Day 4, Tibet

Today we finally get to explore the rural areas outside of Lhasa. We drive a long winding road, stopping to see amazing displays of prayer flags strung across mountain peaks and over the highway.

The Lhasa valley is well developed, with mostly new construction. Thousands of greenhouses. Really nice highways and bridges. The Chinese have invested a lot of money here, and have turned Lhasa into a Disneyland for Chinese tourists. What once may have been an exotic destination is now a giant, and I mean giant shopping mall. The local "market" has over 3 miles of stalls. The streets are lined with typical mall stores. On and on.

Finally, we reach the Drak Yerpa Hermitage. There are more than 80 meditation caves where the founder of Tibet Buddhism first came to meditate in the 7th century. Only 8 of the 13 of us opted to climb the hills to visit the caves, but the climb was definitely worth the effort. It was so peaceful and quiet up there, and the views were spectacular.

We climbed as high as 14,800 feet where the air was crisp and clean, the sky was the bluest blue, and the snow peaked mountains around us seemed more like a painting from someone's imagination than anything real.

Inside the caves were the usual assortment of Bhuddhas and religious statutes, and we had to hike from temple to temple all at 14000 feet +. We got a look at the "air burial" hill, where bodies are chopped into small pieces and left for the buzzards. Saw no buzzards, but it was probably a slow day.

Got to meet monks, and ride (pose for pictures) a yak.

On the way back to Lhasa, we stopped along a river below the monastery to eat a picnic lunch and watch the yaks go by.

After returning to town, we went to the Tibet museum where the real Tibet is on display. Tibet has a long history and once out of Lhasa, it quickly returns to the way it's been for hundreds of years.
Our only taste of the real Tibet is the monasteries and nomads and farmers who show up in Lhasa dressed in traditional clothes. With all the modernity and everyone dressed in jeans, they do stand out.

 

Some of our group brought school supplies and gifts to take to an orphanage, but we were not able to go.  Instead, our guide took us to a typical school, where we were invited into a 1st grade classroom.  It was one of the smallest classrooms, with 30 children.  They would not let us take pictures of the children, but they were beautiful, and were very happy to see us. They sang the alphabet song in English, the Do Re Mi song, and a song in Chinese with hand gestures.  They showed us their primer, which was written in three languages -- English, Chinese, and Tibetan.  When we left, they all followed us to the door, smiling and waving and saying "bye".