Since I've been back in Beijing for a few days now, I figured it would be a good time to reflect on my trip to The Land of Snow.
I considered the trip to Tibet as the ultimate destination to end this summer of travels, the icing on the cake, if you will. In many ways, this trip was a test on everything I have learned this summer - about traveling, about people, about myself.
What I loved most about Tibet itself is the landscape and the people. With bases starting from at least 12,000 feet above sea level, the mountains are inspirational at the height that it reaches. No matter how many times I see it, the sight of a snow covered peak (and there are many), still takes my breath away. Even though I was there during the height of the rainy season (which means maybe half an hour of rain a day), when the clouds parted, it was amazing to see how spectacularly blue the sky was. Due to its environment, lots of Tibet is either very lightly inhabited or not inhabited at all. Thus, when you are outside of Lhasa or any other major cities/towns, you are surrounded by nothing else but vast and seemingly endless space. As well, when you are in places like that, you are surrounded by nothing but silence. Endless silence. You hear nothing except your own breathing and the wind.
Landscape aside, what really made my trip was the Tibetan people. In all my travels, I have never met a collective group of people who were so nice and amiable as the Tibetans. Not only were they hospitable to most of the tourists (Chinese and foreign), they were also genuinely nice to each other and helped each other when help was needed. For example, at the Drepung Festival, no matter who needed help climbing up the steep mountain, there was always someone to offer you a hand up or a push up. Our Grandmother, besides being so lovely by taking us around the thangka kora, also offered tsampa to other groups of people. To me, not only is this amazing as a collective attitude to have within a group of people, but it is also amazing considering their tragic history. Already, as a traveler, I can feel times where it seemed like the Tibetans are spectators in their own land. With so many Han Chinese in Tibet already, and with their numbers to inevitably increase, I find that the ability of the Tibetan people to preserve their sincere friendliness, even to the Han people, as amazing and inspirational.
Of course, being in Tibet, every traveler finds themselves talking about the "Tibet Question" (even if it is amongst themselves). Where people stands spans the spectrum. I personally see points from both sides of the arguement, and being in Tibet proved my prior belief that this particular issue is so extremely gray, so much so that a black or white just simply does not exist. I feel myself fortunate as well to have talked to a few individuals that demonstrated the grayness of the subject: a Tibetan man who believed the best way for Tibet's development is to be with the Chinese, 2 Tibetans who wished for the return of the HH, and a Han Chinese who thinks it is best for Tibet when more Han people comes. Just because I see points that the Chinese government makes towards the Tibet issue does not mean I do not feel or have compassion for the Tibetan cause. The tragic side of this is obvious to anyone who bothers to look below the surface. But when even the outlook for an autonomous government within the PRC is dire, I believe that people in the world who cares about Tibet needs to do something more than just "Free Tibet". Instead, the focus should be more along the lines of "Saving Tibetan Culture". In the end, why waste your energy and resources in a war that cannot be won when there's a battle that can?
In my travels in Tibet, I have also been extremely fortunate in almost all aspects. For the most part, the weather cooperated wonderfully. We had a sunny day in Nam-Tso (even when the mountains just across the lake was getting a snow storm), as demonstrated by my unevenly peeling face, and a clear day at Rongphu and Basecamp. We were even lucky enough to see a spectacular sunset and sunrise of Quolomonga (Everest)! I was also lucky enough to have met some great fellow travelers in Tibet. With them, I had great times at meal times, drinking beer, traveling, going to Tibetan clubs, or just hanging out. They were all such extrodinary people and all have made very special places in my memory. In short, the fake Frenchies were mad, the Brits were posh (or tried to be), and the Isrealis were the nicest Isrealis I've met in my travels (even if the same pair did cut me in line in Chengdu).
Of course, there were also less than pleseant times of the trip. Chengdu was just God awful both the times I was there (and both days were my worst days on the trip), the situation in Lhatse was also pretty dire, Tibetan bathrooms were in a league of its own (meaning I had to take refuge a la nature. Yuheng and I can both say now that we have done our deed in front of Everest), and the communal showers were also pretty interesting. But these were just minor technicalities that were, for the most part, easily overcome and didn't damper any part of the trip.
Now that I am back in Beijing, I constantly think about the clean air, prayer flags and kataks flying in the air, drokpas (nomads) riding their horses and hearding their sheep and yaks, all the mountains that reaches towards the sky, abandoned dzongs, the blue of the sky, the blue of the water, men with a thick rope of red yarn weaved through their hair, the beautiful dark skin and features of the Tibetan people, kids sunbathing naked on the side of the road, the prostrators, tsampa, the silence, yak butter candles, prayer wheels, the Tibetan smile, and much, much more.
Tibet: I miss it already and I will be back. Next time: to Kailash and beyond!
