Chengdu was the third city we visited on this trip. It is the 5th largest city in China with population in excess of 10 million. It's one of the gateway cities in and out of Lhasa. Our stay here was short with a singular purpose - to see some PANDA!
After some more shopping at Barkhor Street in Lhasa in the morning, we flied into Chengdu in the late afternoon. The flight was delayed for a couple of hours which happened to almost all the flight for that day going out of Lhasa. We waited at the small cafe by the gate in Lhasa airport. The cafe only served instant noodle and bottled drinks, as no knife was allowed inside beyond the security.
Sitting next to us was a young man who served in Chinese Army stationed in Tibet. He offered me an interesting view of the Tibet and suggested to visit Shigatse(日喀則) and Lingzhi(灵芝) which are at lower altitude. The scenery is of forests whereas the area around Lhasa was all meadow.
As a local of Chengdu, he suggested to have the famous Sichuan spicy hot pot at ShiZiLo(狮子楼) on Chin-Tai Road (秦台). We took his advise and it did not disappoint! The spicy soup base (I think you could tell which side is the spicy one) was flavorful and S-P-I-C-Y, much better than the spicy hot pot restaurants here in San Francisco. The other soup base was mushroom, which was upgrade over the standard broth. We ordered fish, ham, and vegetable. Fish was quite pricy at 100RMB+ per order, ham was about 30RMB, and vegetable was about 10-15RMB. The total bill came out to be about 500RMB for the four of us. This place has several branches, but appears to be quite famous. Our taxi driver had no problem finding this one.
We stayed in Chengdu for a night only at Sichuan Hotel(四川宾馆). The hotel was located at city center next to many big department stores. I could see a Louis Vuitton store across the hotel. The taxi ride was about 45 minutes from the airport to the hotel, costing about 60RMB. The taxi drivers here drives like the popular video game Crazy Taxi a few years back - no rule on the road, and signals were for reference only.
We booked the hotel from elong.com at the rate of 400RMB per room, breakfast included. The breakfast was alright, saved us trouble from looking for one. The interior of the room was slightly dated and we were assigned a smoking room. But overall it was a decent deal consider the location.
Chengdu is a lot more modern than I thought it would be. It is a metropolitan with all the buildings and stores one would expect to find in other major Asian cities like Shanghai. There were branded stores and international department stores where we stayed. Yes, there was a Starbucks in Seibu Department store next to our hotel, and the barista spoke English.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Day 10 - Flying to Chengdu
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Tibet - After Thought
Tibet provides combination of unique culture and nature unlike any other place. The experience is worth all the suffering from altitude sickness for me.
Our trip covered Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Street, Norbulingka, Drak Yerpa, Sera Monastery, and Namtso Lake over 3 days, with one day to acclimatize. Overall, I think the pace was just right, other then the short stay at Potala.
Potala, Johkang, and Barkhor are in short distance within each other in Lhasa city, and therefore are must visit for first time visitors. The scenery along the route to Namtso Lake and the lake itself was well worth the travel time. But there's not much activity at the lake other than enjoying the view, picture taking, and yak riding - no water activity.
Norbulingka and Sera Monastery are also within the city. I enjoyed visiting Norbulingka in a sunny afternoon. Although I did not get to see the inside of Sera Monastery, I think I probably would rank it below the aforementioned spots as we saw so many religious treasures already prior to visiting the monastery.
Drak Yerpa would be interesting for visitors who are well versed with Tibetan Buddhism as many important figures mediated there.
Document
For all non PRC citizens, Tibet entry permit is required, including residents of HK, Macao, and Taiwan. The agency of my guide obtained the permits for all of us prior to our arrival to Lhasa. The permit for Levi and her parents, who had PRC visa was straightforward and were taken care of well advance of us arriving in Beijing. As I hold a PRC travel document, my permit was not ironed out until we arrived in Beijing.
The permit was required not at airport, but when we registered at the hotel. I don't know how that applies to visitors who camps - or maybe even the camp sites require registration.
Hotel
We stayed at House of Shambala. At about USD$70 a night, it was above average cost wise. There was no additional tax or service charge, so what you see is what you pay.
