China
Jibenggang

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    • Day 143

      Lhasa: Paläste, Tempel, viele Gläubige

      January 6, 2020 in China ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

      In der Nacht erklimmt unser Zug langsam das Hochplateau von Tibet. Der Zug wird mit Sauerstoff versorgt, aber wir spüren dennoch die Höhenluft. Die nächsten fünf Tage leiden wir teilweise unter den Auswirkungen der extremen Höhenlage von Tibet:
      Kurzatmigkeit, Schlaflosigkeit und Kopfweh.
      Diese Symptome treten nicht unentwegt auf, sondern besonders Nachts und beim Überqueren hoher Pässe.
      In Lhasa (3600hm) werden wir von unseren Reisebegleitern traditionell durch Umhängen eines weißen Schals am Bahnhof empfangen.
      Die 41 jährige Reiseführerin spricht gut englisch, ist sehr freundlich und stets um unsere Zufriedenheit bemüht. Daneben begleitet uns ein 20 jähriger Nepalese, der bei der nepalesischen Reisagentur, über die wir unsere Tibet Tour gebucht haben, für Tibet zuständig ist und deshalb dieses Land mal selbst ansehen sowie Fotos zu Marketing Zwecken erstellen will. Er spricht wie viele Menschen aus Nepal ebenfalls gut englisch.
      Zu guter letzt gibt es noch unseren Fahrer, der ebenfalls sehr freundlich und gelassen wirkt, mit dem wir aber mangels fehlender gemeinsamer Sprachkenntnisse leider nicht kommunizieren können.
      Soweit wir informiert sind, kann Tibet ohne staatlich legitimierte Begleiter und einer speziellen Erlaubnis nicht bereist werden. Nur innerhalb von Lhasa dürfen wir auch ohne Begleitung herum schlender.
      Auch während der Fahrt durch Tibet fühlen wir uns vom wachsamen Auge der Obrigkeit immer beobachtet. So ist in den Touristenbussen eine Kamera eingebaut, damit der Innenraum eingesehen werden kann und unser Fahrer muss vor zahlreichen über die Straßen gespannten Kameras länger anhalten, weil sonst eine zu hohe Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit ermittelt wird. Wie das System exakt funktioniert haben wir nicht durchschaut aber dennoch den Druck gespürt, unter dem die Touristenführer stehen. Als die Sprache mal auf die chinesische Regierung kam, wurde diese von der Führerin ob des guten Bildungssystems und anderer Errungenschaften sofort gelobt. Ob das ihre wirkliche Überzeugung ist wissen wir nicht, zumindest geht ihr Sohn auf ein Internat im mehrere 1000 km entfernten Shanghai um bald den Aufbau Chinas als hochausgebildeter High Potential voran zu bringen.
      Den Eindruck, dass die Tibeter an der Ausübung ihrer religiösen Gebräuche gehindert werden bekommen wir bei der Besichtigung der heiligen Stätten Lhasas allerdings nicht. Da die Landbevölkerung in den Wintermonaten am besten Zeit hat, besuchen wir den ehemaligen Palast des Dalai Lamas und den Tempel zusammen mit etlichen traditionel gekleideten Tibetern aus der Provinz, die uns mit großen Augen anschauen. Andere Langnasen sind nur wenige unterwegs.
      Vor und rund um den Tempel, beten viele Buddhisten indem sie sich immer wieder auf den Boden legen und aufstehen oder auf diese Weise zum Tempel pilgern.
      Eine lange Schlange wartet vor dem Tempel um die heilige Stätte zu besuchen, während wir Touristen, da wir Eintrittsgeld gezahlt haben, an allen vorbei geschleust werden. Wir fühlen uns wegen dieser Sonderbehandlung komisch, aber die Tibeter scheinen das nicht als ungerecht zu empfinden, lächeln uns an und freuen sich wenn wir Fotos mit Ihren Kindern machen.
      Die Gassen rund um den Tempel sind mit Geschäften gesäumt, die vor allem religiöse Gegenstände, wie Gebetsmühlen führen. Aber auch Restaurants, Kleidungs- und Handygeschäfte sind in den alte einstöckigen Häusern untergebracht.
      Wir sind beeindruckt von dieser uns fremden Kultur, die sich so sehr von unserer westlichen säkularen unterscheidet.
      Nach zwei Tagen verlassen wir früh morgens mit unseren Begleitern Lhasa in Richtung Nepal, nicht ahnend, dass uns die Umstände nochmal in die Hauptstadt Tibets führen werden.
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    • Day 13

