Wrapping it up! Wed/Thurs, Oct 28/29, 2015

Our driver parked the bus and we walked to our boat launch, more like stumbled in the heat.  Lunch was across the murky Chao Phraya to Supatra River House - "Exotic Thai Seafood Cuisine."  Eleven hot, thirsty travelers sat down in the air conditioning and cooled off. Water and juice were served and we drank our fill.  The food was delicious. Thailand had the best food on our trip by a long shot.

You guys get away from that dog!

The entire group was nearly undone by the heat,
but it was nice to cool off, sit with friends, and enjoy lunch. 

While we waited for the river boat to return following lunch, I wandered into the courtyard where enormous orchid plants were in full bloom.  Bangkok can grow some flowers!  The cute little elephant below was nearby.

Back at the Majestic Grande, Jimmy and I shucked off sweaty clothes, showered, and decided to join Sheila, Bernice, and Irwin on the streets near the hotel to search for T-shirts.  After the fact, Jimmy and I wished we'd gone to the pool instead.  Sheila found a T-shirt, but none of the rest of us did.  We managed, however, to get hot and sweaty all over again! 

I just don't know what I can say about this picture!!!

Dinnertime found us back on the bus and then walking toward the river, but the sun was down and the evening air was balmy.  Did we see a flash of lightning?  Was that thunder? Yes and yes.  We made it to Arun Restaurant on the river, seated inside (that's important) in air conditioning and watching the lightning show before rain fell in sheets. The first rain of our entire trip, and the rain stopped before we left the restaurant!  Lucky, lucky us!  

Last night's dessert was white sticky rice.  This evening we had black sticky rice with fresh mango and a tiny dish of ice cream -- delightful and delicious!  Double thumbs up.  After dinner we strolled back to the bus on wet streets, returned to the hotel and packed our suitcases.  The bus left the hotel at 9:30 pm for Bangkok's airport; our flight to Beijing would depart at 1:05 am on Thursday.

So, this basically marked the end of our three-week trip to the Best of the Mountain Kingdoms.  Months of planning and anticipation went into our trip, and though I failed to keep reliable notes at times (blame it on overwhelm?), the pictures we took and this blog will serve to jog our memories when we need an assist.  Truly, a trip of a lifetime!

The sights we saw, both natural and man-made, won't fade in our eyes anytime soon, if ever.  New friends, new countries and cultures, fantastic experiences, hikes to monasteries most can only dream about, all these things we'll cherish.  

On a lighter note, some of the bathrooms we used were, uh, certainly different than anything we'd seen in the west.  The worst was having to squat over a smelly cement trough with liquid running along the bottom, but at least it had stalls with doors! Everybody has to go, and it's any port in the storm, so to speak.  Many of the toilets in ladies rooms had what looked like a man's urinal, only flat on the floor, and that was what we had to use.  

As I was saying, Krish and Matthew guided us through the cavernous, crowded airport, avoiding long queues, and we made it in and out of customs and security without delay. Our luggage was checked straight thru to Los Angeles (LAX) for which we were grateful.  We bade Krish and Matthew goodbye ... we'd grown quite fond of Krish and his impulsive, fun nature.

We didn't see Mount Everest or the Himalayas this flight,
but I wanted to leave you with this photo.

The flight from Bangkok to Beijing was peaceful and uneventful, with little sleep for me unfortunately, and we landed at 5:30 am Thursday (6:30 Beijing time).  We had a fairly long layover in Beijing, and the lounge we had passes for turned out to be less than stellar, so four of us scouted out a breakfast place.  Our next flight -- the long one -- from Beijing to LAX left at 12:30 pm Thursday afternoon, and landed at LAX something like 12 hours later at 9 am Thursday morning.  How's that for flying into yesterday?  Food was served twice, the first time shortly after we boarded.  As we traveled into night, the cabin lights went dark and the plane became quiet. We slept off and on.  Between 3-4 hours pre-LAX, life aboard the jet stirred and more food was served, which we ate; we were hungry.  We still had three hours till we arrived at LAX.  I was next to a window and even with my blanket and pillow, I got cold.  I grew tired of sitting and got up occasionally to stretch and walk in the aisles.

