Saturday, May 06, 2006
May 6: Shigatse
This morning we set off from our posh digs in Gyantse towards Shigatse, Tibet's second largest city. Why Shigatse? Because it is on the way, and has an important monastery.
Shigatse's major attraction is Tashilhunpo Gompa, seat of the Panchen Lamas and currently the biggest monastic centre in Tibet. The monastery itself is quite nice, although it feels like Sera, Drepung, Samye, Yumbu Lakhang and every other monastery. It's quite big, though not as big as Drepung (the biggest in the world, after all). One of the attractions is a 26m bronze statue of Maitreya Buddha, the Buddha of the Future. According to the guidebook, this is the biggest such buddha in the world - the ones that are bigger aren't metal, I think. It's quite impressive, and has a building all to itself.
The monastery also has some very ornate tombs for past Panchen Lamas, the latest having expired in 1989 just 3 days after coming to Shigatse from Beijing for some sort of ceremony. He made good on his promise to die on Tibetan soil. His replacement, the 11th Panchen Lama, is the subject of controversy since there are two candidates. One is "official", the other is apparently under house arrest. You be the judge of how that came about.
Other than that, Shigatse is a boring little city with not much to show for it. Parts of it are very Chinese and not very Tibetan. For instance, the restaurant where we had dinner was a joint not unlike the jialzi restaurants I've visited in China before coming to Tibet. Its only redeeming qualities is that there is a lively Tibetan outdoor market, and the internet access in this China Telecom internet bar seems to be pretty fast. Otherwise, the place is a bit of a hole. Dusty and grim.
I'm having a neat time with my travel-mates. Megan, in particular, is proving to be quite the character and it seems like I'm not the only one who finds her a touch hard to swallow. She seems a bit scatterbrained, somewhat whiny, always complains that we're walking too fast (when we're not), constantly talks about sex and about her Chinese boyfriend (who I immediately placed into the "fob" category after seeing a picture), and seems to lack a certain seriousness and maturity that I see in Caroline and Demelza. Maybe it's the fact Caroline and Demelza both went to university and had a chance to season a little bit. Not that I'm being judgemental - that's not me at all!
On the plus side, I'm getting along famously with Caroline and Demelza. Sometimes it feels like we're ganging up on Megan, but in all fairness I think she brings it on herself by taking the piss out of the rest of us all the time. For whatever reason, she insisted on staying in my room tonight, possibly to drive me crazy. We'll see.
Tomorrow we are off to our next stop. While we were on our way to Shigatse I looked at the map and the guidebook and decided that it'd be best if we went to Tingri instead of Shegar. Tingri is probably 2 hours' drive farther down the Friendship Highway, and we'd have to travel that distance back to hit the turnoff to Everest.
Why do this? Acclimatization. Shegar is the same altitude as Shigatse. Tingri is 400m higher. The next stop after Tingri/Shegar would be Rongbuk Monastery at 4900m and Everest Base Camp at 5200m, which I think might be a bit of a jump. Instead of Shegar, we'll stay at Tingri at 4400m and have two smaller overnight elevation gains to try to distribute the impact. Hopefully this will be more gentle on the body.
I don't think being extra-cautious with acclimatization is a bad idea at all. I've now had the occasion to watch a bunch of tourists arrive in Lhasa and struggle, although I've been feeling largely a-okay. Plus, there's the factor that my three travel mates aren't very well acclimatized at all. Megan in particular doesn't seem to be doing well; she's moving quite slowly compared to the rest of us and seems to be super-tired much of the time. It would be no fun to arrive at Rongbuk and find that someone (maybe me) is suffering from severe AMS, or worse.
Anyway, I'm excited because the morning after tomorrow's I will hopefully see the Himalayan giants Everest, Lhotse, Cho Oyu and Makalu, all visible from the top of a 5200m pass on the way to Rongbuk. Hopefully I will be up to the task of walking the 8km from Rongbuk Gompa to the base camp. If not, I understand there's a horse you can ride for those 8km...
I doubt there is internet access in Tingri, which promises to be even more depressing than Shigatse, with a guesthouse that is nowhere near as nice our hotel here. In other words, this might be the last update until I am back to Lhasa in the evening of May 10th.
Shigatse's major attraction is Tashilhunpo Gompa, seat of the Panchen Lamas and currently the biggest monastic centre in Tibet. The monastery itself is quite nice, although it feels like Sera, Drepung, Samye, Yumbu Lakhang and every other monastery. It's quite big, though not as big as Drepung (the biggest in the world, after all). One of the attractions is a 26m bronze statue of Maitreya Buddha, the Buddha of the Future. According to the guidebook, this is the biggest such buddha in the world - the ones that are bigger aren't metal, I think. It's quite impressive, and has a building all to itself.
