Tibet (Day 3 Part 2)

We arrived at the summit of the pass and stopped to get a nice view of the lake from above.   It was cool to think that this was the highest elevation I had ever been to in my life.  (Excluding in an airplane.)

Me being mesmerized by snow.  I hadn't seen any in over five years!

There were also people there who let us take pictures with their animals for a few dollars.  I couldn't resist.  :0) 

Yack!

Then we drove down to the lake and had a half an hour go go exploring.  It was a bit of a hike to get down to the water, but I managed by taking it slow.  I stopped halfway down to make a pile of rocks in memory of some people I miss.  

I finally got down to the lake and dipped my hands into the freezing water.  Having my hands outside the gloves unfortunately made them swell up and get hives, but it was worth it.  :0)  I spent the rest of my time enjoying the beautiful scenery and then slowly, slowly, hiking my way up to the bus.  

Yack poo and snow.  :0P   Don't worry, I didn't eat it.  haha

I got some additional nice pictures as we were driving away from the lake as well.

Just in case you don't know, the flags are prayer flags and they are found all over in Tibet.  They represent different aspects of spirituality corresponding to the different colors.  

Now about the road.  I was thinking it was going to be a scary drive, but the roads were actually really good, as was the bus driver.  It was a bit narrow and the drop-offs were sheer, but I felt safe the whole time.

Tibet (Day 3 Part 1)

   I really can't get over how beautiful Tibet was!  I'm looking back through the pictures and it seems to perfect to be real.  But it is real and I was there!

  Our last full day in Tibet was probably my favorite of the trip.  I was feeling much better so I wasn't as reliant on the chair.  It was a good thing because we drove two and a half hours up to even higher altitude!  The goal was to see,  Yamdrok Yumtso, one of the sacred lakes.  Just the scenery on the way there was breathtaking.  

That is excluding the bathrooms of course.  We got to know each other real well after using those toilets!

I took some pictures out the bus window as we went up up and away.  You can see the village we drove through getting smaller and smaller.

 

Lhasa Fun in Tibet! (Day 2 Part 1)

Sorry about the title, but there are Lhasa opportunities for puns in Lhasa.   :0P  

Breakfast at the hotel in Tibet was just as good as in Beijing.  Absolutely fantastic!  I wish I had four stomachs so I could try everything!  

Our first item on the agenda was a "service visit" to a school for blind students.  (spoilers, we didn't do any service.)  Walking through Lhasa was nice.  You get a very different feel walking through a city as opposed to driving through it.  

The school visit was really interesting, even if we didn't do any service.  We filed into an outdoor meeting room and one of the teachers who had charisma coming out his ears explained a bit about the school and blind culture in Lhasa.  In the past (and still in the larger community) people who are blind are expected to become signers or massage therapists. The school does have training in those areas, but in many others as well.  They make sure that the kids are not limited in their options.  He told us one story of a little boy who always wanted to be a taxi driver.  EVeryone told him he couldn't because he was blind, but the school helped him start a taxi business.  Now he is a very successful businessman who works with taxis everyday, similar to his dream.  :0)  I really liked the philosophy at the school as being encouraging instead of limiting.  Too many of the schools or orphanages for kids with disabilities are much more paternalistic and pity the students.  

The students lived at the school during the school year and stayed with their families (mostly on farms) during the winter months.  It was a tight squeeze, but it looked cozy.  There was also a kitchen and other homey areas in addition to the classrooms.

When we toured the classrooms, it felt a bit strange.  It went back to the idea of watching people like they are animals in the zoo.  The teacher encouraged us to take pictures of the students although we didn't get a chance to actually interact with them.  

There was also a computer lab with assistive technology so the students would be fully versed in computers when they graduated.

As a side note, I spotted a cat who I voted as most likely to have rabies.  It was foaming at the mouth and acting quite strange.  So naturally, I go up to it and take a picture.  haha

Beijing to Tibet!

