More Lhasa Monasteries

Friday 24/10/10
We started the day preparing our bikes. They all had to be unboxed, assembled and the hired ones (all but my 29er) had to be personalized with saddles, pedals, computers etc. This took most of the morning leaving the afternoon for more temples and monasteries. Our first stop was just around the corner from our hotel on the other side of Barkhor square. The Jokhang temple (built in the 7 Century) is the most sacred and important temple/monastery for most Tibetans.  As always there were hundreds of pilgrims there when we visited.

Two of the pilgrims activities were the Bahka and prostration. The Bahka is a continuous clockwise walk around the temple, the square, Lhasa, or even wider afield. Prostration is complete laying down on a mat, standing up, moving the mat forward one body length towards the temple then laying down again. This is repeated. Prostration might start just outside the temple, in the suburbs or hundreds of kilometres from the temple.

Between Jan 1st and Jan 15th each year the monks at Jokhang chant continuusly. When there were 40,000 monks there (before the Chinese) their chanting could be heard for miles around the city.

After Jokhan, Kungchock called up our tour bus to head off to the Potala palace. I was feeling somewhat seedy and backed out of a further temple. When the rest returned and reported the excessive queueing and walking I was glad I had made the decision.

Saturday 25/10/10
On Saturday we got on our bikes for the first time to do a 25km tour of Lhasa and to check out our bikes. We had an uneventual ride out through the back of the City, along the river to the railway station and finished up at the Potala palace and a great golden statue of yaks.

I finished the day having a stroll around some of the more elaborate shops. There are an incredible number of upmarket jewellery and fashion shops with far fewer potential customers around than the shop assistants to serve them. A lot of the jewellers had a small workshops in view with the manufacturing  in progress.

Sunday 26/9/10
We rolled out of Lhasa about 1.5 hrs late as the vehicle hire place had re-allocated one of our vehicles. Sanjeeb eventually got it sorted. Best part of 20km before we got clear of the City.

 Just outside the city we stopped at a Bhudda painted on the rock face and strewn with the silk scarves visitors to Tibet are presented with on arrival.

Just after I noticed John (Aus) had a somewhat sqwiffy back wheel. We stopped shortly after for lunch and I discovered a broken nipple which we fixed up.

After lunch we stopped at a village down the road to pick up some cheap pillows and discovered only 2 of us arrived. Iain had got a puncture and no one had a pump!!. The back up 4wd came and grabbed one from us and the second half of the group eventually arrived. In the meantime John (NZ) now had a flat tyre. We discovered a damaged tyre which we temporarily fixed with some currency.  We picked up pillows for 13RMD (about 30c) each and I tried unsuccessfully to replace some velcro which had gone missing from my bike.

We reached Gampa after a flat 85km ride and some bike trouble which we hoped would only prove to be initial teething trouble.  We settled into our first night's camp. Comfortable tents, a great cooked dinner and a pretty site.

Monasteries in Lhasa

Thursday 23rd September
Before we headed out for our Monastery tour in Lhasa, I dashed around to  laundry I found last night. It was still closed with a roller door. Keen to get my laundry done, I knocked on the door. Some minutes later the man opened up revealing his partner still in bed in the front of the laundry. He took my laundry and got frustrated not being able to find his calculator to show me the price. In his frustration, he was shouting at the person in bed and finally slapped them on the head to get them out of bed to help with the search. It turned out to be a young boy and not his wife as I had thought. I'm sure it was a start to their day not appreciated, but I did get my laundry done and picked up in the evening.
Back at the hotel we met out Tibetan guide, Kungchok and then headed off the the Drepung Monastery. This was about 8km outside Lhasa on the side of a mountain and almost a town in its own right. It was originally the largest Monastery in the world accommodating 10,000 monks. There are now only about 400.

One of the main roofs of the monastery hosted a large number of pilgrims who were chanting and performing what looked like line dancing.

Another fascination was the massive kitchen with monstrous cauldrens and other cooking pots and utensils to create meals for thousands.

The second monastery visited was the Sera monastery. This was the main teaching monastery and we were fortunate to witness a typical philosophical discussion in the "debating garden".

These monastery visits were bought to life by Kungchok's great knowledge and love of his country. He had spent 2 years of his earlier life as a monk.
We got back to the hotel in time for me to get to the laundry where they were meticulously ironing everything which could possibly be ironed.

During the evening we did a bit more exploring around from the hotel and finished up with dinner in a rooftop restaurant where we were opposite a couple of rooftop soldiers monitoring the square below and ready for anything with their automatic weapons.