Finally, at LAX, all went smoothly and our little group of 11 split as people went to find their connecting flights. We changed (and paid for it) to an earlier flight from LAX to Sacramento (the last flight this trip!) and got into SMF (Sacramento -- we call it Smurf) a little after noon on Thursday.  Still Thursday!  Matt picked us up at the airport and soon we were home.  Home.  We spent the next week-and-a-half trying to get right-side again -- jet lag supreme!

Lastly, Jimmy requested no more rice for a long time, since we had rice with every lunch and dinner!

Up we go: Potala Palace, Friday, 10/16/15

But first, in the shadow of the great palace, the people of Lhasa meet each morning to dance, men and women both, and our group joined in, or at least we watched.  I recorded several videos, but haven't figured out how to post them.  Their dancing is lively, as they step to recorded music, more like line dancing.  Hundreds gather, and they seem happy and proud as they move to native tunes.  Bernice and I tried a few steps, and then I retreated to film.  It's a marvelous way to begin the day!

Bernice (center in red) did all right!  Left of this picture, was the real crowd. 

Oh, I wish you could see the videos.

Who could resist their photo taken with this golden guy?

Sheila, Joanne and Marilyn near the plaza.

We'd all been looking forward to exploring the Potala Palace, seat of the Dalai Lama and one of the most awe-inspiring princely residences and palaces in the world.  At 12,300 ft above sea level at its highest point, this amazing palace has the honor of being the highest palace in the world.

Look at this incredible, breathtaking, and historical UNESCO World Heritage treasure built on a red hill ... it's the landmark symbol of Tibet! It consists of many houses, chapels, and is regarded as one of the most beautiful architectural buildings in the world. The general structure is two parts -- the Red Palace and the White Palace. Housed within are artifacts from Tibetan history, religion and culture. Statues of Buddha, murals and works of art grace every area of this mountaintop palace.

For us it was the culmination of our Tibetan visit. We'd been advised, even before we left the states, that walking shoes would be necessary and walking sticks helpful to climb 458 steps up the palace. It's a one-way trip; the entrance is in the front and the exit is in the back. Most of our group was willing.

According to Wikipedia, "The building measures 400 meters east-west and 350 meters north-south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 meters thick, and 5 meters (more than 16 ft) thick at the base, and with copper poured into the foundations to help proof it against earthquakes. Thirteen stories of buildings -- containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues -- soar 384 ft on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill," rising more than near 1,000 ft in total above the valley floor." Over 1,000 rooms and painted white by the faithful every year!!!

The stone steps were very steep and our walking sticks really helped.

We climbed, huffing and puffing, and our group met up here (along with others), and once inside, using our cameras was prohibited (though okay outside)  More taboos of Tibetan Buddhism -- no hat or sunglasses, don't step on the door sill (up and over), don't smoke in the halls.  The visit time is strictly limited to one hour.  Those dark "curtain" panels?  Made of yak hair.  Reading the brief introduction below will give you more information.

Absolutely stunning inside, trust me on this.

The view of Lhasa and surrounding mountains matchless.

No, we weren't finished with those steps ... now we had to go down!

Simply, Wow.

I didn't write down where we ate our lunch, but I know we were hungry after all that exercise. When lunch was finished, back on the bus! Next was a talk/demonstration of traditional Thangka paintings by a Master's student, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Following this we met with a doctor practicing traditional Tibetan medicine in a hospital (Mentsekhang) located close to Potala Palace on busy Barkhor Street. Using Thangka wall hangings (charts), he pointed out that Tibetan medicine has a close relationship to the Tibetan calendar, and that local doctors believe the body changes with the seasons. This entire day was a revelation!

And lastly, after our farewell dinner at the DeKang Hotel in Tibet, we were entertained by dancers and even a (costumed) prancing yak ... and, by gum, we joined in the celebration! What a wonderful country with beautiful sites and gentle people, guided by their Buddhist religion. We have loved visiting the "rooftop of the world."

Tomorrow, after breakfast, we fly to Nepal ...!

