Picture of the day

Does my bum look big in this?

Tibet 2016 - Potala palace

2016-10-11 Lhasa, Potala palace, elevation 3658m

I was rather disappointed to find that we ended up doing only half of the kora of the Potala. I would like to have done the entire circuit. The rushing through the Potala that is now mandatory provides the reasons I dislike the current tourist setup. It means that explanations from your guides are gabbled; they find it difficult to repeat stuff that for those that haven't heard; and there's a pressure to move on, move on, move on, the whole time. I was surprised that we did not go up to the roof. Previously, I remember going up to the roof. Just as well I I've got pictures from there many years ago.. This time, it was just through the main Potala rooms and then back down to kora or sighting spots. We did go to a little lake at the back of the Potala with some very good views of it which I haven't seen before.

Jompa is a fantastic guide. She helped me with what portion of the kora we did. Of course, the fact that I, a foreigner, and obviously a tourist, with caucasian hair colour, western dress, but having a mala and doing mantras was an instant passport to family groups, particularly those headed by a matriarch, as most were. They asked me what I was doing; asked Jampa what I was doing; and the general reaction was 'oh he's a foreigner, how can  he know about this stuff'.  It wass quite fascinating, and it happened five or six times. One notable encounter was where the woman of the family, while carrying a balloon and toy in one hand, and her mala in the other, showed me how to use a mala, and how to do mantras, properly. Using the mala involves rolling the bead inwards over the finger with the thumb. This is its use, whichever hand is used. The woman was very insistant, and would not leave it until I had demonstrated that my mastery was complete. All in all a quite wonderful time. I just wish it had been complete.

So far this time I've done kora round Johang, kora round Sera monastery, and half kora round Potala. I did feel I was starting to get into the mantra a little in the third and last of these koras.

Tibet 2016 - Lhasa

2016-10-10 Lhasa, Sara monastery, elevation 3681m

Shrine at holy spring, Sara monastery kora

We visited Jokhang temple today. Very unusually it was closed to pilgrims. This meant that we could see what the inside of the temple was like. In the past it has been impossible to move inside the temple without elbows in every part of ones anatomy. The space and time available was unprecedented in the experience of those of us who had visited there before (including Jamin, our tour leader).

We went on to Zhanghung monastery, also in the old town of Lhasa. Like every nunnery I have encountered, the immediate sensation on walking into it was that of joy and quiet happiness. Most of the nuns we saw were writing prayers, and bundling already written prayers into prayer wheels. Being here provided a point of real stillness during the day. Thoroughly enjoyable.

This afternoon we are going to Sera. As I have visited Sera many times before, and have got multiple hundred photos of the debating there, I'm going to do kora round Sara. Jamin, the tour leader, has arranged for another guide for me. This guide, Jompa, proved to be a very good guide. I have only ever had one guide who was better - in Mongolia. Both shared some characteristics: female; young; very, very knowledgable about their subject; and able to cover ground, uphill and on the level, like a mountain goat. Jompa is very knowledgable about Buddhism. She showed me the holy spring at the back of the monastery. I made offerings at the spring. This was a bit of a complicated affair to get to the place where the water came out. I had to crawl under two very large, but very low branches of trees, and over slippery stones. Then it was quite an elaborate ritual of getting water from the spring; straining it into a container; then moving over to the little shrine (to one of the Taras); and putting some water into each of the offering bowls that were there; then washing face and hands; and having water poured over my head - and boy was it cold. It was very touching. It confirmed my view that Jamin had selected Jompa very well indeed. So we did kora and then she showed me into some parts of the monastery. These included some parts which were not part of the standard tour as I remember it. In talking about Buddhism, she reinforced my view that it is better to be selective about one chooses to believe in.

Picture of the day

Tibet 2016 - Lhasa

2016-10-09 Lhasa elevation 3657m

Near the Barkhor, Lhasa

We flew to Lhasa this morning. Our hotel is in the centre of the old Tibetan quarter. It is close to the Barkhor and Joktang monastery. I am faily sure I have stayed here before, but if so it was a longish time ago. I haven't worked out exactly when that would have been. As usual on the first day in Lhasa, the program was very gentle. We sorted ourselves out at the hotel and then spent some time in the Barkhor. Then to dinner at a restaurant run by a Tibetan family. This is one of many Tibetan businesses that our tour leader (Jamin) has mentored and sponsored during his 15 years living in Tibet.  

All very nice to be back in Lhasa. It has grown substantially since I was last here. Then the Chinese part of the city was about half the size of the Tibetan area. Now they appear to be about the same size, and growing rapidly. 

Nobody seemed to be affected by the altitude, which is what I expected from a bunch of experienced trekkers. It did make a change from previous trips though.

Picture of the day

Gulls going everywhere

Back in China

2016-10-08T11:11 Chengdu 

Sim's hostel courtyard, Chengdu, Sichuan province, PRC

You may not realise it, but now is early October last year. These are details of my last trip to Tibet. It is four months later than the actual event, as I had multiple computer problems, and could not publish anything in the interval. Now everything is working, I am publishing my notes and photos taken during the trip.

I flew out to Chengdu a couple of days before I was due to meet the rest of the party. The flight itself was about as good as long haul flights can be. I had plenty of reading material - a stack of New Scientist, and Amateur Photographer, together with a mass of reading material on my Kindle. During the night though, my Kindle had a catastrophic encounter with the edge of a locker. It came out shaped like a pretzel. I had to junk it completely. 

In one way this is not a major problem. I can reproduce what was on the machine when I get back to the U.K. It rather dents my capacities over the next month. Even if I can get a replacement in China, I will not be able to use Facebook, Google or Amazon,all of which will be unavailable behind the Great Chinese Firewall. The one thing that I'm going to have to make some effort to reinstate, is all my Chinese language dictionaries, translator and character recognizer. As I'm on an organized tour, led by people who are English speakers this will not matter for the duration of the trip.

The really aggravating thing is that I was intending to use my Kindle as a half way stage in backing up my photos from my camera to portable hard disk. This is now impossible so I may just have to be careful to ensure that I've always got two copies of every photo on different storage media.

I got to Chengdu, took a taxi to Sim's, the hostel I'm staying at tonight. I then went for a walk to the main Chengdu railway station to pick up the tickets I'd ordered for use later on in the month. Then to the nearest Bank of China, to pick up a bit more money, and back to the hostel to flake out.

I had forgotten that 100% of the motor cycles and scooters, and about 20% of cars in Chengdu are electric. This means that they have, as if they needed it, an additional excuse to use their horns, but it also means they can creep up to within about 3" of you before using them. This makes crossing some of the road junctions very interesting, to put it mildly.

My picture of the day

Picture of the day

The first of what I hope will be a series. One of the one or more pictures I try to take most days.

Starling at the supermarket

I reckon he's called Ernst.