The rooms were adequate, though like most hotels in China, the bed was on the hard side. Our room was by the street and was noisy during the day. The inside room not facing the street are likely quieter.
The staffs were friendly and helpful. There was no elevator, so ask the staff to help carrying the luggage, especially if you just arrived at Lhasa. Take advise from me who had hard time with altitude sickness. The staffs were more than happy to help with the luggages.
There was a computer with internet connection free for guests at the hotel counter. There was a restaurant on the 3rd floor. The food was decent, though on the expensive side relatively as one would expect. Hot water helped in combating altitude sickness, we were provided hot water in thermo everyday.
There was electrical problem in our loom on the last night of our stay. We got candle from the hotel, although I did not feel safe lighting candle with a lot of wood furnitures around.Shambala Hotel is near by, but related to House of Shambala. Shambala hotel has more rooms and appear to be more well known. We also saw Yak Hotel which is around the corner from our hotel on the west side of the town.
Food
The Tibetan food we tried was influenced by Indian food. We did not try the barley/diary food as it was a little bit out of our comfort zone. There were also plenty of Chinese (Han) food in Lhasa. Sichuan cuisines were all over the place, although most of them did not seem to have English speaking capability.
A few blocks west of Potala Palace, YuBaoZi on Beijing road serves small Chinese dishes and bun, and is open 24 hours. The cost was about 8-15RMB per person. The bao-zi (bun) is cheap and decent.
Lhasa Kitchen by Jokhang Temple is English friendly though we did not like the food too much. It serves Tibetan, Nepalese, Indian, and Chinese food. The cost was about 20RMB per person.
Like Lhasa Kitchen, the restaurant in House of Shambala serves Tibetan, Nepalese, Indian, and Chinese food. We liked it but it was on the expensive side, averaging about 40RMB per person. We liked the vegetable tika with rice and samosa.
We did not see western fast food in Lhasa. There was a Chinese fried chicken franchise next to Jokhang temple, we did not try that.
Thoughts
There was feeling of subtle tension. There is a saying "If one is in trouble for murder, money would take care of it. If one is in trouble for politics, nothing would save him." So for the sake of everyone, especially the locals in contact with visitors, avoid stirring the political tension.
The scenery is unparalleled and the religious treasures are invaluable. Lhasa was definitely the highlight of our China trip.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Day 9 (2/2) - Last Night In Lhasha
This being our last night in Lhasa, I wanted to take some night pictures in front of Potala palace. We first headed to Lhasa Kitchen close by Jokhang Temple to grab dinner. Lhasa Kitchen was mentioned in quite a few books and travel sites.
We got to the restaurant when there were still sunlight, but as food took awhile, I got anxious and took a rickshaw to Potala palace hoping to catching sunset picture. I was told the trip would cost 3 RMB, thought it turned out to be 5 - perhaps Tibetan speaking price versus Mandarin speaking price, English probably costs even more...
The ride was more entertaining than the photo suggested - the driver did not stop for anything, red light included. I suppose the cars in Lhasa knew how to deal with the rickshaws, or so I hoped. Unfortunately, the cloud did not cooperate and I did not get my Potala palace at sunset picture.
I headed back for my food in Lhasa Kitchen. I ordered a yak dumpling. It tasted like beef with slightly tougher texture. However, since Levi reminded me of the cute yaks we saw on our way to Namtso Lake, I did not have the heart to finish the dish.
Lhasa Kitchen appeared to be popular with foreigners. We saw quite a few dined there. The menu was in English and the waiters had command of English. We were not impressed with the food here, and the bill was on the expensive side. On a side note, Lhasa beer was very light!
After dinner, we headed over to Potala palace. It was completely dark by now. The night view gave a different feeling than during the day, certainly worth the extra trip. I finally had a chance to use the tripod. It was a Sunday night, there were moderate number of people in the open area in front of Potala.
Lion statue in front of Potala
Another view of Potala at night
Open area in front of Potala Palace at night
Day 9 (1/2) - Namtso Lake
Namtso Lake(纳木错) is the highest salt lake in the world at the elevation of 4,718m. As one of the holy lakes in Tibet, Namtso Lake is a popular stop for visitors of Tibet. It is about 70 miles NW of Lhasa and 4.5 hours driving. At about 1000m higher than Lhasa, Namtso presents even more challenge for visitors.
