journey to the west
The highlight of the trip was definitely
西藏 (Xīzàng) ~~~ Tibet
...where one goes to see:
1. Sweeping landscapes
2. Altitude sickness
yes that's me, inhaling oxygen. I spent the first day in misery, living off oxygen bags and glucose injections... whoopee
that's "5190 meters above sea level" for those of you who can't read Chinese
3. Views of the Potala Palace
4. Other exotic temples/palaces
5. Cute animals in said exotic temples/palaces (since Buddhists can't be cruel to animals)
6. LAMAS
observe this venerable one's shoe choice:
7. Other Tibetan people (they do exist):
8. Fascinating interior decor
9. Really big clouds
10. And the worst public toilets I have ever seen. I have no pictures because really... no. Like, there was this WC by a roadside "restaurant" in the mountains, which consisted of a freestanding lean-to with a sign saying "Male" (fallen sideways), and no female equivalent. Apparently women would just go against the wall across the field, which was supposedly the cleaner option anyhow, because all the lean-to had inside it was a hole in the ground leading down into a pit full of... you can infer what the pit was full of.
Our tour group there was kind of weird, and quite incompatible... we had four people from Hunan, which loosely translates to "Heaven for Chili Pepper Eating Contest Champions," three from Shanxi, which roughly means "Land of Those Who Chug Vinegar Like Water," and then there were Mom and I, who, as I have established, have a palate as stalwart as rice paper. We kind of disintegrated gradually as a group, especially at mealtimes. The tour guide was Sichuanese and spoke Mandarin, so my mom had to translate all her explanations into Cantonese for me (when she wasn't busy falling asleep, that is), and made me go stalk English-speaking tour groups when she was feeling slackerish. Consequently, I didn't end up learning all that much about Tibetan culture, though I did gather that they use yaks for just about everything, that even the poorest Tibetans apparently have more jewelry than I do, and that riding on the streets of Lhasa in a green trishaw is just one of the most serene feelings in the world.
西藏 (Xīzàng) ~~~ Tibet
...where one goes to see:
1. Sweeping landscapes
2. Altitude sickness
yes that's me, inhaling oxygen. I spent the first day in misery, living off oxygen bags and glucose injections... whoopee
that's "5190 meters above sea level" for those of you who can't read Chinese
3. Views of the Potala Palace
4. Other exotic temples/palaces
5. Cute animals in said exotic temples/palaces (since Buddhists can't be cruel to animals)
6. LAMAS
observe this venerable one's shoe choice:
7. Other Tibetan people (they do exist):
8. Fascinating interior decor
9. Really big clouds
10. And the worst public toilets I have ever seen. I have no pictures because really... no. Like, there was this WC by a roadside "restaurant" in the mountains, which consisted of a freestanding lean-to with a sign saying "Male" (fallen sideways), and no female equivalent. Apparently women would just go against the wall across the field, which was supposedly the cleaner option anyhow, because all the lean-to had inside it was a hole in the ground leading down into a pit full of... you can infer what the pit was full of.
Our tour group there was kind of weird, and quite incompatible... we had four people from Hunan, which loosely translates to "Heaven for Chili Pepper Eating Contest Champions," three from Shanxi, which roughly means "Land of Those Who Chug Vinegar Like Water," and then there were Mom and I, who, as I have established, have a palate as stalwart as rice paper. We kind of disintegrated gradually as a group, especially at mealtimes. The tour guide was Sichuanese and spoke Mandarin, so my mom had to translate all her explanations into Cantonese for me (when she wasn't busy falling asleep, that is), and made me go stalk English-speaking tour groups when she was feeling slackerish. Consequently, I didn't end up learning all that much about Tibetan culture, though I did gather that they use yaks for just about everything, that even the poorest Tibetans apparently have more jewelry than I do, and that riding on the streets of Lhasa in a green trishaw is just one of the most serene feelings in the world.