the ground floor of the bunk bed and I, free from any fears now, resided on the top floor), and also Maria from Sweden and one nice Englishmen whose name I forgot, unfortunatelly. Lying in our beds in darkness we talked about faith, religion and life in general until we all fell asleep. I love conversations such as these (and the collective teeth-brushing at the collective sink). The next morning I was picked up by a minivan and with a group of six other people were transported to the airport. To go to Tibet you have to get a permission and you have to be a part of the group so for the flight I was a part of the group; nobody cares whether the group stays together or not after they disembark at Llasa. The airport looked nice and fairly modern. The food on the plane of Chinese airlines was rotten, the flight attendants were not specifically nice (Swiss is still the best), the bathroom not really clean.... but I got to Llasa safe and that is all that counts. It is about an hour's drive from the airport to Llasa and the scenery was nice along the way - mountaneous, dry with some shallow-looking lakes. There were no factories in sight and air seemed much cleaner than I could smell and feel before. Right after I left the plane I started feeling the familiar headache, dizzines and the tightness in my chest - the typical symptoms of the high altitude sickness which hounted me for the next 24 hours. I followed the tourists to the Yak Hotel which has a variety of accomodations, from dorm beds for $2 to a suite for $150. I got the dorm room and shared it with some Chinese people. I have to say that at first I was very disappointed with Llasa. Usually I have no expectations whatsoever but I have heard so much about Llasa... Mr. Kryg told me that it has changed a lot over the years, that the Tibetan tradition is slowly disappearing, and that it was good I was going before it was too late. I felt at first that I got there too late already... When the bus entered the city center I immediately saw the Pacala Palace, the house of the Dalai Lamas, but then the streets resembled these of a typical Chinese town, with all the advertisement, department stores, restaurants, etc. I was expecting a small town with none of these modern achievements... Llasa is separated into two parts: the Chinese and the Tibetan. There is a part of it which is totally Tibetan with the traditional whitewashed Tibetan buildings and painted black around the windows but in general the presence of the Chinese style is predominant. The first day I walked around the city, its both parts, and just looked into the various markets, narrow streets, and the life happening on them. When I was in the Tibetan part many people, dressed in their traditional clothing and wearing amazing jewellery of silver and various stones, came very close to my face and stared at me. Women where pointing at me and showing me to their kids. The kids looked at me with eyes wide open with surprise. I felt like a freak of nature and was wondering why I got all this attention. I surely wasn't the first white tourist who came to Llasa... One of the tourists pointed out to me later that many of these people were pilgrims who came to Llasa from remote regions of Tibet and who had never seen a fair-haired and fair-skinned person before. Isn't this amazing?
I don't know how the internet works here. I will see how long it will take for this to be posted and I will continue with my story of the amazing few days shortly.
posted by Asia Kabat at 3:27 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home