Still Love Tibet

I've been pretty lazy about this BLOG business of late. Am in Gyantse right now...home to one of the world's two massive 6-tiered stupas, both found only in Tibet. We came here from Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet.

 

This country is absolutely amazing. It's breathtakingly beautiful and totally lives up to the label of Shangri-la. It seems I'm constantly just slack-jawed in awe at either a massive monastery or the amazing scenery.

 

We left Lhasa three days ago. Tom, Mark, Pauline and I are still travelling together. We're needed a 5th person for the Land Cruiser, so we brought along this guy Mark met, named Alex. He's a Canadian (from Ottawa...go figure) and Pauline and I can't stand him. He's a condescending, arrogant prick frankly. But he's also weird and a cheapskate so thankfully he almost never comes sightseeing with us. So we really only have to deal with him at supper...although that's still too much exposure for me because he picked up the Chinese habit of spitting everywhere. He's a fucking revolting pig.

 

But whatever...

 

From Tibet, we went to Nam-tso lake, one of the four holy lakes in Tibet, and an absolutely breathtakingly beautiful turquoise. Totally pristine place...we stayed in tents, and crapped behind boulders because there are no toilets at the lake. Alex didn't want to pay money for food during the trip, so he passed out at the lake from the altitude gain with no food...crumpled like a ragdoll. So Mark and Tom helped him to his tent and our driver, Tenzin, a happy Tibetan dude, was like...of course he passed out, the fool hasn't eaten.

 

From Nam-tso lake, we drove for 11 hours to Shigatse, through snowy mountain passes, sunshine-filled valleys, flooded roads, the entire route was fantastic! Roads in Tibet are mostly dirt paths riddled with potholes, so we get well and trully shaken. Add to the fact that Tenzin loves to blast crazy Indian music and the mountain scenery and it feels like an exploring expedition.

 

We've been touring monasteries, which are like time capsules, and hiking mountains to visit ruined fortresses, also hanging with local Tibetans we meet along mountain paths who love playing with our watches and digital cameras.

 

Tibet is also riddled with dogs, who move in packs and the bastards tend to block entranceways and snarl at you. They are generally cowards though and the motion of stone-throwing will usually scare them off. At the lake, they howled all night and fought, so no one really got much sleep. Between the dogs and the rats, I wouldn't be surprised if one of us got rabies.

 

Tibetan toilets are worse than Chinese toilets, if that's possible. They almost never have doors, and are just holes in the floor and all the business drops into the room below...so if you're unlucky enough to enter the wrong room in a building, you will literally find yourself in deep shit.

 

Am having the time of my life in Tibet, I can't think of a strong enough adjective to describe how fabulous this country is and how awesome it's people are.

 

Tomorrow, we're headed for Sakya, 6 hours away...it's apparently the monastery where the Sakya branch of Buddhism began. It's also got those sand mandalas, like in "Seven Years in Tibet". After that, we're hitting Shegar, a pit-stop to Everest, then Rongpuk Monastery, the highest monastery in the world, and then hiking to Mt. Everest Base Camp...a lovely 5200 metres...can feel the headache already.

 

Toodles!

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