      Ceng Gu Buddhist Nunnery

      October 16, 2019 in China ⋅ ☀️ 54 °F

      Shortly before he died some of his disciples asked the Buddha, “Teacher, shall we allow women into our number or not?” Gautama replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it, but, I don’t see why we shouldn’t.” So from the earliest days of the new religion, women were allowed on an equal footing with men. Today we went to visit a Buddhist nunnery located in a densely populated neighborhood in Lhasa. Before we reached the ornate ceremonial gate of the nunnery, however, we passed a number of shops selling women’s dresses, fruit and electric appliances.

      “These shops belong to the nuns,” my guide told me. “They raise money and it supports their work here in the community.”

      “What is their work,” I asked.

      “They have a small private school here, but their main work is to run their neighborhood clinic. They have a doctor trained in both traditional and modern medicine. Some of the nuns are nurses, other clean the facility, others are simply chore workers, but they do much good here.”

      A few more steps took me through an elaborate archway painted in ornate designs of blue and gold. It led to a plain courtyard whose main attraction was a tall staff that looked like a flagpole covered with a rainbow of prayer cloths. Tibetan Buddhists believe these colored, meter-square colored cloths represent prayers. They string them on lines draped from the top of the flagpole. Then at a religious celebration, the flagpole is twisted, and it becomes a color clad monument to the prayers they have offered.

      As I passed by an open door I saw that the nuns were filling a need in this poor community. A room full of older adults and children waited to see the doctor. We happened to arrive at lunchtime when the nuns were eating their common midday meal. The first red-robed figure I saw looked like a boy with shaved head. Then I saw that the monk had a beautiful face, and I realized that she was a nun, maybe sixteen years of age. I saw others whose gender was hard to determine. Nevertheless, they welcomed us with smiles and had already given our guide permission to allow us to photograph them at their meal. On several instances my eye caught that of a nun. Whenever that happened she would smile. I would nod, and she would return the greeting.

      Whatever their religion, I feel that God must be very pleased with the work these women are doing to help their neighbors. I can only guess what effect they may be having on the people in their poor community, but I know they certainly had an effect on me.
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    • Day 1

      Lhasa

      April 29, 2018 in China ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

      In der Früh um 5:30 Uhr war Treffpunkt am Pekinger Flughafen und es waren auch fast alle 11 Reisegruppenteilnehmer pünktlich.
      Nach planmäßigem Start sind wir allerdings 45 Minuten zu früh in Lhasa gelandet. Nachdem wir ein klein wenig auf unseren Guide warten mussten wurde jeder sehr freundlich mit einem tibetischen Gebetsschal begrüßt.
      Im Anschluss sind wir in die Stadt gefahren, haben eingecheckt und Mittag gegessen. Danach hatten wir quasi einen freien Tag um uns an die Höhe zu gewöhnen, da wir von 60m über Null auf 3650m über Null geflogen sind. Wir hatten zum späten Nachmittag auch einem Höhen und Migräne bedingten Ausfall zu beklagen.

      Nach dem Mittagessen haben wir dann noch auf eigene Faust ein wenig die Stadt erkundet. Und man muss sagen Tibet ist beeindruckend, die Farben und die Menschen versprühen eine Lebendigkeit die sich nicht beschreiben lässt.
      Dennoch hat sich bei allen das frühe aufstehen und die ungewohnte Höhe bemerkbar gemacht, sodass um 9 Uhr Zapfenstreich war.
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    • Day 61

      Sera Monastery

      September 18, 2017 in China ⋅ 🌙 30 °C

      Mönche studieren ihr ganzes Leben lang die Lehren von Buddha und der Welt. Da gehört dann auch dazu sich gegenseitig in seinem Wissen zu messen und abzufragen. Anscheinend zur Belustigung man eines Mönchskollegen.

