Tibet

Yumbu Lhakang

April 17, 2009

in Photo Friday, Tibet, Travel

Yumbu Lhakang, Tibet 2007 We visited Tibet for four (not nearly long enough) days in February 2007. It just happened to be both Chinese New Year and Tibetan New Year and the monasteries and temples were full of pilgrims. The winter season is blissfully light on tourists and yes, it is cold, but look at [...]

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What I’m

March 31, 2009

in Cambodia, China, Interesting, What I'm

Reading this week: Tibet as ‘Hell on Earth’ by Elliot Sperling in the Far Eastern Economic Review Was Tibet “hell on earth” before the Chinese “emancipated the serfs” in 1959?Is it “hell on earth” today, as the Dalai Lama believes? Sperling, the director of the Tibetan Studies program at Indiana University’s department of Central Eurasia [...]

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Rock Stacking

March 9, 2007

in Tibet

When I lived in Canada, I was introduced to a phenomenon common to the Canadian Inuits. One of their cultural practices is to stack rocks atop one another to create Inukshuks which are like messages to others, usually giving information like travel directions or marking an important site. Little did I know that rock stacking [...]

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Smugmug Photo Sets

March 2, 2007

in China, Tibet, Travel

I now have all of our recent vacation photos, good and bad, uploaded to Smugmug. To see photos of Lhasa & Tibet click here. To see photos of the train ride from Chengdu to Lhasa click here. To see photos of Chengdu click here. (This set does not include photos of Sim’s Guesthouse, which I [...]

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Into the Desert

February 24, 2007

in Tibet, Travel

Imagine desert mountains, a valley full of sand dunes and a turquoise ribbon running right down the middle. The water is incredibly clear and sparkles in the sun. Small, brushy, red colored trees line the river banks while yaks and sheep graze on the few bits of grass around. The wind stirs up the sand [...]

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We Tackle the Potala

February 22, 2007

in Tibet, Travel

The Potala Palace is absolutely magical. It sits high on a hill overlooking the city and it is difficult to imagine how it could have been constructed. It is really impressive, until you start the climb. Holy cow. I nearly died. Thank god we had spent at least a day acclimatizing. You cannot believe how [...]

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Our First Full Day in Lhasa

February 22, 2007

in Tibet, Travel

The sun doesn’t come up in Lhasa until 8AM. Nothing really seems to get stirring until even later. What this means for me is – sleeping in! I felt exhausted upon our arrival to Lhasa, mostly due to the altitude. We slept in until 10AM and then decided to see what the city has to [...]

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Chengdu to Lhasa III

February 22, 2007

in China, Tibet, Travel

Towards the end of the second day, we passed through the city of Xining and on towards Golmud. Golmud marks the beginning point of the new railway across the Tibetan plateau. We settled in the dining car for some grub. (And grub it was.) The vista at this point was vast – gently sloping hills, [...]

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Chengdu to Lhasa II

February 21, 2007

in China, Tibet, Travel

After struggling through a rather dismal night thanks to Mr. Snore, I awoke to find the train in Gansu province. Gansu is an isolated province with a poor population and a dry, extreme climate. Not a lot of tourists find their way there. I saw tall hills on either side of the train and small [...]

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Chengdu to Lhasa I

February 21, 2007

in China, Tibet, Travel

We’re just concluding our first full day in Lhasa and I am tired, overwhelmed and happy. Lhasa is an intensely interesting place. Before I get to stories of Lhasa, however, I want to tell you about our 48 hour train ride. The train was supposed to be relaxing – a place where we could gather [...]

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