Yak butter tea and armed oppression 12/27
Up at 7 hoping this was going to be a shower day. The heater was working as much as it was going to so now we need hot water. I turned it on and let it run to no avail. I washed some things since we'll be in this hotel until tomorrow. Finally I manned up and took a shower. It was miserable but felt good when it was over.
Breakfast in the hotel and X picked us up at 9:30. We were chatting w the waitress and telling her how we are going to India next. She said aren't you lucky, we can't leave. Ugh. Yes we are very lucky. The car drove us half a mile to the Potala Palace, the old living quarters of the exiled Dali Lama and the current fake Pancha Lama (appointed by the Chinese government). It was built in the 7th century and has 999 rooms and 1 meditation cave. This place is massive and beautiful. We walked around the outside clockwise w the other praying so we could drink our water. No liquids or flammable are permitted due to the monks that were lighting themselves on fire in protest. Upon entering we hiked to the top and saw statues of Buddhas and paintings. Mostly government officials live there now and only 28 monks who take care of the palace. People come here as a pilgrimage, mostly from E Tibet in the winter. They bring thermoses of warm yak butter and pour some into each container w candles. We saw stupas where some of the previous Dali Lama's were buried.
We headed for lunch and X took us to a Tibetan restaurant where locals go. Andy had noodles w yak, I had rice w yak. I guess we'll be eating a lot of yak this week. X said although most Tibetans are Buddhist (no meat), they are allowed to eat meat because they need the energy living at high altitude. We also ordered an entire thermos of yak butter tea. Andy and I just wanted to try it, but here we go! It wasn't bad. It tastes like broth- a little salty. It's not something you want to drink a thermos of though, but we did.
Next we headed for the Jokhang Temple which is the Tibetans' most important temple. You used to be able to see it around town until the government built up the old town stories from 2 to 4. Again we walked around w those praying and witnessed them prostrating in the front. Tibetans do this everyday either 3, 7, or 108 times because those are their auspicious numbers. Inside is where 108 monks chant every evening. During the "liberation", the Chinese were putting in a new pole to hold up the temple and discovered the jewels the Tibetans placed in the ground as offerings so the Chinese dug up 50+ more holes. They told the Tibetan workers to go home. When they came back all the jewels were gone.
When we hit the roof of the building, both Andy and I had to deal w repercussions of drinking a thermos of yak butter tea so we ran for the toilet. Toilets w no stalls and no locked doors. Fantastic. Walking around, a dude asked X to take a picture of him and Andy. Children stare, some w a look of being scared, the pilgrim kids haven't seen foreigners before.
Other fun facts: the government call it the "liberation" movement because they took all the money and jewels from the 3k monastaries and gave it to the poor Tibetans trying to "liberate" them from their religion. No Tibetans were allowed to join the 50 year celebration due to protests. The police used to check all Tibetans in the old town for ID and to make sure they weren't carrying fuel to burn themselves (immolation) so a lot of them moved to shitty apartments on the outskirts of Lhasa. Tibetans now have to register every time they buy fuel for their car. It's extremely difficult for Tibetans to get a passport. When they all had one, they went to visit the Dali Lama in India and gave him money so no more passports. Our guide was schooled in India under the Dali Lama and when he came back he was blacklisted for 2 years. His dad knows someone who got him off, that's why he's allowed to be a tour guide. He said its a hard life if you are blacklisted. He has to check in w the government each month. Foriengers have been required to have a guide after 2008 when tourists published reports of protests. Tibetans are required to fly the China flag on their house (we saw a lot of prayer and China flags on the same buildings), Chinese citizens are not. To-be monks have to ask permission to become a monk from the government. Needless to say China isn't approving many. The monk population was 2MM before '59, now it's down to a couple thousand(?). The Abbotts (higher level monks) no longer exist because the Tibetans would look to them for political guidance (when to protest).
We saw a armored police vehicle in case of riots near a major square. Then a troup of armored military walked the street on our way back to the hotel. I'm still paying the price for that damn tea. Ugh. A street lady laughed at Andy. Maybe it's his beard? The monk definitely laughed at him.
We walked to the Muslim area for some street food. We got some veg dumplings, fresh walnuts, and Tibetan bread. We saw a cart carrying a huge sack of butter, the sack was stitched together sheep skin. We also saw the meat district. Leaving the little bit of hair on the yak really does it for me. Then we went for a proper meal. To get there, we walked through a store, up some stairs, and Andy walked in a door. It looked like someone's kitchen so Andy asked if this was the restaurant. It was, we got fried yak momos and veg curry rice. The food was good but I miss my veg momos. Between the yak and ghee/ yak butter, I may need a food break. No lights on the Potala Palace so we went back to the hotel room and called it a night, plus I'm still paying for the yak butter tea. Ugh.