      Englisch wird in China und hier in Lhasa kaum gesprochen. Leider sind die Meisten hier auch nicht besonders daran interessiert einem Touristen weiter zu helfen. Aus diesem Grund musste ich Restaurants bereits unverrichteter Dinge wieder verlassen, obwohl ich sogar Tiergeräusche nachgeahmt habe. Jetzt hab ich mir im Hotel mal aufschreiben lassen was "Ich bin Vegetarier " auf Mandarin und Tibetisch heißt.

      Did you know: Lhasa heißt übersetzt "Das Land des Himmels".
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    • Day 8

      Lhasa (3) - Potala Palace

      October 1, 2023 in China ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

      Lhasa’s cardinal landmark and home to every Dalai Lama from the fifth to 14th, the Potala is one of the great wonders of world architecture. As has been the case with centuries of pilgrims before you, the first sight of the fortresslike structure will be a magical moment that you will remember for years. It’s hard to peel your eyes away from the place.
      The Potala is a structure of massive proportions, with over 1000 rooms, and an awe-inspiring place to visit, but still many visitors come away slightly disappointed. Unlike the Jokhang, which hums with vibrant activity, the Potala lies dormant like a huge museum, and the lifelessness of the highly symbolic building constantly reminds visitors that the Dalai Lama has been forced to take his government into exile.
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    • Day 11

      Jahong Monastery, Lhasa

      September 8, 2019 in China ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      The first monastery in Tibet and the place from where Buddhism spread throughout Tibet. It is also the home of the only statue in the world of the Buddha at 12 years old dating from his lifetime.
      The first three pictures are taken around the central courtyard. The last two are of the typical activity at the entrance.Read more

    • Day 6

      Lhasa (1)

      September 29, 2023 in China ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      I made it to Lhasa/Tibet or should I better say Lhasa/China? Apparently Tibet nowadays belongs to China.
      Short summery about the history of Tibet:
      It grew into a great military power and carved for itself a huge empire in Central Asia; then it renounced the use of arms to practice the teachings of the Buddha and the tragic consequences that it suffers today as a result of the brutal onslaught of the communist Chinese forces.

      TIBET, the Roof of the World, is a vast country – over two-thirds the size of India or more than two and half times the size of Austria, Denmark, France and Germany put together. It is a land rich in minerals and the variety of its flora and fauna. And, contrary to popular belief, Tibet is not entirely arid and barren – it has vast areas rich in forests, endless pasturelands suitable for animal husbandry and extensive fertile valleys. Surrounded by high snow-capped mountain ranges and dotted with numerous lakes, Tibet is also the source of many great rivers – the Yar lung Tsang-po (Brahmaputra), Senge Khabab (Indus), Dri-chu (Yangtze), Za chu (Mekong), Ma chu (Yellow), Gyalmo Ngulchu (Salween) to name a few.

      Best thing today…I finally met Gabi, my travel Buddy for the next 5 weeks. She came by plane to Lhasa. Our tour through Tibet starts on the next day, so we had some time for us and strolled around through the old town of Lhasa.
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    • Day 12

      Potala Palace

      September 9, 2019 in China ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      Dating to the 7th century, it was updated by the 5th Dalai Lama In the 17th century when it became the residence of the Dalai Lama and center of Tibetan governance.
      The first pic is of the palace from ground level. Note the stepped walls. That edges a stairway up about 10 stories to the entrance. The next three are internal courtyards. Again, no indoor photos here. The palace house a vast collection cultural relics and is effectively the Tibetan culture treasure house. And it is spectacular. The 5th picture looks at an area at the foot of the palace near the entrance. The last picture is from the side to give a sense of the ridge the palace is built on.Read more

