China and Tibet

Connie, Carol, Darlene

The first three weeks of my trip were in China and Tibet with two good friends from St. Paul, former ELL teachers, Carol Quest and Connie Falvey. Our plans changed many times and we had to make many adjustments, but all in all it was a great trip, and we visited fascinating places. We started out in Beijing and met up with Jing Wang, a former St. Paul teacher that Carol had worked with and knew well. Jing and his wife, Fei Fei, were wonderful, inviting us for meals, accompanying us to sights in Beijing, and helping us make adjustments to our itinerary. Our adjustments started when we found out that it would take ten days to get our permit for Tibet instead of the five days that we had been told. We had planned on taking the 47-hour train from Beijing to Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, but time would not allow this and so we explored other possibilities. Eventually we got reservations for the 14-hour trip from Golmud in the northwest of China to Lhasa. We then made arrangements to tour parts of the northwest of China on the Silk Road in the Gobi Desert for a week. It was an area I had wanted to visit when I lived in X’ian, but it was too far away. Since distances were great, we flew to Jiayuguan from Beijing where we met up with our guide, Adam. Adam was great; he spoke excellent English, was very knowledgeable, and had a great sense of humor.

Jing, Fei Fei, Connie, Carol

Upon our arrival in Jiayuguan we immediately visited a tomb from 400 BC. There are over 1000 tombs, but 17 have been excavated starting in 1973 when they were first discovered.; many have been plundered. Above ground it was a mound, but stairs led us underground to three amazing rooms. The tomb had a beautiful brick dome ceiling with no mortar.  On individual wall bricks there were drawings of daily life, such as eating, dancing, playing musical instruments, weaving, hunting, and silk production. They were pristinely preserved in this underground setting.

(Pictures from postcards)

 We then drove into Jiayuguan, a new town from 1958, which was built because of the steel industry where 60,000 people work, half of the population. We stayed in a hotel with a glitzy lobby, but little else. There was a huge square across from the hotel with enormous statues in typical Chinese style and a huge video screen showing dancers and music. It was cold and windy and hardly anyone was in the square. The town was not attractive; there were wide streets and shabby buildings, but nothing interesting. It is very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer.

We visited the Great Wall Fort, “the grandest fort under heaven,” built in 1375; at one time 2000 soldiers were stationed on this part of the Great Wall. Later we climbed up to “the Overhanging Great Wall,” a lookout tower with a great view of the desert. We then followed the Silk Road to Dunhuang driving across the Gobi Desert finding it hard to imagine what it must have been like to have been on camels in a caravan.  The desert went on and on and on, sometimes flat, and sometimes mountainous. Throughout the desert there were wind farms and in the town most apartment buildings had solar panels. In the distance were the Snow Mountains 17,000 ft. (5182 m), which supply the water for the city.  At first there were small rural towns with irrigation for rectangular plots, and apricot and pear orchards. Eventually the desert became pure desert with little or no vegetation. It was very windy with blowing sand, hazy and difficult to see anything. There were watchtowers along the way. The four-lane highway has been there for eight years, primarily for truck traffic.

Great Wall Fort

Lookout Tower

In Dunhuang, a very pleasant town, we first visited the singing sand dunes, huge dunes, 650-900 ft. (200-300 m) high, and 24 mi (40 km) long and 12 mi (20 km) wide much like the dunes Paula and I visited in Mongolia. Our guide, Adam, was brought up here so he has fond memories of playing in the dunes. The next day we drove out into the desert under a clear blue sky, but very cold day. We saw an old section of the Great Wall from 1000 BC and a watchtower.

We went to the amazing Mogao Buddha Caves from the 4^th to the 14^th centuries that contain fine Buddhist art. There are about 600 preserved caves with more than 2000 painted sculptures and many murals, often narratives. One must enter with a guide because each cave has a locked door, some are small, and others are large. There are vividly painted sculptures and murals, and the ceilings have patterns. The first cave was dug in 366 AD. Later, as others passed through on the Silk Road, they also had caves built. Artistic influences from various places in Asia influenced the art. Later the caves were sealed and abandoned. We entered about ten of the caves with amazing statues and murals from various times in history. There were beautiful drawings of asperas in a number of the murals, angel-like, ephemeral figures, wearing flowing gowns that hover above scenes.

