Nepal and Tibet

Today is a surprise because we travel mostly on flat land along the floor of a valley. Shigatse is actually fifty metres lower than Gyantse, so we have not climbed up at all today. When we finally arrive on the outskirts of Shigatse, we drive back onto the Friendship Highway and this section is paved. It is indescribably good to be on a smooth road. We feel like hopping out of the car to kiss the ground. Our poor old bones have really had a good shaking. Our guide must really be sick because she has slept through the entire journey, bumps, shakes and all.

Shigatse is the second biggest town in Tibet and the only other city other than Lhasa. It is obviously very Chinese but that also means modern and clean so we do not complain. We arrive at our hotel before lunch so we do not need to have a picnic on the road today. We have it in our rooms instead.

The Tashilumpo Monastery
After lunch, we go to see the Tashilumpo Monastery, which is the most visited site in Shigatse. Many of us are beginning to feel a bit "templed-out" by this so we set off like obedient children, with little enthusiasm. We are warned that here we must be very careful of what we say because there are cameras focussed on us in the main areas and some of the monks are said to be working for the Chinese authorities. If we comment on anything political, Karma, as our Tibetan guide, could be in real trouble. We arrive at the site and find a monastery similar to the others. But this monastery is different in that it used to be the home of the Panchen Lamas, who are second in importance to the Dalai Lamas. Behind the monastery is a cluster of buildings, which house the tombs of past Panchen Lamas. Higher still is a long white wall from which a huge thangka is hung during festivals. We enter the main temple and immediately, from nowhere comes a young, serious faced monk who busies himself around us all the time. We sit on a cushioned platform near the entrance and he scowls and tells us to stand up. We look closely. Is he a spy? We continue on further and another monk appears. Perhaps this one is a spy? We feel like we're in a James Bond movie.

This monastery weathered the Cultural Revolution without too much damage so it is good to see a monastery in close to its original condition. The walls, in one of the chapels, are totally covered in a pattern of brightly coloured Buddahs sitting in the lotus position. This, we are told, has been hand-painted, a massive job! We eventually reached a temple, which houses the largest statue of Buddah in the world. It is made of copper and covered in gold leaf. It is so huge and in such a confined area that it was almost impossible to see it for what it is.

This monastery, especially the exterior areas, such as the paths and alleyways, appears to be so very old as indeed it is. The narrow lanes between all the buildings in the complex are covered in rough cobblestones. The stone steps are well worn and the odd tree growing here is gnarled and ancient. The buildings, however, are well-kept and the paint is bright and new.

The monks today, are preparing for an important visitor so they are busy putting up a huge canopy over a massive courtyard. It is so huge it takes hundreds of pairs of hands to do the job. Young monks are hanging over wide window ledges to attach fresh, new, pleated, exterior curtains, with a rope tied around the waist, which is held by another, so as not to slip and fall. Watching this activity keeps us entertained for quite a while and we soon decide that the visit to this monastery is quite exciting.

On our way back to the hotel, we are taken to a huge, undercover, Chinese market. This market must sell everything from A to Z. We are impressed with the quantity of good quality stock, especially the fruit and vegetables. Meat and all kinds of fresh foods are for sale, as well as confectionary, toys, clothes, televisions, cameras and videos. We buy some more fruit for our trip, as well as lollies to suck on the journey.

Our hotel, the Wu Tse Hotel, is really nice, clean and very modern. It even has a swimming pool. It is not hot enough for us to want a swim but I'm sure, for the Tibetans, this must be hot weather as it is much warmer than any of us expected here in Tibet. Before we leave, we see some girls walking up and down in the water, fully dressed, holding hands and giggling. Swimming pools are not something the Tibetans, in their cold, land-locked country, would be accustomed to. For all the hotel's modernity, it is unbelievable that hot water is available from the taps for only four hours in the evening and for three hours in the mornings.

During the afternoon, we come across one of our group members, who asks us if we are interested in finding the Internet Café that the people in the hotel have told her is in walking distance. We decide to go with her so we set off on foot but, at first, cannot find it. We ask many people, who have no English and cannot make ourselves understood. We expect that they may understand the word, "Internet". It isn't until the question is rephrased and the expression "e-mail" is used, that someone is able to point us in the right direction. We find a tiny office where about six computers are set up. It is like a cupboard in a wall and we squash in cosily with the local Chinese teenagers who are busily playing computer games. Everything on the screen is in Chinese but I type the hotmail address where I think it should go and I'm away, managing to get myself into my mail by just clicking on what looks like the preferred option. It is good to receive mail from home and to have one last chance to send some before we head off into true isolation. We take rickshaws back to the hotel, our drivers racing each other as we go.