October 14, Shigatse
Last we wrote we were loading up in the Land Cruisers leaving Lhasa for the Tibetan Himalayas. We drove about 5 hours to Samye. Jeff and Liz nicely got an English speaking driver with just one other person - Alain (French Canadian snorer). He's quiet and until recently we thought he was the perfect co-passenger. We've realized he likes to stop to take photos of absolutely everything - and he's not quick about it either. Needless to say, group travel is interesting. In total we have 4 land cruisers, two of which have 4 passengers and the driver makes 5. We feel pretty comfortable.
In Samye we visited the monastery (go figure) which is about 30 km west of Tsetang if you are trying to find it on a map. The monastery was founded in 775 and was the first monastery in Tibet. After visiting the monastery, Jeff and Liz went on a hike to see a Stupa and get a better view of the monastery. At one time there were 108 buildings within the monastery complex, most of which were destroyed during the "Cultural Revolution". The monastery was surrounded by a huge wall with supposedly 10,008 mini-stupas on top. Near the wall were also about 1000 prayer wheels which mark the cora. To end the hike, Liz and Jeff ran/slid down the backside of the ridge which was a huge sand dune. Fun! During our walk through town we noticed that the Chinese are really moving in and rebuilding the area. This is very controversial and we see large military encampments everywhere.
We stayed at the Monastery Guesthouse which is where Brett taught us to play the Tibetan game "Show". The guesthouse was very basic with bunk-style rooms and the gnarliest smelling bathroom. We slept 4 in our room, with another 5 in an adjoining room, and the rest in another room. Meals were also basic.
The next morning we started at 6:30 AM for a 13-hour drive to Gyantse. It was a long drive, but a fun one as most of it was off-road. We also saw the beautiful Yamdrok-Tso Lake which is at 15,739 feet (approx4797 meters) and was turqoise blue. Unfortunately, it was a little cloudy, but we still managed to get a few good photos included photos on top of Yaks! From there we drove back down toward another pass to Gyantse. That pass was 16,041 ft. Again, Jeff and Liz feel great! A few are feeling some affects of the altitude, but not us. Yay! Gyantse was at about 3950 meters. We slept there and to our surprise, the hotel room had a bath. We soaked in the tub for about 30 minutes - heaven after the Sayke Monastery. In the morning we saw the Gyantse Monastery, hiked up to a fort, and then drove to Shigatse which is where we are now.
And, we almost forgot - our hike in Lhasa was a bit of an adventure. We started early in the morning when it was still dark and 4 of us - Jeff, Liz, Colin (Brit), and Yap (the Dutchman) to climb up the 5100 meter peak. We got up just about 4000 meters when the vultures came. Not just one, but hundreds and flying very close that you could see there eyes, mouths, individual feathers on their bellies, and hear the swoosh, swoosh on the wings and their calls to each other. Evidentally we were equidistant between 2 sky burial sites. In Tibet, when people die the bodies are taken up to these sky burial sites, chopped up, and feed to the vultures to complete the cycle of life. This usually happens about 40 days after death so the people believe that the soul has moved on. Brett, our guide has witnessed two and told us how the vultures will devour a body - skeleton and all - in 10 minutes. The bones end up getting crushed and mixed with "sampa" a barley and sugar mixture so that the birds will eat them. With this in mind, it was pretty scary when we started getting attacked. Because there was no trail to begin with which made the journey perilous to start, and Liz was still getting over her flu, we decided to head back into town and have a beer at the Yak hotel.
Yesterday we arrived in Shigatse and Jeff went to the market to buy the game "Show". We've been playing since. Shigatse is the 2nd largest town in Tibet. This morning we walked around the Tashilhunpo Monastery which was interesting - there are 620 monks there according to our local guide which was built in 1447. Apparently, about 2 weeks ago a western guide and tour group were all thrown in jail at this monastery because the guide was talking about the Tibetan and Chinese 11th Ponchinlamas which is very very political. The group was locked up for 3 days and the guide for 2 weeks. So, we've been careful not to say much as there are spies lurking and a Chinese jail sounds horrible. The monastery has the giant future Buddha statue inside which is nearly 27 meters high.
We also saw where the Chinese are now re-constructing the Shigatse Fortress which was knocked down during the "Cultural Revolution". Now realizing this can be a source of tourism revenue, great effort is being made to reconstruct it. Supposedly the structure looked like a mini-Potola Palace.
Tomorrow we leave for another monastery in Sakya and then the next day we will be at the Rongphu Monastery which next to North Everest Base Camp. That night we will sleep at 4900 meters and then make the 8 km trek one-way to Everest Base Camp, and then back. From there we travel to Tingri at the Nepali-border and then on to Kathmandu. We will not have internet until Kathmandu and then will only be there one day. Brett, our guide, is trying to make us flight reservations from Kathmandu to Lukla for 10/22, but it is the busy season so we'll see if we can get them. Lukla is where Jeff and Liz will begin their trek to the Nepali side of Everest Base Camp.
Hope all is well with you all. Thanks for the comments. It's fun to hear from you! Much love, Liz and Jeff
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