Tibet: Lhasa Experiences
Finally, we wrap up the trip with bits and pieces of our wonderful stay in Lhasa. First, the hotel - we had deluxe rooms at the Yak Hotel. Wonderfully situated, right outside of the Barkhor area, it was convenient to shopping, sightseeing and food. Tibetan Expeditions has their office in the complex, adjacent to the Dunya Restaurant. While food was not included in our itinerary, we were pleased to receive breakfasts at the Dunya, one dinner show (see below) and one dinner at the restaurant. The food was so good, the coffee excellent, the patio/bar area perfect for that happy hour drink, that we ate nowhere else (apart from the dinner show).
Hours could be spent shopping in the Barkhor area. Seeing everything from cut-rate Chinese plastic to overpriced Tibetan antiques. We opted for shopping at the Dropenling Handicraft Development Center, where all profits are returned to the artisan communities. A few Tibetan rugs and associated masks later, we headed off to the Thangka stores. Our favorite was Mani Thangka Arts, across from the Pentoc Hotel.
As you wander the shopping streets, take note of the piles of yak cheese, and bedecked, swirling prayer wheels. When you are ready for a break, the coffee shop inside the Pentoc Hotel bills itself as having the best coffee in town. They could be right about that - just avoid the crowds of chain-smoking tourists.
Off we head to the dinner show at the Shangri-la restaurant. After the range of food we'd had on his trip, the food and yak butter tea were no longer too exciting. But it is always fun to see a bit of the music and dance culture of a region. Blessings were brought onto Sherry and Judy by the (scruffy) dancing yak...neither seems thrilled.
After enjoying the chili powders Cynthia bought in Dali on the Yunnan trip, I was determined to acquire chili from Tibet. Here we are in the market, negotiating on enough chili to last two families a year or more!
Finally, a few spots of local color. The touch of China displayed by the police officer clipping toenails while on duty in Barkhor Square. The juxtaposition of old and new with monks in front of the Budweiser tent which houses the police guards at Barkhor Square.
Sunday to Sunday, we had a great trip to Tibet. Well organized and orchestrated by our hosts at Tibetan Expeditions and Shigatse Travel. Made colorful and vibrant by our warm-hearted guide, Gaden, and our cheerful driver. And filled with the sounds, smells and sights of Tibet.
Link back to the beginning of the October 2007 Tibet trip at: Planning for Tibet, Arriving in Tibet and Off to Tsetang, Tibet Day 2: Tsetang Tibet Day 2: Journey to Samye, Tibet Day 3: Road to Gyantse - Yamdrok-Tso Lake and Tibet Day 3: Continuing on the Road to Gyantse, Day 4: Gyantse - Pelkor Choede and Kumbum Chorten, Tibet Day 4: Shigatse and Tashilhunpo, Tibet Day 5: Enroute to Final Stop - Lhasa and Tibet: Lhasa - Jokhang, Barkhor, Potala and Sera
Labels: Dunya Restaurant, Lhasa, Tibetan Expeditions, Yak Hotel
Tibet Day 3: Road to Gyantse - Yamdrok-Tso Lake
The road to Gyantse takes you to Yamdrok-Tso Lake. After winding up the mountain for an hour, you reach the overlook to the stunningly blue lake at the summit of the Kamba-la pass (4794m). The lake is below the road at 4488m. In one direction, the lake is deeply turquoise, in another a vivid deep blue.
Vendors abound with offers of yak
rides (that would be posing on the yak),
pictures with the local breed of dog (sadly adorned with a fuzzy cuff around their necks), and plastic beads from China tricked out
to look Tibetan.
Unfortunately, the old road from Lhasa to Gyantse is under construction, so it's back down the hill the same way we came up. While the trip up was winding and slow, we seemed to fly down the hill towards our lunch at a
roadside restaurant -- food OK, service barely keeping up with the clientele, the bathrooms - well, just don't look or breathe.
The hillsides on the way back down
the mountain are grazing lands for yak and sheep herds. We loved seeing the herds spinning wool on hand spindles as they walked and talked.
And in case you wonder how you travel as a party of 6 on a Tibetan Expeditions private tour ... here's our van. Good vehicle, great driver, decent seats and suspension, always interesting music.
Link back to the beginning of the October 2007 Tibet trip at: Planning for Tibet, Arriving in Tibet and Off to Tsetang, Tibet Day 2: Tsetang and Tibet Day 2: Journey to Samye
Link to Tibet Day 3: Continuing on the Road to Gyantse
Labels: Tibetan Expeditions, Yamdrok-Tso Lake
Planning for Tibet
In the run-up to our trip to Tibet, the biggest concern was about health and handling the altitude. I had heard all of the "bad trip" stories, from the people who end up canceling after a day or so, and flying home, those who spent a large part of their trip inhaling from oxygen containers, and one woman who spent most of the first night, and subsequent days battling the nausea induced by the altitude.
The new answer is to take the train from Beijing to Lhasa. It's a marvel of technology, crossing passes over 5000m in altitude, with pressurized cabins. And it is the first question everyone asks, "Did you take the train?" The travel time of 50 plus hours along with the pressurization allow a more gradual acclimatization then flying nearly directly from sea level in Shanghai to 3400 meters outside of Lhasa.
