Lhasa, Tibet – Jokhang Temple and Drepung Monastery

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Sonya

Jokhang Temple and Barkhor square

Our first day in Lhasa started with a visit to the Jokhang Temple, walking through the bustling Barkhor Bazaar to the Barkhor square.

By the time we arrived, there were already many pilgrims outside the temple, performing prostrations whilst two large incense burners omitted strong smoke of juniper.

As we lined up amongst the tens of Tibetan pilgrims, we couldn’t help but notice the strong smell of yak butter which we later found is used to burn offering candles. The Jokhang Temple is quite a large complex. We entered courtyard first and our guide Demdah advised that this was the place where important examinations (e.g. to determine the highest lama) sat by Gelugpa Iamas are held.

After the courtyard, we entered the inner prayer hall which is surrounded by a number of chapels. The prayer hall contained six statues – two of Guru Rinpoche, three Jampa statues (Maitreya, the Future Buddha) and the thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara. We would learn later that these statues would be seen repeatedly across many of the monasteries in Tibet.

As per Buddhist tradition, we encircled the surrounding chapels clockwise. Inside the chapels, we were also required to encircle the room clockwise. There were numerous chapels, including the Chapel of Tsongkhapa (the founder of the Gelugpa order, probably the most renown of the four orders), Chapel of Chenresig, Chapel of Jowo Sakyamuni (said to be the most important shrine in Tibet, as it houses the Present Buddha image at age twelve and is thought to have been brought to Tibet by Princess Wencheng, the Chinese wife of King Songstan Gampo – the founder of Tibet). After visiting a number of chapels, we headed to the roof of Jokang to view the surrounding areas, including views of Barkhor Square and Potala Palace.

Drepung Monastery

After Jokang, we headed to Drepung Monastery, located about 8km from Lhasa, stopping by Potala Palace to pick up tickets for the next day (there is a 2000 limit on ticket numbers per day for the popular attraction). Drepung was founded by one of Tsongkhapa’s disciples in the 15^th century and is part of the Gelugpa order. It has a number of key buildings, we visited Ganden Palace, the main assembly hall (with a large Jampa statue), the kitchen (used to cook the lamas meals) and a meditation hut where we were told some monks meditate for years on end. It was our first monastery and I enjoyed walking around and admiring the beautiful deep red and white buildings with their wispy white curtains. We had a lunch of rice and vegetables at the Monastery restaurant next door before heading to our next destination.

Xining, Qinghai to Lhasa, Tibet railway, China

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Travis

From Xining we caught a train to Lhasa, Tibet province in China, we chose the hard-sleeper, and even though it was the most we had paid at 500 Yuan (plus 200 Yuan booking fee), it was the worst seats we had, with six bunks per room. Naturally, we were left with the middle beds that were so low you couldn’t even sit upright. Fortunately, this then meant we would spend most of our time outside the room which meant we spent a lot of time looking at the beautiful scenery. The train to Lhasa is the world’s highest elevated train, reaching 5072 metres above sea level over the Tanggu La Pass.

Tanggu La Pass

When of the requirements when entering Tibet is all foreigners must have a guide, because of this we booked our first multi-day tour with Tibet Highland Tours. We booked a nine day tour of Lhasa, then Everest Base Camp to Nepal border for 10,650 Yuan (the majority of this cost was the cost of the four-wheel-drive driving as around one thousand kilometres from Lhasa to the Nepal border.

On arrival at the Lhasa train station we were greeted by the Chinese SWAT and police who made sure that our guide was there to meet us (we learnt that the entry and exit were the main formalities, travelling around Lhasa could be unaccompanied). We met our Tibetan guide Demdah who gifted us with traditional white silk scarfs (Khata), and introduced us to our driver before heading to our hotel.

The below photos were the best we could take from our train’s dirty window.

Qinghai Hu, Xining, China

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Sonya

Xining is located in the Qinghai province, a region on the north-eastern border of Tibet. Again we caught a train from Urumqi to Xining, this time though we had four people per room, but since we had the bottom bunks it wasn’t too bad.

We decided to spend some of our time in Qinghai exploring the outer areas, and I was drawn to the idea of visiting Qinghai Hu (Lake Kokonor) and in particular Niao Dao (or Bird Island), a breeding ground for wild geese, gulls and other birds. With an extra few days before our train to Lhasa, we decided to arrange a trip to Qinghai. I called China Travel Service (CTS) Xining and was fortunate to get through to a helpful English speaking man who helped us join a day tour (yes, another one!). It was to cost 120 Yuan for the over three-hundred kilometre trip to Qinghai Hu and included a visit to Niao Dao, tickets were extra.

