From Beijing to Lhasa, Tibet and Xian, China

On our last evening in Beijing, we had a lovely dinner with my Beijing friends. Bing, who used to manage the inns I stayed at, asked me where I would like him to invite Monique and me for dinner. I chose the restaurant we ate at last year which consists of 6 houses on a garden compound in the middle of Beijing which used to belong to the brother of a previous emperor. Everything is of the period even the uniforms of the period. I will post the pictures of this event a little later.

The next morning at 0515 we took our taxi to the Beijing airport as described in the first chapter and flew to Lhasa Tibet.

Our first day in Tibet we were on our own and we walked from our hotel to the old part of Lhasa which is totally different from the more modern part of the city no doubt built up by the Chinese after they took over the country in 1950.  The center of Lhasa is a huge square on which there is one of the oldest Budhist temples. On that day, as apparently every day, thousands of faithful were marching around the temple praying and doing full body prostrations. It was our first experience of how religious these people are.

The other thing that struck us was that these people look almost as if they had been transported from Ecuador or Peru. The resemblance is almost like a deja vu. Not only do they look like Incas but they even dress in a very similar way.

We noted the high level of chinese police and military presence on and around the square. This reflects the high tension which exists between the Tibetans and Chinese as a result of the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950. The justification that Tibet had always been part of China is not based on history and the Tibetans never accepted the Chinese presence although it has been there for almost 60 years.

The next day we joined a small group with our guide to visit the monestaries of Drepung and Sera. Drepung is a huge structure which is built on a mountain face. We set out climbing but about one third of the way up, Monique decided she had enough and the guide helped her return to the base.  We continued our climb to the top and awaited the guide. At the top we were shown many of the 1000 rooms of statues and other religious memorabilia of this very complicated religion.  Again, we were amongst many Tibetans who were all praying and stuffing bills into plastic boxes at the feed of the many statues.  Given that all the construction is of wood, and that there are candles everywhere, it was a little creepy to be in this mass of people in rather cramped spaces. We were told that before the Chinese occupation, there were over 1000 monks in this place.  There are now less than 200. 

After the tour, we all went to lunch and then walked to the Sera Monastery to witness the daily discussion which takes place with about 100 monks standing in a large garden and throwing questions at each other. Strange thing to be doing each day with about 200 tourists sitting around the edges.

That evening, Monique and I had dinner in a small Tibetan restaurant around the corner from the hotel run by two young Tibetans. The food was simple but nourishing.

The next morning, Monique decided that she did not want to attempt to visit the Johkand and Potala temples so she took the day off. The Potala palace is the classic Monastery one sees on Tibet pictures. It is a huge building set on a mountain painted white and purple. To get there one has to go up some 300 meters on steps made of rough stones. At 12, 000 feet, I seriously doubted I would make it by the half way mark. But as usual when climbing, one gets a second breath so I did make it to the top. But I ain't doing that again... On top again there are hundreds of rooms including what used to be the private quarters of the Dalai Lama. The views were great once the heart had stopped pumping at 100 miles an hour...

On our final day in Lhasa we were picked up at our hotel and taken to the rail station to catch our train to Xian which is some 3000 kms away. The train is a specially build one with cars which are presurrized like an airplane as this train takes one to highest point of any train in the world. We left Lhasa from the very modern and pompous train station built by the Chinese to receive this special train.  The distance from Lhasa to Xining China is some 900 miles and goes from 12,000 feet altitude in Lhasa to 16, 600 feet before going down from the Tibet plain. This railroad is the highest ever built and cost China some US$ 4billion and took 5 years to build. Before it was built, the consensus had been that it was not possible to build a rail line the under these conditions.But the Chinese did build it.  The track runs along the foot of towering Himalayan mountains which are constantly melting into the valley making the ground wet and marshland. In fact, the line runs over some 340 of tundra which meant driving huge piles deep into the permafrost to support thousands of cement supports carrying the rail. There are mile long tunnels, some 675 bridges spanning 160 kms.  The vistas are beautiful and impressive . For some of the views, You tube has a numer of video taken from and of this train. It is so high, that oxygen is pumped into the cars and they are oxygen outlets at each seat and bunk. And they are needed.

