Tibet & Mount Everest Base Camp

We spent the sent 10 days visiting the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the home of the Dali Lama, before he was forced out of Tibet by the Chinese in 1959, enjoying the Barkhor or Tibetan district of Lhasa, which is being populated more and more by Chinese and drinking coffee at the summit café, an aspiring franchise that makes the best coffee I had in Tibet as well as eating lots and lots of Yak, a local staple in the region. In Lhasa we were privileged to be blessed by a monk while a Buddha painting ceremony was going on, at the Jokhang monastery. We also traveled west to the town on Shigatse on our way to and from Mt. Everest base camp, where we spent on night at the Rongbuk Monastery after drive 5 hours on a dirt, gravel road up mountains to 17,000 ft. After playing a quick but exhausting game of football we enjoyed the scenery for longer than most our young guide informed us. Then back again passing all the military checkpoints we passes through to get to Everest.

Our tour guides were definitely doing their first solo tour as the driver spoke no English and the guide’s English left something to be desired. They did try their best though and when finally surrendered to Kathy’s inquisitive traveler foray of questions on the history of every monastery across Tibet; they bought her a CD full of traditional Tibetan love songs to listen to.

Militarization

We hit Tibet and realized it wasn’t some Buddhist village, but rather a metropolis thriving with Chinese settlers and armed Chinese military at every corner to quell any protests or riots. The Tibetans truly live as an oppressed people in an occupied nation under the rule of a foreign government – on a daily basis they seem to be treated fairly and with respect, even young children mock the army by saluting them as the laugh and play. Thus I really blame the Dali Lama and the Tibetans for not fighting up against their oppressor and winning independence. Nations all of the world have fought hard for their independence and won it, why don’t the Tibetans do the same and stop complaining. Why did the Dali Lama not just stay with his people and fight – instead he ran and hid – leaving his countrymen to face the invaders without their leader. Furthermore the whole religion seems to exploit the impoverished just like every other religion around the world. The Stuphas and Monasteries are made of gold and decorated with silks, while the people live in poverty and wear nothing be rags. All of this while the Dali Lama himself travels the world in luxury. Until the Tibetans are prepared to fight for their own independence and sovereignty they rest of the world has no place pitying them. But when they are ready to take back their nations I believe all the worlds powers should help them take back what is rightfully theirs.

On our return back to Lhasa we wanted to delay our impending separation, therefore mom and I decided we would all go back to Chengdu for one last day to see the famous Chinese panda reserve that is located there. Our flight leaving Lhasa was a bit of an experience, first we waited to buy the tickets at the airport and when we got there the ticket agent only would take cash, so then everyone had to run to the ATM and withdraw there maxim limit, then when we finally got the tickets the plan was delayed 5 hours and we were kind of stuck at the airport because it was located an hour outside of Lhasa. Then once on the plane we were not sitting together and we had one of the worst turbulence experiences of my life – I was sure we were going to die. My face must have shown it and it made the man sitting next to me jump out of his seat and grab Jimmy who was seated across the aisle and push him into the seat next to me, which I was very very grateful for. After we landed I was seriously considering taking the train to Beijing, but finally opted for another airplane, knowing in a weeks time I would start my long journey on the Tran Siberian. Chengdu’s only saving grace may be the panda reserve, which is quite impressive. Planned like a zoo mixed with a public park full of ponds and lakes with cafes you can view the pandas at all ages in a habitat closely resembling their original one. You must question though how anyone could think that a smoggy city would be an ideal location to house pandas, an endangered species, and get them to procreate and improve their population size.

Finally All in all, however we simply spent too much time in Chengdu, and were happy to leave but sad to say goodbye to mom and John.