Seeing Tibet Through Their Eyes

Dear Friends and Fam,

Tashi Dela from Shigaste, Tibet! I left off in Lhasa so that's where I'll continue until our bumpy arrival here in Shigaste.

I wanna first start off by saying that Lhasa is an incredibly politcal point in China and the Chinese continue to supress these people in ways you wouldn't believe and because of this tension the Chinese Gov. bugs and has cameras everywhere and they also monitor tourist internet activity so I can't say much unfortunately. Remind me to tell you about ways they keep the Tibetans in line and what happened to 60 Tibetans about 6 months ago and what happened to two Tibetans last week...

Our last full day in Lhasa we visited the school for blind children called ''Brails Without Borders," which was an incredible experience. The school was set up by a heroic lady from Germany who was blind as well. It is the second school we have visited in Tibet and from what our guide tells us it is incredibly challenging to set up schools here because of the Chinese Government and their legal hurdles. The blind teacher who showed us around the school was incredibly humorous telling us stories of when he goes to buy groceries and the people who treat him as a stupid person and not a blind person. You have to be careful with people with dissabilities because they're just as human and intelligent as you and me but you also have to not be affraid to offer them a hand across the street. The kids at the school were all extremely happy to be around their best buds and the facilities were shockingly really good. When our guide showed us how he uses the internet without using brail I was completely blown away as he could get on the net and surf faster than I could! Their memory and sense of hearing is incredible and so vast superior to us with sight it's inreal! I'll never forget standing outside and one of the kids said he was going to be the next Eric Clapton and so his friends told him to sing a song. He sang "Tears in Heaven" and it was a good thing I had my shades on because I definately shed a couple tears as his voice was incredible.

That night we decided to leave Lhasa with a bang so we got together at our local pub, had some drinks and set off for a nungma, or Tibetan club as we would refer to it later, not like anything I've ever seen! After leaving the pub we got on a pedler cart and headed for the nungma. Arriving there we were stunned as it had been shut down apparently and after talking to a couple Chinese girls around who knew of another spot we had them sit on our laps and took off. Not going to lie, we were a little pissed (drunk) so Jay decided it was a good idea to give our bike pedler a break and he took over, probably one of the funnier things I've ever seen, got a great picture of it! Jay, I, our two auzzie adopted mums and the two chinese girls walked into this place and about 500 people all stared at us as of course we were the only white people! They immediately greated us and took us to the rear of where the front stage was and brought us drinks. The custom at these places is to drink beer our of shot glasses after you cheers by saying "Shepta!" After our first cheers about 6 Tibetan girls came and joined our table as people continued to look back, take pictures, and smile and wave. After some shots of beer we went up on stage and danced to the singers who were performing and had a blast! I've never felt like a celebrity as much as I have at this place, truly a awesome night!

The next day we paid for it as we got into our Toyota Land Cruisers and headed off on the bumpy dirt roads of Tibet. Our drive to Samye was about 6 hours with some incredible scenery of course! We saw the landscape change once again and this time to a more deserty climate with lots of sand dunes and barron land scape. Arriving in Samye where there was just the massive monestary we unpacked and rested in the guesthouse. I walked around the Cora of the monestary by myself and took some great photos of monks feeding some Yaks and of the surrounding Stupas or temples. Jay and I found a goat wondering around inside the monestary so Jay played some cat and mouse with the goat and lasted for about 10 minutes until the goat nimped him on the leg and he gave up! Not sure which one was the cat and the mouse but it was hilarious.

The next day we traveled to Ghiantse with yet more unreal scenary which I simply can't describe without showing pictures, although I will say we found a river with about a thousand ducks and I felt at home! Along the drive we stopped at a river where there were huge wheels turning from the water pressure that were shoving a peice of wood onto concrete in order to create incents, pretty cool I must say, really traditional old way of doing things. I'll never forget our next stop along the way to Ghiantse as we stopped along the side of the road and talked with a mom and her prosterating son walking along the road. The son and mother have been on this journey towards Shigatsi for one year and one day!!! Prosterating to give you an appreciation of these incredibly devoted people is one you stand straigh up, bow to the heavens, fall to your hands and chest and touch your head to the ground with your hands above your head bowing to the heavens, and then get up and walk two steps and repeat the same motion all while humming prayers! Truly an amazing show of devotion as they were traveling for their families good health as someone had fallen ill.

Arriving in Ghiantse after a 10 hour drive I have been having an upset stomach so I took the night off from dinner and doing anything to rest. Today we woke up in Ghiantse and walked to the top of the fort at the center of the city, which was erected in the 14th century sometime but no exact dates. A cool story about the enourmous fort was that early in the 19th century the Tibetans held off the British army who were armed with machine gun riffles and cannons for almost three months. The Tibetans after after their gun supply destroyed by a British cannon used rocks and arrows to continue to hold off the British before the British took over the fort. Much like the Japanese Samarai, the Tibetans rather than surrendering wanted to die honorribly so they jumped off the castle walls.

We arrived in Shigatse today and will be going through the monestary tomorrow which is supposed to be one of the three holliest in Tibet and also where the Punchen Lhama seats, he is considered at the status as the Dhali Llama and there's a great story about the current Llama but I can't discuss it at the moment, you can guess why. Anyway I am off and won't be in any form of contact for at least five days as we are heading to Everest and stopping along the way and after in some pretty small villages without technology so cross your fingers that I'll be able to have a clear visible day and see the highest point in the entire world, Mt. Everest!

Shepta,
Grant