  By 8 pm it was dark, so Monique offered to take the upper bunk which was quite an atheletic exercise.  We spent the night with two Chinese men in the opposite bunks. These men spent the day eating, chatting and clearing their throats and spent the night snoring... Not great travel companions...

The next morning at 10 am we arrived in Xining and changed to a normal train for the 10 hour trip to Xian. Travelling by train gave us lots of time to watch the countryside and see China from the ground. At 9.40 pm, we arrived in Xian and were met by a driver I had ordered from the hotel. I did not want to have to find a taxi at that time of night. When we arrived in our hotel, we were both exhausted and we asleep in minutes.

The next morning, I noticed our room was small,the toilet was leaking, the TV did not work and I was not a happy camper. I had chosen this hotel because of its very Chinese decor but I had expected it to live up to its 5 star rating. At the breakfast room, I demanded to see the manager who was a small lady who came asking what the problem was. Well, she got an earful from. I noticed Monique was not enjoying this so I went for the kill. I demanded an upgraded room and the manager quickly agreed. We were shown a full suite with 2 rooms and a wonderful balcony giving on to the courtyard garden. I graciously accepted and we have enjoyed the suite since we got here.

We decided to visit the terracota warrior museum the next day so I arranged for our driver to pick us up at noon that day. He insited we also visit the  Banpo museum which anarcheological dig of a 6000 year old village. It is a very interesting site as the dig has discovered enough to allow the experts to reconstruct what had existed back that far.

We then went on to the BingMaYong museum which is the famous terracotto dig.  We were lucky to have a driver who knew his way around as this site is huge and some 40 kms from town. He first brought us to a little restaurant for the best lunch we have had so far on this trip. He then pointed us to the entrance of the Terracotta museum and left us on our own. We got to the main pit and spent a lot of time walking around this most impressive site where several thousand of the these full life soldiers stand in testimony to the folly of the emperor who had these monuments constructed.  He then had all the statues buried under some 10 feet of dirt and supposedly killed all those involved in this project in order to keep it a secret.  I have visited this site now 3 times and each time I get more depressed thinking of the thousands of lives waisted by this insane emperor who thought it a good idea to have an army at his command in the afterlife.

Today is our last day in Xian and we walked by the Giant Wild Goose pagoda which is beside our hotel. We then took a taxi to the Xian Bell tower which we climbed. Bell towers were used in the past to mark the time of day. It is a huge structure in the middle of the old city. We then walked to the north gate of the Xian city wall which is still intact.  It is a huge construction running some 11 kms around the city.  The wall itself is 40 feet wide and is some 60 feet high surrrounded by a moat.  It was a cold day but we walked along the wall for some time before returning to our hotel.

Flying to Beijing and then to Lhasa, Tibet.

This is the description of our October 2016 trip to China.  This first posting was circulated earlier in the form of an email and many would have already seen it.

We left Montreal last Monday  October 10th and flew to Toronto to catch our flight to Beijing. There are direct flights from Montreal but the cost is almost twice as expensive.  Our flight out of Toronto with Air Canada left on time. I had booked us into premium economy which put us in the emergency exit row with about 2 meters of space in front of us which was great. The flight was 13 hours and we both got a few hours sleep with the help of little pills.

After arriving in Beijing, we took the airport express train into Beijing as it was rush hour and the roads would be clogged even on the dedicated airport express road.  We got to our little inn in and old Hutong about 8pm and were shown our room.  I had wanted to  spend our first days in China in a traditional inn so that Monique could get a sense of where China has come from in the last 50 years  The hutongs which still exist in Beijing a small areas which have on story buildings also small narrow streets built centuries ago.  Most of these hutongs have been destroyed to build high rise apartments and modern office buildings.  These hutongs have their own Chinese characteristics and form strong communities which have resisted being displaced. The housing is basic and small and most have no indoor toilet facilities. They rely on toilet facilities which are found spaced out along the hutong streets.  It is a mode of life which is gradually disappearing. Our inn was located in  a trading family home which is built around a central court yard leading to the 6 rooms of the inn. We had the biggest room which had its own bathroom and a fairly rudimentary shower facility but one which worked. The inn is very nicely situated within walking distance to many of the attractions of this city.

