Lost in China: Day 8

The place we overnighted in Shigatse is called Gesar Hotel. This hotel is great, with standard facilities that you can find in most major hotel like sauna, meeting room etc, even the carpet in elevator will change everyday.

Usually, my style of travel, is to avoid hotel as much as possible, and as close to the locals as possible, but in Tibet, able to find a proper 'civilized' toilet is close to impossible, they are only available in hotel and diplomat places.

Guys are still 'ok' with it, but for girls, good luck for not having your menstrual visit suddenly.

In the room. The interior is in Tibetan/Chinese art style, and it comes with robe~

The morning breakfast buffet area

First destination of the day, was Tashilhunpo Monastery, founded by first Dalai Lama. Similar like most monasteries, it is located below the mountain. We were left to explore the monastery ourselves, as our guide was visiting nearby police station to prepare the permit for next day's Everest Base Camp.

Main entrance of Tashilhunpo Monastery

Walked by monk in red robe. This picture created an illusion of depth, do you feel it?

Large stupas in the monastery.

Prayers and visitors of the monastery queuing to climb up stairs into the praying hall.

The Thanka Wall

Overlooking Shigatse from higher ground of this monastery

Group photo with one of monastery's architecture

Without tour guide, and with adventurous spirits, we got lost in this huge maze. Spent quite some time to get out to main entrance.

China did a great work in connecting isolated places with this super long highway, connecting from Shanghai to Tibet, call 308. It is 5000km, almost as long as the Greatwall of China. To develop an area, first thing, transport infrastructure.

Monument of the highway

Still, there is no traffic jam here, with occasional waiting for sheep herd crossing the road.

*Look here*

*Look there* (Where can I find toilet?)

Tibetans in a group

花田错

A local restaurant near Sakya Monastery. Food is great, large portion, and price is relative more expensive, the further away from city.

Menu and pricing of the food

Tomato Egg Rice, never stingy with their eggs.

Can't remember this, but I remember is fish with rice. No one usually have fish at 5000m altitude...

After meal, time to release. This is one of the cleanest public toilet, with no door, and an auto flush mechanism through the drain from left to right, all slots at once. Be grateful.

Our next visit, is again, a monastery. But this is unique. It is call Sakya Monastery, with Mongolian architecture. The major colors are red and black, which never seen at other monasteries, and one of the least damaged monastery during the revolution, partly due to it's deserted location.

A monk is reading at the rooftop of the monastery

Panorama view of the main plaza

Resting at the rooftop

Surrounded by mountains.

Entrance to Sakya Monastery

Time to hit on 308 highway, to our destination of the day, New Tingri, the last town before Everest Base Camp.

Praying flag along the highway.

And, toilet break! I promise this is not the last toilet photo!

After days of travel, our first sign of the far tip of Everest Mountain! 

Stay tune, tomorrow will be the climax of this trip.

Lost in China Day 5

Woke up by sunlight at 7am. This is so not right. Tibet is located at west of China, and sharing the same time as Malaysia. Shouldn't we receive sunlight at much later time? Maybe is the altitude.

Oh yea, there is a little dizziness. High altitude sickness started to kick in.

The place that we stayed is call Shambala Palace, a hotel that preserved classic Tibetan architecture, with modern sewage.

Bed with marble robe decoration

Toilet door

Toilet view

Toilet view 2

Shower

Wardrobe

Busy burning precious oxygen, do not disturb.

Above the hotel's cafe.

This hotel is located at the dead end of an narrow alley, so car don't usually drive in, guaranteed peace of mind. 

Breakfast is served from 8am to 10am, with mostly Tibetan style food, like butter tea, Tsampa, oat.

Oat + yogurt, not sure how much Tibetan is this.

Butter tea, this is 100% Tibetan. I started to miss this, where can I find in Malaysia?

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Welcomed by our tour guide TenChuong, our first destination of the day was Norbulingka, the summer palace of Dalai Lama. This place was listed as UNESCO Cultural Heritage, this place had been badly damaged during Cultural Revolution, and had been undergoing restoration.

This is where Dalai Lama hangout during summer season. It consists of teaching room, bedroom, diplomatic room, a private toilet of dalai lama, and several rooms for religious purpose.

An old lady is practicing prostration

Tibetan cat. Animals in Tibet wasn't view as low class species, they are freely enter and exit temples no one really bat an eye.