My answer is that while I'm sure that changing scenery on the train is incredible, I don't like being "stuck" on any form of transportation for over 2 days. Combine that with the rapid deterioration of public restrooms in many parts of the world, and particularly in China, the limited, and not gourmet, offerings of food on the train, and a basic time constraint, we flew.
The human body is not well adapted to transitioning rapidly from the oxygen and air pressure of sea level to > 3000 meters altitude. And so, after listening to all of the stories, I headed off to Worldlink to acquire Diamox. The doctor had traveled to Tibet and was knowledgeable about the drug. The bottom line is that the standard dose is one tablet 250 mg twice per day beginning on the day of departure. As it takes some time to work, it should be taken in advance. Or as the doctor suggested, you can wait and see how you feel. Perhaps taking one per day, or even, if needed, taking 4 to get the drug working. With the one week trip, she strongly advised continuing until two days after return - by no means stop at departure, or stopping while at altitude.
Buying the china-made drug here, I didn't get any of the warning information, which included a concern if you feel a "humming" in your body. Now according to the travel information people my brother-in-law talked with, that is a normal side effect, and certainly one all of us taking the Diamox experienced. Within the first hour of taking the first dose, you have a strange sensation of a physical buzz or hum throughout your whole body. While the level of the buzzing subsided some over the week of taking the Diamox, it was always a bit in the background. It was particularly noticeable when smaller muscles were put to work, most commonly when we were eating, when the whole area around the mouth would tingle. Or the morning we wanted a ways to breakfast, and found our lower legs and feet buzzing through the meal. Rather an interesting feeling. Now, I'm not giving medical advice or suggesting this isn't a side effect that should be concerning for some people; so do check that out for yourselves. As for me, Diamox allowed me to fly right to altitude, feel reasonably comfortable breathing (as long as I moved at a leisurely pace), and avoid headaches (except when I drank the Lhasa Beer).
And so, with drugs in hand and arrangements deftly made through
Tibetan Expeditions, six of us flew out of Shanghai on Sunday, Sept 30. Keep in mind that planes are pressurized to about 9000', on our descent into Lhasa we "climbed" an additional 2500'.
Link to Arriving in Tibet and Off to Tsetang
Labels: Diamox, Tibet, Tibetan Expeditions
Missing in Action and Tibet Tour Companies
To those of you who follow my Travel Blog, Thank you! You will have noticed a long gap between postings. I haven't disappeared or lost interest in this blog. It's merely that I headed back to the States for 8 weeks over the summer. I do have a few posts to do about the "home leave" experience, family pics, and so on and will get to those shortly.
In the meantime, a preview of future attractions. We'll be off to Suzhou for a short weekend stay. Been there on business a few times, but never to see the sights. It's a trip that long overdue and finally scheduled.
After that will be the October holidays in Tibet. Just a quick note on that. I started a process in May to identify a tour company to set up a private tour for 6 people. I sent off emails to 10 tour companies - 8 based in Lhasa (possibly with an office in Chengdu), 1 based in Beijing, and 1 based in Shanghai. Based on website information, I expected the foreign-owned China based operations to be substantially more expensive. What I hadn't expected was that they would be the ones to NOT respond to my email request for a proposal.
The statistics are within 1 day, I received replies from 6 of 8 Tibet-based tour companies. Within 4 days, I received replies from all 8 of the 8 Tibet-based tour companies. I never received replies from the Beijing and Shanghai based (high priced) tour companies. Did they somehow know that I closely evaluate the price-value ratio on tour proposals, and there's might not meet my standards? Or is it that the firms that cater to the (well-heeled) expats and partner with the big global tour companies only want you to follow their plan? Or perhaps, it's just that I got what I expected - low service and high cost.
Anyway, for the record, we are booked with
Tibetan Expeditions and I have my hopes pinned on a great trip. The other companies that I approached and who gave me a wide variety of interesting itinerary options were:
Tibet Family ToursShangrila ToursGreat Tibet TourTours of TibetAccess Tibet TourVisit TibetTibet Wind Horse AdventureLabels: Tibet, Tibetan Expeditions
Hours could be spent shopping in the Barkhor area. Seeing everything from cut-rate Chinese plastic to overpriced Tibetan antiques. We opted for shopping at the Dropenling Handicraft Development Center, where all profits are returned to the artisan communities. A few Tibetan rugs and associated masks later, we headed off to the Thangka stores. Our favorite was Mani Thangka Arts, across from the Pentoc Hotel.
Off we head to the dinner show at the Shangri-la restaurant. After the range of food we'd had on his trip, the food and yak butter tea were no longer too exciting. But it is always fun to see a bit of the music and dance culture of a region. Blessings were brought onto Sherry and Judy by the (scruffy) dancing yak...neither seems thrilled.
After enjoying the chili powders Cynthia bought in Dali on the Yunnan trip, I was determined to acquire chili from Tibet. Here we are in the market, negotiating on enough chili to last two families a year or more!
Finally, a few spots of local color. The touch of China displayed by the police officer clipping toenails while on duty in Barkhor Square. The juxtaposition of old and new with monks in front of the Budweiser tent which houses the police guards at Barkhor Square.