Off to see a Village (etc., of course) Thurs, 10/15/15

Oh yea, what a good way to begin a day: Sleeping in ... 10 blissful hours of much-needed sleep! After a delicious breakfast of Tsampa, a made-to-order omelet and hash browns, I was ready, and we hit the ground running! What a fun day we had!

By our bus, we traveled out of the city to a small local village in the nomadic grasslands, to see how rural Tibetans live. Barley is a staple crop in Tibet and it was harvest time. Pastoral families raise yak, sheep, goats and horses. You know everyone in our group wanted to see a yak! Because it's grazing season, we saw lots of 'em -- big, shaggy-looking cows with horns. Our first stop, after an hour of driving, was a potty break. More about bathrooms in a different post, but when nature calls, you take what you get.

This very cute li'l fellow was the son of the family where we stopped to use the facilities.  I wished I'd taken a picture of the building, but didn't.  In the distance, left, is a cluster of buildings and that's our rural destination.

With much grinding of gears, our bus made it up to the village.

We were graciously invited inside the above-lady's home, and served yak butter tea and steamed buns (momo's) light, fluffy, cheesy and quite good. The tea was another matter; most of us sipped a bit and left the rest ... it is an acquired taste. Honored guests like us sat in the best room in the house: their prayer room with icons, "gold" paint (gilded), an abundance of color, pleated valances and Buddha images. Color is everywhere in Lhasa! My camera failed utterly at capturing an indoor shot because of the brilliant light from the window. Our guide did some question/answer translating for us.

Electric is now in the village, but most heat by using yak dung (not many trees at this elevation). Across from the village is a high-speed train, but the villagers themselves are not much different from 100 years ago (or more) in dress, manners, and hard work, tho electricity has eased their work/burdens a lot. We kindly thanked our hostess, and some of us left a tip for her hospitality.

Jimmy and Irwin sampling the tea and momos.
Jimmy kinda liked her butter tea.

Winnowing, using old-fashioned methods, was taking place: Separating the grains from the chaff, creating lots of dust! Like stepping back in time. The saying, "it takes a village?" True here, the entire village had turned out to work the harvest. We walked around some, trying to avoid the dust, and then it was back on the bus for a picnic lunch not far away.

Lunch time in a tent among the yaks (and a few dogs).

Our first course was a tasty pumpkin soup.  Tibetan pumpkins are green on the outside and look like watermelons, but orange on the inside like our western pumpkins.  Already prepared for us, this was a feast in a tent -- and we enjoyed every dish!  Then it was back out to the fields to study up on yaks! We had a lovely morning!

Some of the yaks wanted to get up close and personal.  The winged-looking contraption on the right is a solar tea-kettle warmer, which we're seeing from the back.  Our guides sitting at right had to shoo the yak cows and young'uns away ... I think they were looking for hand-outs!

Modern trains zip by.

This water delivery system made me grateful for bottled water.

Back on the bus, prayer flags adorn a bridge.

After lunch, we stopped in at the Lhasa Canggu Nunnery and the Tibet Museum.  

(I had nothing but trouble with loading photos into my new Surface Pro computer, plus none of our electronic devices knew we'd crossed the International Dateline, so they had no clue what the date was, any more than I did. Our printed itinerary differed from what we actually did each day and by now my note-taking was abysmal ... so this is my way of saying I'm not positive we went to the Nunnery today or yesterday or tomorrow, but we did go! And I can't find half my photos taken here.)

The Canggu Nunnery is the only Buddhist Nunnery in Lhasa, and at present houses approx 100 nuns. Look at the wonderfully decorated door below!

I did not want to invade her space, so I surreptitiously took this photo from afar.  Sitting in the sun, the elderly nun has her beads and her prayer wheel.  I love this picture.

Kitty cats they had!

The Tibet Museum was interesting, as most museums are.

It's a beautiful building, as you can see (below).

The museum is home to a rich collection of cultural relics, antique thangkas, scriptures, costumes and folk art. We spent roughly an hour here, and then it was back to the hotel. All our days have been full from morning till dinnertime.

Tomorrow is the big day:  Climbing up to the Potala Palace!