Sharon's Week 30: Seven Days in Tibet

Most of week 30 was spent in Tibet.  I was worried about the altitude (we ended up going up as high as 5190 m which is just 10 m lower than Everest Base Camp) and everyone else seemed to have some medication to help prevent altitude sickness.  My doctor never got back to me when I asked about that so I was going au naturel.  When we landed in Tibet, after spending five minutes out in the sun, our scalps were burning (not turning red but actually hot to the touch) so I had to add buying a hat to my list of things to do that day.

As it turned out, I was fine with the altitude and most of our days were overcast, or at least partly overcast, so I didn't end up with sunburn or sunstroke either.  I may or may not eventually show you a picture of me wearing a hat ( I NEVER wear hats, even in winter).

This week's photos...

wide angle

This photo was taken near the Jokhang Monastery, where thousands of Buddhists visit, perform faith rituals, make gifts to the temple and circle the perimeter while praying with their prayer wheels and prayer beads.  Some people simply walk on the path, others perform a very physically demanding ritual (that I don't know the name of but that reminded me of burpees from gym class) repeatedly along the way.  Some were barefoot, some used knee mats, some used gloves on their hands...it seemed that the more self-flagellating folks were more highly regarded and the pilgrims made offerings to them as well.  You can see in the photo one person on her hands and knees in the process of one of the "burpees" and another looking like he is taking a rest, seated beside her.

adventure

On our first or second evening in Lhasa, our guide suggested that we visit a lookout where we could photograph the Potala Palace as the sun set and then during the blue hour.  We arrived very early, at least an hour before sunset, along with about a thousand other tourists.  The men climbed up on a metal thing and set up their tripods to claim their space.  I bided my time and wandered for a bit.  We kept hoping that people would leave and we would have the place to ourselves eventually.  I gave up trying to keep myself from being pushed out of the way and Evan (the 15 year old on the trip) and I headed down to street level.  I didn't get the desired photo but I also kept my skin intact.  It turns out the guys also gave up and headed to street level after an altercation in which the two people did not speak the same language.  The reason I am using this as my "adventure" photo is that following this episode, G (one of the men on the trip) labelled it as "combat photography" and that certainly described the scene.  Picture this photo with a dark bluish background and with lights on the palace and that's what I missed by heading out of the combat zone.

starts with J

This is part of the Jokhang Monastery, where we spent way too much time inside (where photos weren't allowed) in the heat and among the crowds.  It was such a relief to get up to this level where I could breathe again.

old

This wall was on one of the temples at the Tshurphu Monastery, a much smaller one with fewer temples and less talking from our guide.  There was a lot of talk of the 7th and 17th centuries.  I am not sure which one is when this wall was constructed but either way, it is old.

stairs

Well!  Potala Palace has a lot of stairs (432).  And in between those stairs, the path is uphill.  And the palace lives at an elevation of 3656 m above sea level.  Despite all that, I did just fine.  If you look at the photo carefully, you will see that the stairs are not level and they are not even.  There were some staircases inside that would have to be called ladders, they were so narrow and steep.

toes

I couldn't decide between these two photos so I am including both.  The first was at the bottom of a flight of stairs that led up to a lunch restaurant and the second was at the Xining airport as we left for Tibet.  Gotta love those translations!

wild card

I think I may have sent this photo in my emails but I really like it so here it is again.  This was the view from the "lounge viewpint" at our Lhasa hotel as the sun was going down.

One more week to catch up on...