The monastery also has some very ornate tombs for past Panchen Lamas, the latest having expired in 1989 just 3 days after coming to Shigatse from Beijing for some sort of ceremony. He made good on his promise to die on Tibetan soil. His replacement, the 11th Panchen Lama, is the subject of controversy since there are two candidates. One is "official", the other is apparently under house arrest. You be the judge of how that came about.
Other than that, Shigatse is a boring little city with not much to show for it. Parts of it are very Chinese and not very Tibetan. For instance, the restaurant where we had dinner was a joint not unlike the jialzi restaurants I've visited in China before coming to Tibet. Its only redeeming qualities is that there is a lively Tibetan outdoor market, and the internet access in this China Telecom internet bar seems to be pretty fast. Otherwise, the place is a bit of a hole. Dusty and grim.
I'm having a neat time with my travel-mates. Megan, in particular, is proving to be quite the character and it seems like I'm not the only one who finds her a touch hard to swallow. She seems a bit scatterbrained, somewhat whiny, always complains that we're walking too fast (when we're not), constantly talks about sex and about her Chinese boyfriend (who I immediately placed into the "fob" category after seeing a picture), and seems to lack a certain seriousness and maturity that I see in Caroline and Demelza. Maybe it's the fact Caroline and Demelza both went to university and had a chance to season a little bit. Not that I'm being judgemental - that's not me at all!
On the plus side, I'm getting along famously with Caroline and Demelza. Sometimes it feels like we're ganging up on Megan, but in all fairness I think she brings it on herself by taking the piss out of the rest of us all the time. For whatever reason, she insisted on staying in my room tonight, possibly to drive me crazy. We'll see.
Tomorrow we are off to our next stop. While we were on our way to Shigatse I looked at the map and the guidebook and decided that it'd be best if we went to Tingri instead of Shegar. Tingri is probably 2 hours' drive farther down the Friendship Highway, and we'd have to travel that distance back to hit the turnoff to Everest.
Why do this? Acclimatization. Shegar is the same altitude as Shigatse. Tingri is 400m higher. The next stop after Tingri/Shegar would be Rongbuk Monastery at 4900m and Everest Base Camp at 5200m, which I think might be a bit of a jump. Instead of Shegar, we'll stay at Tingri at 4400m and have two smaller overnight elevation gains to try to distribute the impact. Hopefully this will be more gentle on the body.
I don't think being extra-cautious with acclimatization is a bad idea at all. I've now had the occasion to watch a bunch of tourists arrive in Lhasa and struggle, although I've been feeling largely a-okay. Plus, there's the factor that my three travel mates aren't very well acclimatized at all. Megan in particular doesn't seem to be doing well; she's moving quite slowly compared to the rest of us and seems to be super-tired much of the time. It would be no fun to arrive at Rongbuk and find that someone (maybe me) is suffering from severe AMS, or worse.
Anyway, I'm excited because the morning after tomorrow's I will hopefully see the Himalayan giants Everest, Lhotse, Cho Oyu and Makalu, all visible from the top of a 5200m pass on the way to Rongbuk. Hopefully I will be up to the task of walking the 8km from Rongbuk Gompa to the base camp. If not, I understand there's a horse you can ride for those 8km...
I doubt there is internet access in Tingri, which promises to be even more depressing than Shigatse, with a guesthouse that is nowhere near as nice our hotel here. In other words, this might be the last update until I am back to Lhasa in the evening of May 10th.
# posted by Alex Perel @ 8:41 AM 
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When do we get some pictures, mate?
What does it mean when a tomb "expires"?
"He made good on his promise to die on Tibetan soil." All I want to know about my death is where it will be. Then I'll make sure I never go there.
What's a fob?
"For whatever reason, she insisted on staying in my room tonight, possibly to drive me crazy. We'll see." No Alex, this is exactly what you need. Another psychotic GF, so that you have a bevy of them 'round the world.
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What does it mean when a tomb "expires"?
"He made good on his promise to die on Tibetan soil." All I want to know about my death is where it will be. Then I'll make sure I never go there.
What's a fob?
"For whatever reason, she insisted on staying in my room tonight, possibly to drive me crazy. We'll see." No Alex, this is exactly what you need. Another psychotic GF, so that you have a bevy of them 'round the world.
# posted by 
: 3:19 PM
: 3:19 PM << Home