Our day was suppose to start early with the long drive, but we took our time to enjoy a breakfast at a 24 hour Chinese restaurant on Beijing West(?) Road called Yu Bao Zi (玉包子). As the name suggested, it serves meat bun among other Chinese breakfast like porridge and soy milk. It was decent relatively speaking.
For the first hour or so, the road to Namtso Lake followed the famous Qingzang Railroad. At the time of our travel, the railroad ticket was very popular. Judging from the view, the scenery along the route warrants the popularity. I believe it was single track, although it was not clear from the photo.
The condition of the road was surprisingly good for the most part. However, there were a few spots that seemed to be a suspect for land slide - we encountered one actually. Because of the rain, the road was completely covered by debris. We had to wait for awhile before enough space was cleared out to allow for one way traffic.As with previous days, the morning started with drizzle and became sunny later in the day. On the way home, there was hail, so we saw it all.
There were five check points like this between Lhasa and Namtso Lake. We had to have a permit with us in order to travel on this road and were required to check in with the police at each stop. The permit had time constrain, that was another reason for us to get out on time.The other purpose of the check was to ensure the cars do not exceed the average speed between each check point. So if you saw cars waiting on the shoulder, it was probably because the driver wanted to make sure the legal average speed was met.
We finally saw a Yak!
Think I was excited? But it wanted no part of me.
I would not mess with this one
An interesting building along the road
He looked excited to go to the restroom....NOT!
Gotta watch out for the yaks crossing the road - each could cost up to RMB3000!
After over 3 hours of driving, we arrived at the gate of Namtso Lake. As usual, us the tourist had to purchase RMB70 ticket. The neat thing about this ticket was that it was a post card too. Be sure to mail the post card with Tibet post mark.At this point, I was still feeling okay altitude sickness wise. But things would go downhill quickly from here. We started to climb more rapidly it appeared, all the way up to 5190m before coming back down to the measured 4700m of Namtso Lake.
Though in summer, snow was plenty here just before we reached the peak on the route at 5120m. It was quite a bit colder than in Lhasa.
5190m!!! Highest point we reached on this trip, and I have the picture to prove it!
This picture cost 10 RMB with the sheep in the background. I did not know and the way the owner demanded the money left a bad taste.
At La Ken La, the highest point along the route, it was definitely cold, so be sure to bring enough clothes. There was a GREAT photo point of Namtso Lake just past the highest point, unfortunately I was starting to feel nauseated, so I have nothing to show for.
It only took about 30 minutes driving or so from La Ken La to the parking lot of Namtso Lake. The weather changed quickly from cloudy and cold at the peak to a balmy sunny weather by the lake. However, I was suffering from altitude sickness badly - my head felt like exploding. Walking from the parking lot to the lake was such a challenge that I hardly had any energy to enjoy and take pictures.
There were many locals offering picture taking with goat and yak and yak riding. The price ranged from 5 to 10RMB in general. Feeling pretty sick and with the bad experience at La Ken La, I did not want to take any paid picture. However, this little girl with the goat was so cute that we could not resist. It was too bad that I did not get the light right - I blame that on altitude sickness and not my amateurish photo skill....
We were harassed by a person aggressively offering yak riding for 15 minutes while walking towards the lake. It was only 10RMB, but the we could not stand the tactics.
It only took about 30 minutes driving or so from La Ken La to the parking lot of Namtso Lake. The weather changed quickly from cloudy and cold at the peak to a balmy sunny weather by the lake. However, I was suffering from altitude sickness badly - my head felt like exploding. Walking from the parking lot to the lake was such a challenge that I hardly had any energy to enjoy and take pictures.
There were many locals offering picture taking with goat and yak and yak riding. The price ranged from 5 to 10RMB in general. Feeling pretty sick and with the bad experience at La Ken La, I did not want to take any paid picture. However, this little girl with the goat was so cute that we could not resist. It was too bad that I did not get the light right - I blame that on altitude sickness and not my amateurish photo skill....We were harassed by a person aggressively offering yak riding for 15 minutes while walking towards the lake. It was only 10RMB, but the we could not stand the tactics.