   Today was the moment of truth.  I had been greatly anticipating and greatly fearing Tibet since I signed up for this trip.  I was so excited to go to TIbet since I have learned about it all through school.  It was a place I always wanted to go.  At the same time, I was really afraid of the high altitude, particularly how I would handle that with my health issues.

   The flights there were easy.  Some turbulence as we flew over the mountains, but nothing too bad.

Then we landed in Tibet!  As soon as the cabin pressure was unregulated my heart rate soared and I started panting.  Uh-oh.  Still, I was able to get off the plane and make it part way through the airport before I collapsed.  I sent a guy who had hung back with me to get me a wheelchair and relaxed on the ground.  A few security guards started yelling at me in Mandarin so I drew a picture of a wheelchair on my hand and then pointed to myself.  Worked like a charm.  They let me stay collapsed where I was until I someone brought me my chair.  :0)

Behavior in Tibet is serious business.  We were lucky to be allowed there at all this time of year because of the uprisings at this time in 2008.  We had to stay with out guides at all times and the people in our group from different countries had to go with their own guides because the government didn't want too many different kinds of people in one place.  We couldn't go out past 10pm which wasn't really an issue because we couldn't go out on our own anyway.  No pictures of any government workers of buildings.  Even if a soldier walked into our picture as we were taking it, they would confiscate the camera.  We had to be extremely careful what we wrote or said.  One guy on a tour a few years ago yelled "Free Tibet" and was in jail for a few months before being sent home at his own expense.  For just two words!  It was likely, but unconfirmed that our rooms and busses were bugged and that our calls were monitored.  Many of us had skype shut off on us when we even said the word "China."  We also had to be careful of what we had on our computers.  It was common practice for government workers to go through tourists rooms when they weren't there and see if they had any pro-tibet freedom material.  So, I couldn't even start writing my blogs about China while I was there because they would have had to be 100% pro China.  It was really strange and a little scary.  It was that feeling of stress you get when you are avoiding saying anything wrong at an airport, except it was like that the whole time we were there.  And the people who live there deal with it all the time!

The information we received from our guides was also very regulated.  It was a China-based tour company, of course.  I did learn a lot, but nothing about any of the unrest in Tibet and little about what daily life was like for people there.  We weren't really supposed to talk to people we met or ask questions.  The guides were really nice, wonderful people, but they did make it out like China rescued Tibet and life is 110% better for everyone now.  And we had no opportunity to hear anything else than that.

Ok enough about the scary censorship.  Once I got past that (well I never got past it, I just got less distracted by it), Tibet was a beautiful place!  We were greeted on the bus with Khatas which are a white silk scarf signaling purity, friendship, and respect.  :0)  I spent the hour drive to the hotel splitting my attention between trying to breath and ogling at the beautiful sights.  

I finally figured out that my difficulty in breathing came from not only the dry air and low oxygen content, but also the fact that my cold allergy was making my airways swell.  Things went much better after I started breathing through my sweatshirt to warm up the air.  :0)

Our local guide, Dickee (pronounced DEE-KEE) demonstrated how to use the oxygen tanks we had in the bus and hotel, but I abstained.  Luckily being a POTSie makes me used to oxygen deprivation in my brain.  haha

Dinner (or was it lunch?) was a cold and delicious affair.  The restaurant was decorated in the brilliant colors that were common in Tibet.  

So this is one of my favorite dishes and I have no clue what it is called or how to make it.  Anyone know?  ^

After some traffic in the narrow side streets, we made it back to the hotel and I gladly retired to my bed.  I had a bit of a difficult time getting comfortable with the breathing problems, but I discovered I could breathe better if I slept with the covers over my head (sounds counter-intuitive, I know).  Once I got that settled, I was out in a second!  I barely had time to reflect that I was there, in Tibet, just like I dreamed, and I wasn't quite dead yet, in fact, I was feeling a bit better.