At that moment, I wasn't really paying much attention to the scenery and stuff that explained by tour guide. The headache since morning is getting worst. We had been swallowing some High Altitude Sickness prevention pill since 2 days ago, but the effect don't seems effective. Trying to calm myself down, "this is not the worst yet". Maybe a puke and throw out everything in the stomach will feel better.

Quickly found a toilet at the corner of the site, in fact, is just a drain with flowing water. Coming from modern society, that is consider gross. Anyway, the smell and "product" left by previous toilet goer in the drain DOES help me to release everything, now I am feeling better. For now.

The worst is not over yet, now everything I put into my mouth will come out from my mouth later.

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We were suppose to be welcomed by the tour guide and served with meal when we arrived at Tibet, due to the flight delay, that meal is our lunch now, after visited Norbulingka. Really, I am very appreciate seeing the great delicious lunch in front of me, but knowing if I eat anything now, I will puke again. 

Let's don't waste the food, let me go to the toilet and release my 2nd round of vomit first. Still don't have appetite to eat after that. Why only me?

Anyway, the curry soup is awesome. I will order one when I adapted to this altitude.

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Our tour guide knows people. When Jokhang Temple closed at 6pm, we entered at 6pm, we were told that there will be a closed chanting ceremony in there after 6pm. Climb up the stairs to the top, very tiring, but the view on there is able to see Lhasa surrounded by mountains in panorama view, just breathtaking.

Gold symbolic on the top of temple.

#FunFact by Bobby: no matter which direction you look in Tibet, you see mountains.

The grand Jokhang Temple rooftop.

The grand Jokhang Temple rooftop 2

Mountains at different angle.

Prayers outside Jokhang temple practicing prostration. Throughout the day, we see people doing that, facing the temple, and repeat for thousands of times. Prayers also walk around the temple in clockwise, too.

We wasn't allowed to take photo in the chanting hall, so nothing to show you here. And we just knew that tour guide was a monk. He put down his monk identity and left the monastery to learn new knowledge, but years later when he is done, new China policy made him very difficult to become a monk again... 

#FunFact: Summer sun in Tibet set by 10pm.

Lost in China Day 4

Not a productivity day. We had missed the train to Lhasa, and not gonna miss this flight too. Still having the trauma from day 2. Got breakfast, walked around, and stayed at guest house till 3pm, before grabbed airport bus to catch flight at 7pm.

Electric bike that widely used in China.

No one put on helmet in Chengdu.

Say good bye to Sha sha

How I describe Chengdu? It feels mostly like Malaysia, things are still in order, taxi drivers are using meter, drivers are not very friendly. However, it is cheap to travel here, cheap food,  if you can take spicy, cheap accommodation, cheap transportation.

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Arrived Chengdu Shuangliu Airport at 5pm, waited till 7pm, but not seeing our plane. Airport announced that our flight was delayed, and distributed dinner boxes for us. 

At 9pm, another announcement came in: Flight to Lhasa will be delayed until next day, and arranged a bus to bring us to temporary hotel. God! This trip just can't be smoothed! 

We checked in the nearby hotel arranged by airline with 2 buses of passengers, when all of us turn on lights and aircond at the same moment, the hotel power safety switch was triggered. It came on and off throughout the night. Our only pass time is to play poker cards in dark.

A new announcement came at 11pm: flight to Lhasa will depart at 1am, and require us to check out and depart to airport immediately. It wasn't a convenient hour, but I am glad to depart as soon as possible.

It is finally here! A 5 hours delay.

The original plan was to enter Tibet by train, because it might help in acclimatization. Flight into Lhasa took 2 and half hours, once arrived, will immediately exposed to low oxygen and low pressure environment, thus easily trigger high altitude sickness. 

The plane arrived at Tibet Gonggar Airport at 3am, and greeted Tashi Dalek (Tibetan greeting) with silk scuff by our poor little tour guide who waited at outside airport since 9pm, with cold wind and 15 degree Celcius. There has no arrival hall for that small airport.

It was an hour drive from airport to Lhasa, our accommodation place. Sky was very dark, and stars are bright. That was something only available at 3500m above sea level. 

Checked in at our classic Tibetan hotel at 5am, very tired. But, we just made into Tibet, finally, the real adventure just began.