Namtso Lake was absolutely clear
You won't need your swimsuit here
Monument with the Namtso Lake introduction
Caves for meditation
We left around 3:30PM, having only spent less than 2 hours there with two of us feeling ill. Since Tibet was on Beijing time, it was more like 1:30PM. We could have spent more time here I suppose. But by then, majority of the group had started heading home.
Taken on the way back to Lhasa along the road
At the time when I took this picture, I thought it might have been a vulture - it does not appear to be the case. We had chat with our guide on the topic of sky burial - traditional Tibetan way to process the body of the deceased family member. It involves given the body to carnivorous birds. We don't think we could stomach watching such proceeding - but the ceremony is not typically open to non-local according to our guide.While waiting enough time so not exceeding the average speed limit, we met some nomadic Tibetans. We knew they were nomadic because of the tent they came from - dark brown tent made from yak skins. There were white tents too - but those were not typically used by nomads.
The nomads did not speak mandarin, I would venture to guess that most of them don't. We requested to take a few pictures through our guide - no problem. The little girl was curious and wanted to try the Chinese medicine we had laying round in the car. We did not give her of course. They seem to be quite friendly.
Picture perfect background - taken at a stop before a check point on the way back to Lhasha
I started feeling better on the way back to Lhasa. Prior to the trip, we worried more about Levi's parents, it turned out I myself suffered quite a bit. Even with the altitude sickness, Namtso Lake trip was one of the high light of my entire trip.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Day 8 (2/2) - Sera Monastery
After bad case of AMS at Drak Yerpa, I was glad that we were headed Sera Monastery which was close by Lhasa and at more manageable altitude. The difference between a Tibetan temple and monastery is that monks in monastery studies scriptures. Sera Monastery houses hundreds of monks.
The most unique sight of Sera was the afternoon debate held everyday except Sunday around 3PM or so. We got there just in time before the debate started. The debate was held in the court yard in the monastery.
Monks gathering prior to the start of the debate session
The monks gathered in small groups, some as small as 3 while others as big as 10 or so. There were more small groups than big groups. In each group, there was usually one monk standing up delivering the points while the other two sitting on the floor. The debate appeared to be between two monks usually while others listened in and intermittently inject their opinion.Often time, the standing monk would lift knee slightly forward, with the praying bracelet on one arm, raising the other arm above the shoulder, and emphatically clap, at the same time delivering his point with force.
A group of three monks debating. The one standing on the left appeared to the be senior monk
Unfortunately, my guide was no where to be found, so I don't know if the clapping meant anything, and what the monks were debating specifically. Because the presence of many tourists, some monks appeared to worried about whether the onlookers were watching or not. It was entertaining nonetheless.
An elderly looking on the debate
Young debating monk, he was very passionate and did not back down from the older monks
After about an hour or so, the monks got up and gather in a semi-circle in the middle to chant and listen to a monk speaking. The proceeding lasted another half an hour or so.
Monks getting up
The young one was still debating
The monks chanting and listening in
There was a monk waving burning incense. The tourists were in the background clicking and filming away throughout the proceedings.
The door at the monastery
By now, the monastery itself is closed. Still suffering the after effect of AMS, I was somewhat glad that I did not have to explorer the place. But as I am writing this blog now, I wish I could have at least taken a peek at the inside of the monastery. After all, it's not everyday I get to visit Lhasa.
We had dinner at another Sichuan restaurant. The choice of Han/Chinese food here were mostly Sichuan or Shanxi. Sichuan is the neighboring province, naturally there were more immigrants from there. The Sichuan restaurant we visited was alright. But none of them had English menu nor do the waiters spoke English.
We had dinner at another Sichuan restaurant. The choice of Han/Chinese food here were mostly Sichuan or Shanxi. Sichuan is the neighboring province, naturally there were more immigrants from there. The Sichuan restaurant we visited was alright. But none of them had English menu nor do the waiters spoke English.
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