Tibet

Travelling
-plane from Taiwan to Chengdu delayed for 4 hours resulting to late arrival into hostel. And the next day from Chengdu to Laksa was even better news. The plane engine is malfunctioning. Good job that i made a fuss and was allowed on the earlier flight otherwise would have been stuck in chengdu missing the beginning of the 10 day trip.

-didnt make it to lake namso as the roads were snowed in. Instead stayed with Tibetan family on the side of the road. it was freezing in tibet in march. out with all the heat pads and ski wear...the 6 year old little girl was looking after her baby sister and her little brother. So mature and diligent. I recall when i was 6 i was roaming the streets terrorising other street children...

-Yangpachen is an 'electricity town' built around a thermal power plant between Lhasa and Namtso Lake. Yangpachen borders on a flat area of hot springs covering 16 square kilometers. Yangpachen owns not only common hot springs and fountains, but also various geysers, boiling springs, and hot-water lakes, which is rare in the world. Now it has a thermoelectricity plant, green houses, and hot spring baths.

-trip from shigatse to base camp took 12 hours plus. There is about 90km bumpy road from Tingri to Rongpuk and bus is definitely the inadequate transportation. Did see a star filled sky with no light pollution, even spotted my first shooting star. Unfortunately it was flying across the sky too fast for me to say my wish three times. I hadn´t even have time to think of a wish yet before it dropped under the horizon.

-altitude: thought it´s about acclimatisation, but i am so wrong. Altitude sickness is one of those things that is like hay fever, you either have it or you dont. And sods law states that the fitter you are, the more likely you are to have altitude sickness, which prevents the fit people from going up himalyas at ease and having fun. Poo.

-lovely people during the trip. Roger in love with his shoes who bought 10 pairs of different shoes for the 10 days trip. Another guy who taught in Taiwan for 10 years and filled me in on all the great things to do in Taiwan.

-sundog: ever seen crystalised air particles creating a ring around the sun?? looks pretty amazing!

Food
-sweet yak milk tea. Warms you up in the dry bitter cold. Never have the salty yak milk tea. Taste like feet. Yak noodles is also very tasty. Other than that not much to eat in Tibet. Even the monks eat yak noodles and are not vegetarian, because there are no readily available crops for ingesting.

Arts & Culture
-tankas: love the intricate drawings of tanka either representing a mandala floor plan or of tibetan mythical gods and creatures. Each one must take at least a week to complete if a skilled artisan works on it 24 hours a day.

-praying wheels: lots of golden praying wheels at the peripherals of monastries. After 10 days in tibet my addiction of spinning the wheels has definitely been satisfied.

-people doing serious praying outside the jokhang temple. must remember to always go clockwise through the bakhor pilgrimage walk otherwise will be obstructive to people doing full body prostrations. Other devoted members will carry mobile praying wheels and spin for the entire pigrimage journey. The barkhor market itself is the most active in all tibet, and we bought these "vintage" looking omega clock pendants and other random pieces of jewlery from the market, trying very hard on our bargaining skills in the process.

-Tibetan buddism: 4 major schools of which the Gelug yellow hat is the most prominent with Dalai Lama as its spiritual head. But have also visited Black Kagyu sec Tsurphu monatry. There is also the red hat Nyingma and Sakya which didn´t hear much mentioning during the trip.

-8 auspicious symbols of buddhism:

	Right-coiled White Conch The white conch which coils to the right symbolises the deep, far-reaching and melodious sound of the Dharma teachings, which being appropriate to different natures, predispositions and aspirations of disciples, awakens them from the deep slumber of ignorance and urges them to accomplish their own and others' welfare.
	Precious Umbrella The precious umbrella symbolises the wholesome activity of preserving beings from illness, harmful forces, obstacles and so forth in this life and all kinds of temporary and enduring sufferings of the three lower realms, and the realms of men and gods in future lives. It also represents the enjoyment of a feast of benefit under its cool shade.
	Victory Banner The victory banner symbolises the victory of the activities of one's own and others body, speech and mind over obstacles and negativitities. It also stands for the complete victory of the Buddhist Doctrine over all harmful and pernicious forces.
	Golden Fish The golden fish symbolises the auspiciousness of all living beings in a state of fearlessness, without danger of drowning in the ocean of sufferings, and migrating from place to place freely and spontaneously, just as fish swim freely without fear through water.
	Dharma Wheel The golden wheel symbolises the auspiciousness of the turning of the precious wheel of Buddha's doctrine, both in its teachings and realizations, in all realms and at all times, enabling beings to experience the joy of wholesome deeds and liberation.
	Auspicious Drawing The auspicious drawing symbolises the mutual dependence of religious doctrine and secular affairs. Similarly, it represents the union of wisdom and method, the inseparability of emptiness and dependent arising at the time of path, and finally, at the time of enlightenment, the complete union of wisdom and great compassion.
	Lotus Flower The lotus flower symbolises the complete purification of the defilements of the body, speech and mind, and the full blossoming of wholesome deeds in blissful liberation.
	Vase of Treasure The treasure vase symbolises an endless rain of long life, wealth and prosperity and all the benefits of this world and liberation.

Potala palace grand audience halls, the jeweled and Golden burial chortens (stupa Tombs) of past Dalai Lamas, and tremendous number of Buddhist frescoes, thangkas, combinations of mandala, figures of the Buddha. Made of precious metal.

Drepung monastery is situated at the foothill of a mountain and was founded by Jamyang Choeje in 1416. It was once home of 10000 monks and Ganden podrang in Drepung is famous it was the government centre during fifth dalai lama and later moved to the famous potala palace during fifth dalai lama. Saw singing labourers compacting the roof in unison. Spent a long while outside on the hill with the prayer flags draped all over the hill as well as colourful writings of omamibabioom (? something like that)

Sera monastery which was founded in 1419 by Tsongkapa’s disciple Jamchen Choeje. The most attractive is that Monks debiting is held there in the courtyard. Big hype! They clap when they are asking a question and direct it to a person in the audience. If we didnt get that explanation we thought they were just chanting and dancing!

Yamdrotso lake was beautifully turquoise with the locals brining yaks and tibetan hounds out for a photo opportunity. On the return trip the lake was white out by the drastically changing weather. We were so lucky!

Kubum monastery in Gyantse, means 100,000 images in Tibetan, is the town's foremost attraction, The 35m-high chorten (stupa) with its white layers trimmed with decorative stripes and its crown-like golden dome and the magic eye, brings breath of fresh air to the temples we have been seeing

Tashilunpo monastery in Shigatse, one of the the six great Gelukpa institutions and was founded in 1447 by a disciple of Tsongkapa, Genden drup who was first dalai lama. Jamkhang Chenmo, containing the world's largest gilded copper image(26m high) of future god Jampa. This monastery is now the seat of the Panchen Lama (highest ranking lama after Dalai Lama).