After that ridiculous bus ride to Songpan we decided instead to fly back to Chengdu from Jiuzhaigou.  The flight wasn’t cheap, but 40 minutes on a plane beats 15 hours on a bus by a longshot.  We spent another couple days in Chengdu enjoying its awesome food and laidback (relatively, compared to other massive Chinese cities) atmosphere before grabbing another flight, this time to Tibet.

China has special rules for travelling to Tibet, with the main one being you have to be on a tour with a guide and a pre-ordained itinerary.  Our group consisted of an American/Russian couple who were travelling for a year and a half, a couple from New Zealand who were travelling for about 6 months on their way home from a long work stint in the UK, and a guy from Wales who was also on the road for a few months.  It was a good group and we got along well.  Some took the 44 hour train ride from Chengdu; luckily, we didn’t.  Our route was to be overland from Lhasa to Kathmandu, Nepal via the Friendship Highway, the highest highway in the world.  I actually had done the trip 5 years ago with my buddy Adrian but in reverse, pretty much swearing to never do it again after it was completed.  The road back then was not really a road, it was a series of gravel tracks over the Tibetan plateau.  And driving at an altitude above 4500 metres on a bumpy “highway” with the crappiest accommodations you’ve ever seen along the way didn’t turn out to be as fun and adventurous as we thought it would be (though I’m glad I still did it).  So why was I back?  Well for one the road was now completely paved.  And Di had never been to Tibet, a place that really should be included on a round-the-world journey.  Lastly I really wanted to see how Tibet had changed since I was there, as a railway connecting Lhasa with Beijing had since been completed supposedly bringing in a flood of new Han Chinese immigrants.

The first thing I noticed when I got to Lhasa was that there were far more Tibetans around than previously, but this was due to the fact that it was the Dalai Lama’s birthday and tons had come in from the countryside.  Because of this the Jokhang, Tibet’s holiest temple, was packed full of spiritual pilgrims praying and chanting.  This combined with the smell of incense, the flickering light of yak butter candles and the solemn stare of Buddhist statues resulted in a pretty amazing experience.  Outside there was a sea of Tibetans circling the temple in the customary clockwise direction, while others were prostrating themselves continually at the Jokhang entrance.  It was pretty moving to watch the devotion of these Buddhists and I found it to be by far the most “authentic” of the Tibetan spiritual experiences.  We also visited the Sera monastery, which once housed over 5000 monks but now has only a few hundred.  At 3 pm the monks went to a courtyard to debate over the scriptures.  Though it was enjoyable to watch for a bit, the fact that there were easily over a hundred tourists taking pictures of the maybe 50 monks debating made it feel a lot more like a show than a serious Buddhist discussion.  Lastly we went to the Potala palace (pictured above), Tibet’s colossal world-famous landmark.  It’s a little sad that this palace generates a massive amount of tourist revenue for the Chinese government while its rightful inhabitant, the Dalai Lama, resides in exile unable to return.  The rules for visiting this place were far more stringent than 5 years ago, as we were now given only one hour inside and there was a set route that all of the tourists had to follow.  There was definitely some cool stuff inside, especially the tombs of previous Dalai Lamas, but I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed in what this spiritual treasure trove had become.

After 3 days in Lhasa we started to head west towards Gyantse, a town with a temple famous for its awesome frescoes and statues.  Though some in our group were a little templed-out by then, I really enjoyed checking out the ancient Buddhist paintings on the walls here.  From there we drove to Shigatse, Tibet’s second largest town to spend the night and to catch some nightlife.  A few of us, including the driver and guide, went to grab some beers at a club that had a sort of variety show.  The lip synching and dancing was entertaining enough, and the show was catered to locals who would go up on stage to give a white scarf to performers who they enjoyed watching.  It got a little weird though when one singer went up with candles in his hand, dripping hot wax on his bare chest while singing a sorrowful song.  We kind of left after that.  Except Di, who was dying to give him a white scarf.  Just kidding…sorta.

On the next day I was pretty excited as we were driving up to Everest Base Camp on the Tibetan side, which is actually at a higher altitude than the Nepali E.B.C.  My previous tour didn’t include this excursion off the highway.  Unfortunately on our way up there the altitude started to get pretty high (like around 5000 m) which resulted in one of the girls in the car getting some pretty significant high altitude sickness symptoms.  She was doing alright until her fingers started to get numb, which immediately induced a pretty big panic attack.  Right away we did a U-turn and headed back to the nearest town to check her into a hospital where her and her fiancée stayed the night in a higher oxygen environment.  5 years ago we were also at the same hospital where we dropped off 2 of the people in our tour for the same reason.  So my advice for those reading who want to do this trip is to bring some supplemental oxygen.  You can buy cans everywhere in Tibet for about 3 USD, totally worth it if you need it.  Anyways, after the doctor assured us she’d be fine we made our way back to Everest Base Camp, finally arriving close to midnight due to the over 3 hour delay.  We caught some horrible sleep in a freezing cold dorm before waking up at about 7 to drive the final 15 minutes to the base of Everest.  Though I couldn’t feel my fingers about 1 minute after getting out of the car, watching the sun’s rays light up Everest right in front of my eyes was an unbelievable experience.  It is such a majestic and awe-inspiring mountain, no wonder so many try to climb it every year.  From there we went back to town to pick up the couple at the hospital before spending the next 2 days driving to Kathmandu to finish our tour. 

Tibet to me is a little bit like Israel; it’s often talked about but most don’t know the full story or what to believe due to the many different viewpoints, including myself.  The misunderstandings seem to be widespread among the West, the Chinese, and maybe even the Tibetans themselves.  I think the West wants to think of Tibet as that unchanged mystical and magical Shangri-La Brad Pitt went to for 7 years.  I think the Chinese like to think of themselves as those who brought modernization, electricity and roads to the benefit of the Tibetan people.  The Dalai Lama is always encouraging people to visit his original homeland to discover the Tibetan reality and to make their own informed decisions, and I would agree that this would be the best route to follow.  As for me, I can say that Tibet is a truly beautiful place with a strong, unique spiritual culture.  The striking Tibetan plateau is dotted with streams of prayer flags flapping in the winds beside gorgeous high-altitude turquoise lakes.  And with the spectacular Himalayas to the west, the landscape, from a visual standpoint, is hard to beat.  However, if you’re looking for a truly authentic religious monastic experience, then I would say head to Western China, where tons of Tibetans still live and where tourism and propaganda have not touched or tainted many people yet.  The famous monasteries and temples in Tibet, though still beautiful, feel more and more like empty museums devoid of the once numerous chanting monks aiming for enlightenment.  Many now sit and talk on their cell phones while collecting admission fees in their red robes.  The common populace still seems to be extremely pious and devoted though, which can still give you that sense of peace and serenity easily found in deeply Buddhist nations.

As for the political situation, I’m still unsure of what to completely think.  It’s obvious China will never give up Tibet, but hopefully in the future with increased independent travel and thought from the Chinese tourist there will be more sympathy for the Tibetan people and culture within China itself.  Then maybe one day, the Dalai Lama will be welcomed by China to return to lead his people in cooperating and collaborating with their Chinese brothers in harmony.