Flight into Lhasa

Wed 22nd Sep
We headed off to Kathmandu airport about 10am to catch a 1pm flight into Lhasa (Tibet) after picking up an extra bag for a few rupees to carry our souvenirs. At this stage we had our bikes with us and were liable for excess baggage. Checking in was OK until the Chinese official turned up and we finished up having to pay full excess. Splitting it between the 6 of us, it finished up at about $40US each. Thankfully Raw Travel had included an allowance which covered part of it. Emmigration into Tibet (China) was a lengthy process with Ian being picked on for the full bag search, but we did make the flight.
The 3.5hr flight was uneventful with some good views as we approached Lhasa.

We were picked up by minibus for the one hour drive from the airport into Lhasa. As we approached the city we were impressed by the wide thoroughfares, lack of traffic and some modern buildings. A dramatic change from Kathmandu.

The other observation was of the number of armed chinese soldiers around. Any significant chinese building had a couple of armed sentries posted outside. There would be many photos of the military but that is strictly verbotten under pain of having your camera's photos deleted if you were lucky enough not to have the camera destroyed.
We arrived at our hotel which was well located in the Tibetan quarter of Lhasa on a wide boulevard with limited traffic access. As we went up to our 2nd and 3rd floor rooms we all immediately felt the effects of altitude as we laboured up stairs.
We spent the late afternoon exploring around the Tibetan quarter before dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Nick and Peter try bikes with motors

Tuesday 21st September
I'm not sure whose idea it was but on our free day following yesterday's temple tour Nick and I decided to brave the chaotic road traffic and try out bikes with motors. While the other 4 grabbed a taxi to head towards Bhaktapur, an outlying town with a historic square,we took to a couple of hire bikes.

We set off somewhat timidly to negotiate Kathmandu from West to East, but soon found our confidence on the bikes and with the traffic although directionally we tended to follow our noses which sometimes pointed incorrectly.

We did negotiate the trans city successfully and headed out to the country via very dusty potholed roads. Although we initially missed Bhaktapur and we finished up at an incredible 143ft high statue of Shiva.

Again the multiple components of the Linga was prominent in this site.

On our way out of this site there was a young girl labouring on some reconstruction work.

Nick tried his hand but didn't measure up.

After asking directions we headed back to Bhaktapur. We found the old town but were unsuccessful at meeting up with the taxi travellers.

After lunch at the Peacock reasturant we headed off  on a big climb to Nagarkot, and a lookout which should have a view to some of the Himalayan peaks. Unfortunately, when we got there, clouds prevented any reasonable view. We headed back down and back towards Kathmandu wearing our newly aquired face masks to limit the effect of the dust.

We came across a cow with broken leg which had been left on the side of the road, presumably beause the culture prevented it being put down!

The trip back to the suburbs was OK, but when we hit the town we progressed towards our hotel in steps directed in response to questions of the locals. We did eventually thankfully converge on the SansSara hotel.

Nick and I had had a ball on the bikes despite the misgivings of our more cautious compatriots. The bike hire cost us about $8 each with about $10 for petrol.  Great value and highly recommended to others travelling to Kathmandu.

Temples in Kathmandu

Monday 20th September.

The Western Entrance where the monkeys congregate.

Our first full day in Kathmandu was spent touring led by our guide for the day Ram. First stop was the Buddhist temple Swayambhu (also known as the monkey temple for obvious reasons). We entered from the west rather than the 365 steps of the main eastern (sun rise).

Singing bowls do just that when rubbed. The larger healing bowls are tapped to sing and placed on the body part that needs healing.

Locals getting in on the act

The prayer wheels appear everywhere within buddhist temples and monastries. They spin freely and pilgrims (and others) spin them with their right hand (path of the sun) as a prayer.

On our way to the next temple, the Hindu temple Pashupatinath, we had a minor accident with a motorcyclist. Fortunately no serious damage was done and the matter settled quickly.

Pashupatinath is on the Bagmati river. and the locals bring their dead to the river, cremate them and their ashes are washed away. The Temple is the most holy Hindu temple in the world.

A linga - a series of aligned small temples

Iain being entertained by the monks

Next stop was the Boudhanath buddhist temple with the biggest Stupa in Asia.

Stupa taken from rooftop reasturant

Lunch was in a great rooftop reasturant, with John (Aus) having to sort out the bill at the end.

We were then led to the Boudha Stupa Thanka Centre, an art centre where they produced the traditional Thanka paintings (10th Century) by both masters (20 + years experience) and students at greatly varying prices. The paintings in incredible fine art depict the History of Buddha, the wheel of life and the Mandala.

Students are volunteers

Needless to say we were all tempted with these great art works.