The following morning our transport picked us up bright and early at 7am. Our group was a much younger group, and once again a young English speaking Chinese guy took us under his wing and translated where he could.

Dang’r, a traditional Chinese town

Our first stop was Dang’r, which was an old traditional Chinese town about seventy kilometres from Xining. The old city consisted of a Children’s school, government with court, and a Temple of Confucius. Dang’r is said to have been an important cultural city along the Tang-Tibet and Silk Road routes.

Zan Pu Linka (Royal Garden)

The second stop was a Tibetan temple (Zan Pu Linka, meaning Royal Garden) which had some beautiful murals. From what I could gather, the gist of the temple’s purpose was to unite Han Chinese and Tibetan culture.

Yaks and Pagodas

After the temple, we witnessed some amazing scenery. Snow capped mountains, against a clear blue sky, bright green grasslands scattered with yaks, goats and sheep. On the way to Qinghai Hu we drove through an elevated land which had a few picturesque pagodas located atop some hills (the twin pagodas of Sun Moon Pass). We stopped for some photos and a came across a Tibetan lady with a baby yak. She thrusted it into my arms and the next thing I knew we were paying 5 Yuan for photos with it. It was a simply adorable creature though!

Niao Dao (Bird Island)

Finally after many hours of travelling we reached Niao Dao. Also packed with Chinese tourists, we spent some time visiting the various attractions on the island. There were many birds as it is breeding season. Surprisingly one of the highlights were the hovering gulls, I’d never seen anything like it!

All in all it was a good day and restored our faith in day tours!

Tian Chi (Heavenly Lake), Urumqi, China

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Sonya

Tian Chi, also known as Heavenly Lake, is located about 150km away from Urumqi in the Tian Shan mountain range and is a popular a day trip from the city. Regular buses leave at 9am from the People’s Park in Urumqi so on our first evening we purchased some tickets for 150 Yuan each for the following day. We thought, through conversing with the bus operator in his basic English (and my rudimentary Mandarin) the fee would cover the transport to Tian Chi as well as an entrance ticket to the Heavenly Lake.

The following morning we arrived at the bus station to be hustled onto a bus with about ten or so local Chinese tourists. It turned out we’d somehow booked ourselves onto an actual day tour, conducted in Mandarin. We also found out that the 150 Yuan only covered transport to the Tian Chi complex and that we would need to fork out an additional 180 Yuan for the tour (totally about $50 each) which included a few other attractions, lunch and transport to the lake itself. Our outdated guidebook advised there was a 15 Yuan chairlift to the top of the mountains however we were informed this had been shut down. We caused quite a bit of commotion and amusement on our bus, being the only foreigners and also our adamant reluctance to pay the extra 180 Yuan to join the tour (after a few months of travel every penny counts!). Anyway, having no better option, in the end we joined the tour. Funnily enough, one of the highlights of the tour was one of the friendly Chinese tourists, Yu, she seemed to be the only person who spoke a bit of English and was helping us with some of the translation. The tour itself was quite a disappointment after having already visited Central Asia. The Tian Chi region is populated by local Kazakhs and as such the Kazakhstan culture was on show. There were a few yurts set up for tourists to take photos inside, a costume section where we could dress up in traditional wear, a Kazakh song and dance show, a traditional fighting event. Lunch was a merely a plate of plov which was disappointing. In general, the tour was rushed, the tour guides were super loud as each wore a speaker set trying to talk over one another and there were just so many tour groups. After travelling independently it was quite painful to be told “times up, next site”. It was, though, interesting to observe the local Chinese tourists enjoying their holidays. It is clear that a growing number of Chinese are enjoying higher levels of income and as such domestic tourism is booming.

Anyhow, the lovely blue lake itself is stunning, located over two thousand metres high in the mountains. A few yurts lie atop the hills, owned by Kazakhs. We had a pleasant chat to a local Kazakh man who told us that during peak season 20,000 Chinese tourists visit the site. We also visited a temple as part of the tour, which we found out, was built only last year.

In the spirit of organised tours, our last stop was a massive three-level handicraft shop selling everything from jade to perfumes.