    • Day 11

      Lhasa

      September 8, 2019 in China ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

      Capital of Tibet. Most of what is here of significance has to do with Tibetan Buddhism, and that is covered in other posts. Most of the rest of the city is reminiscent of other cities in China. 1st is an overview of the city taken from Potala Palace, followed by a few pictures of what remains of the old town. Last is a fountain at night.Read more

    • Day 13

      Potala Palace--The Lost World

      October 16, 2019 in China ⋅ 🌙 32 °F

      The Potala Palace was built in the eighth century and destroyed in the eleventh. It was rebuilt and stands today perched high upon its mountain. The 1.7 mile climb up is arduous but worth the effort. Unfortunately photographs were not allowed inside the former residence of the Dalai Lama. Even so, the pictures we were allowed to take on the outside of the building were remarkable. Until 1959 this was the home of the spiritual and political leader of Tibet, but when the fourteenth Dalai Lama was unwilling to embrace Maoism, he was spirited away by some of his followers across the border to India, where he set up a government in exile.

      The inside of the building is dark, smoke-filled with incense and festooned with colorful flags, pennants and banners hanging down from the roof and the rafters. Prayer wheels line the hallway leading to the Dalai Lama’s quarters. In his sitting room along the sides of the floors are colorful khangs, shin-high couches with velvet covered cushions. Some cushions are deep blue, burgundy, or even burnt orange. The thick incense smoke chokes visitors. Breathing is so difficult that the queue of tourists threading through the thirty rooms we saw stuffed handkerchiefs, scarves and masks over their noses. Dim, colored light trickles in through elaborately patterned stained-glass windows. A knee-high table holds a book, a prayer wheel, and a pair of glasses. Money from all over the world, offerings from devout worshippers, litters the floor in front of the table,. A display case holding a golden statue of the Buddha and two companion covers the entire opposite wall. The statue was two hundred years old when Jesus was born.

      Adjacent to this room is the library containing ancient books, translations from the original Sanskrit writings transported into Tibet centuries before Christ. These books themselves are quite old. Tibetan paper does not change color or become brittle over time, and in this dry climate can books last for millennia.

      Other dimly lit rooms hold more statues of the Buddha, some life-sized, some much larger. Always the thick cloud of incense almost obscures the view. Some statues are made of gold, others of lifelike polychrome ceramic. Some are smiling, others displaying fierce faces ward off evil. There are even female Buddhas, reminders that the Buddha has been reincarnated many times, sometimes as male, sometimes as female. These motherly goddesses called Tatas are especially adored by people who need a compassionate friend in the upper world.

      One of the most attractive rooms in the building is the assembly room. Here the Dalai Lama lectured his student for two hours each day. The room is large and comfortable, with palettes and khangs spread all around the floor. Narrow walkways wide enough only for a monk’s foot allow access to the center of the room. The ornate painted and carved ceiling is supported by square burgundy columns, smaller at the top than the bottom. The borders of each face of the two dozen identical columns display royal blue with gold painted trim. As in all the other rooms of the palace, the view is obscured by billowing clouds of incense smoke and tiny colored windows that make seeing difficult. Multicolored banners and prayer flags adorn the cushions on the floor and sag from the rafters above. The room is cluttered with them. Nearby in an adjacent room is a huge golden statue of the Buddha accompanied by famous Bodisattvas of history. Connecting rooms contain huge stupas covering the graves of other beloved teachers who were incarnated as the Dalai Lama.

      Eastern theology tends to be more poetic than prosaic, so one should not be surprised to learn that there has only been one Dalai Lama. He has been reincarnated, however, in fourteen different bodies. Yet, whenever and wherever he lives, the Dalai Lama is believed to be the same individual. The current Dalai Lama is over ninety years old. When he dies it will be interesting to see whether he names the person whose body will house his spirit in the next lifetime. Will he rule the government in exile in India? Will he live in the United States? Will his death mark the end of the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism. It will be interesting to see how all of these issues play out in years to come.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Jibenggang, Jêbumgang, 吉崩岗

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