LHASA TO KATMANDU ON MOUNTAIN BIKES!

 
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Wednesday 2 September
 
  LHASA, TIBET

OK! First day at altitude and I feel good. No headache, no dizziness, and much better climbing the stairs. That's very reassuring to me, as I sure had my share of headaches in that tent these past few weeks. I did have a very restless night of sleep, but so far, so good.

Our hotel is in the old part of Lhasa, which is apparently the only part which still retains its Tibetan style. We are in a pedestrian zone full of shops and open air stalls. Just down the street is the Barkhor pilgrimage circuit, which is a hybrid of holy pilgrimage walk and bustling market. Everyone walks in the same direction around the temple, and there are all sorts of people prostrating themselves by doing literally hundreds of kind of reverse squat thrusts. I took a quick video, but again, I can't seem to get enough bandwidth to upload video. The rest of Lhasa reminds me very much of Bejing. Lhasa has apparently been totally transformed in the last 20 years, with the Chinese displacing all sorts of people to carve out wide avenues and communist looking squares and boulevards. I have some thoughts that I'll be uploading after my trip on a separate page, just to be on the safe side.

Our guide picked us up this morning at 9:30, as we had a 10:20 entry ticket to see the Potala, the traditional home of the Dalai Llama. It's a massive structure high on a hill in the center of town. Unfortunately, our entry was delayed by over an hour as the government was having some sort of celebration in the central square so shut the whole area down. More on that on my separate page later! We had to hang around and wait for a long time, but finally got in. We all did fine with the 115 meter climb, but we were sure glad it was today and not yesterday that we had to do it! The Potala is a huge 13 story structure, which was started in the year 700. Wow! Talk about some major history! It's been the home of the Dalai Llama for 1300 years! So you can imagine the precious artifacts, artwork, ancient books, tombs, records, etc, that it contains. It was a very interesting but overwhelming visit. Buddhism is very complex!

After lunch we were taken to the Sera Monastery complex. This monastery was founded in 1419, and used to house 5000 monks. There are 600 there now, in three teaching colleges. Another amazing building full of amazing sites and history. Unfortunately, photography in these places is prohibited, so you'll have to believe me that is is pretty amazing. In the mornings the monks pray, meditate, and study. In the afternoon, for their free time, they go out into the central square to debate. It's a pretty animated scene! Bunches of groups of monks are spread out in the courtyard. The standing one asks a question of the sitting ones, and they have a lively debate, complete with shouts, hand slaps, and acting. I only wish I could have understood what they were saying!

Our last tourism stop of the day was the Dalai Llama's summer palace. It's 10kms in the other direction, and is a beautiful oasis of calm in the city. Here we toured the current Dalai Llama's summer home, complete with sitting room, prayer rooms, bedroom, bathroom (I'm not kidding!), tea room, garden, etc. Going into all of these places is interesting. There are a steady stream of Tibetan pilgrims that pray, light candles, and leave money everywhere. Then there are a few western groups, each with their watchful guide. Finally, there are huge gangs of noisy and boisterous Chinese tourists. It makes for an interesting mix in the narrow corridors.

Back at the hotel we broke open the bikes and put them together. Then it was off to dinner. I finally had a day where I ate too much! I'm really enjoying the food.

Below are some pictures: the Potala, skyline views of Lhasa from on high, the animated monk debates, and the Dalai Llama's summer palace.