On Wednesday, one of my Mandarin teachers, Lee came to our inn to take us out to lunch at a little restaurant close to our inn where we had a hotpot lunch consisting of a boiling pot of water in which one puts rolled pieces of beef and lamb along with spices and greens. One is then given a peanut based sauce into which

We were up this Saturday morning at 4.30 to catch our plane to Tibet. The taxi we  had ordered  last night was waiting for us at 5.15. We drove through the heavy smog of Beijing to the airport. At 0600, the  airport was full of people going places. It is a huge airport with some 250 check in counters spread over a terminal which is close to 500 meters in length. A daunting sight so early in the morning. I had not been able to check in on line so I was a little worried whether our booking with Air China (or as Trump would probably say, Air Jina...) was still on the books.

To go to Tibet, which is part of China, you need a special Tibet permit in addition to the China visa. So  we lined up behind 70-80 people at one of the check-in counters and waited our turn. The line moved ahead smoothly and we came to the counter. I presented our passports and Tibet permits and waited while the agent typed in our information. After waiting a few minutes, out popped our boarding passes. What a relief. Travelling these days with only electronic tickets can be a little nerve racking.  Off we trotted to security; again with 30 lines of many  people but the lines moved ahead smoothly.

Our flight departed on time in a very foggy airport which is huge. Our flight was only 1/3 full which is something I have not seen in many years. One reason is that it is rather expensive to fly to Tibet and also it is off season. It was a beautiful flight on a clear day so that we could see the landscape below as it unfolded. The most impressive part was flying over the mountains of western China and Tibet. One flies for over 2 hours over mountains which are for the most part snow covered.As one approaches Lhasa, the mountains rise higher and higher as these are the foothills of the Himalayas. The approach into the airport of Lhasa is impressive as all one can see are huge mountains and one wonders where one could find an airport in this terrain. But we made a sweeping approach on a clear sunny day and we were on the ground after a 4 hour flight.

We were met by our 2 Tibetan guides who drove us the 60 kms to our Sheraton hotel in Lhasa. It was really great to see the blue skies and brilliant sun after 5 days of smoggy and dark weather in Beijing. It was also great to be in a modern hotel room after our days in Beijing in our little inn in the Hutong . Very traditional old Chinese.

The first impression of Lhasa is one of a city which was built last week. Everything is very modern Chinese with large streets and roads and huge apartment and office buildings lining the streets. The Tibetan people seem genuinely friendly but our guides warned us that the locals do not like using Mandarin as there seems to be a lot of tension between the Chinese and the Tibetans who still resent the invasion and control of their county by the Chinese. However, my first encounter was when I went out across the street to get some bottled water in a little store. The owner was a Tibetan and we were able to communicate in Mandarin with no difficulty.  Interesting for me to find that I can converse with Tibetan because I can speak a my basic bit of Mandarin.

  One is warned to take it easy for the first days in Lhasa which is at 12.000 feet. It is so high that the hotel provides oxygen bottles  in the rooms which one can use to compensate for the lack of oxygen at this altitude.  We both noted the light headiness which the altitude produces.  It is a bit of the sensation that the ground is moving and one feels pressure in the head. After a light lunch, we retired to our room and slept for a couple of hours. I had been warned of this so that I set up our schedule here with no fixed visits today and tomorrow to give us time to acclimatize.  This evening we will not even go out of the hotel but rather stay and rest for a day on our own tomorrow. Our official tourism starts on Monday with visits to the local sights. I presume by then we will be on our feet and ready to go.

1. For now from Lhasa good night.