The following day, we drove south to Golmud, leaving the Silk Road, to catch the train to Tibet. We drove through a mountainous area with beautiful flowing formations, going over several passes before coming to a flat area with salt lakes. We saw camels and sheep. Again we drove on a beautiful four-lane highway with no traffic. We passed salt fields and a gas refinery.

Golmud

Adam took us to the train station in Golmud to collect our tickets. We had printed out our Tibet Permit, but the ticket person was not satisfied with the copy. Adam went directly to the stationmaster and got permission for us to get our tickets, meanwhile there had been a few tense moments.

Our train didn’t leave until 12:30 am, and we got to the train station early, but somehow missed the announcement for our train. Suddenly we were racing down the stairs and then up the stairs to get to the correct platform. We got on the train and found the compartment with our berths,” hard sleepers,” (6 bunks in a compartment). It was comfortable and we slept well, despite the altitude of up to 15,000 ft. (4500 m). Oxygen was pumped through a tube that we could insert in our nostrils. The next morning we drank tea, ate our snacks and looked out the window at the bleak Tibetan Plateau with small settlements, lakes, snow-topped mountains. We saw many yaks, sheep, horses, and herds of gazelles. The land was barren and there were piles and piles of yak manure pies for burning. At times villagers would stand at attention and salute when the train passed.

In Lhasa, altitude 11,975 ft. (3,650 m), a female Tibetan guide met us and was with us for the three days we were in Tibet. We spent two days in Lhasa, the first day going to the Potala (The White and Red Palaces), now a museum, but the former residence of the Dalai Lama, and where the 14^th Dalai Lama lived as a young man before escaping to India in 1959. It is very impressive since it is built on top of a 426-foot hill (130 m) hill. Work began on the White Palace, in 1645.  The nine-storey structure was completed in three years and the fifth Dalai Lama moved in. The Red Palace, with chapels and stupas, including the tombs of the Dalai Lamas was built later. We saw many Buddhas and rooms with treasures and scriptures; there are over 1000 rooms.

Potala

Tibetans turning the prayer wheels

Lhasa has become a very Chinese city with a definite military and police presence. The Chinese own businesses and have the best jobs. The population is 300,000; 30,000 are Tibetans. (Tibetans do not have to follow the one-child policy.) My heart went out to the Tibetans as they circumambulated at the base of the Portala turning the prayer wheels and prostrating themselves. Our guide was a wealth of information, it was over whelming everything she told us, and we were exhausted at night. She was guarded in the information she told us about Tibet and was apolitical. We visited the Jokhang chapels; it consists not only of a huge square, called the Barkhor, but also the streets that surround the Jokhang Temple complex. Here again Tibetans follow the circumambulation route in a clockwise direction. There are many shops, which make it a great shopping area.

Barkhor

The second day we visited two monasteries. The most interesting part about the  monasteries were the debates in process among the monks, who were very animated in their discussions, using slapping and clapping of the hands to communicate and to indicate if an answer were correct or not.

The third day we drove out of town up and over a mountain to visit a holy lake, Yamdrog Yutso, where a goddess lives. At first it was cloudy and cold, but later it cleared. Snow was on all the surrounding peaks. It’s a holy lake and people cannot go into the lake. It was nice getting out of the city; the mountains were a brown and tan with soft lines, and the Himalayas in the background were covered with snow. The small rural villages were interesting to drive through, all the roofs have prayer flags, but people who live next to the highway must also have a Chinese flag. Prayer flags are abundant, on bridges, buildings, and other structures.

We flew from Lhasa to Kathmandu, Nepal; it was just as nerve racking leaving the country as trying to get into the country. At the airport we were taken aside because an official didn’t like our copy of the permit. He wanted the original, which our guide had not given us. There were a few tense moments while he made some phone calls, eventually we were given permission to leave. We flew by Everest, which was very exciting – lots of snow-covered peaks.

Carol, Connie and I had a great time together exploring northwestern China, which turned out to be a real highlight of the trip, and then Lhasa, Tibet. We thoroughly enjoyed being with Jing and Fei Fei who made our time in Beijing very enjoyable. I like many aspects of China, but the pollution is bad and traffic is scary, but it was fun being back.