KATHMANDU TO TIBET AND BACK -- Journal by Stacey Irvin
6- 2 -00 Wow I’m in Kathmandu now and it’s so wonderful! I can be a free modern woman again plus this place is so colorful and the people are very friendly. There are so many other foreigners and I think I’m in SHOCK! I also just met a young boy who knows close to every national capital and he asked me to buy him a box of powdered milk, so I did. He’s got quite a successful strategy!
6-4-00Here I am in Kathmandu listening to a Patty Griffin tape. My friend Marcella arrived from the States to join me and I think I have become slightly more homesick! At the same time I feel a panic setting in with the reality that this trip is coming to an end. I feel that my “serious” photography has ended and I am nervous about the self-criticism I will inflict on myself when I’m finally home sitting in front of a massive stack of contact sheets. I really want to go back to Kashgar.... I want to go back to everywhere I’ve been in the last three months.... I miss all of he faces and feelings, sounds and smells.
I want my experience to have an outward meaning. People should realize how strong we are and how much we have in common as people. The love and strength I’ve witnessed across cultures, religions, nationalities and ages is a priceless boost to one’s sense of humanity. WE live in a world of constant misconceptions, assumptions, and inflated fears. It only takes sitting in the presence of an 80 year old proud grandparent or looking into a child’s big eyes as she is gently rocked in a makeshift cradle. I’ve had over a hundred cups of tea with people who spoke little to no English, we were eachother’s company despite the presense of vast difference.
6-10-00I’m in Tibet now! We left Kathmandu this morning at 5am and traveled through incredible scenery on horrible roads. The country-side of Nepal is so gorgeous and I really want to come back and spend more time here too! The clouds are dramatic and the rice fields are shiny, wet, and deep green. Despite how beautiful and moody it is, the rainy season is not my cup of tea!
Entering China again has been fun. I sure had missed all of the strange ways of doing things. China never fails to deliver a whole host of humorous experiences. Customs went well and then we were all loaded into the back of a cargo truck with a canvas tarp over our heads. We had to stand up and hold on to the metal grating on the sides for dear life. It sure was a workout for the arms and knees! The road was unbelievably rutted, muddy, and rocky. We bounced and swayed and stumbled for close to an hour before officially entering China. Little did we know what was in store for us next!
Our guides in Kathmandu had told us that after the truck ride, we would have a “short 1km” walk to our bus on the other side of the border......... It was in reality a vertical 2 mile hike!! Oh, it was muddy and rainy and misty and we had to carry our bags up steep stairs, a wooden ladder, various stones along rutted roads and through a hillside waste dump/toilet. It sure was a wonderful introduction to the natural splendor of Tibet.
We finally got to rest our feet and backs in our new bus, but that was the beginning of one hell of a ride.... the Karakoram Highway from China to Pakistan is nothing compared to the Friendship Highway in Tibet! It was like riding a bucking bronco while looking out at cloud covered misty green gorges with thin white waterfalls rushing down hundreds of feet of dark mossy rock faces! Gosh, it was soooo beautiful and bouncy!!
My God! Yesterday and today were ridiculously horrible! Thank goodness our group has a healthy sense of humor and a lot of endurance! Poor Marcella got a terrible altitude headache on our first high pass. She was in such intense pain, she was in tears. Thankfully it eventually became bearable for her. The road is also the most bumpy thing I’ve ever experienced. Everyone has to hang on for dear life as the bus careens over the rutted rocky highway. A few times, it has really been painful! Dust also flies in the windows especially when the bus is on the verge of a breakdown. All day yesterday the bus lurched and overheated as we slowly climbed over the highest pass at 5200m. Riding on a bus over the Friendship Highway ought to be an official sport.
Today we saw the Sakya Monastery and it was beautiful. It is so wonderful and so sad at the same time. If we even ask our guide questions about the Dalai Lama or Panchen Lama while he is showing us around the monasteries, he could be thrown in jail for at least five years!
It is so tragic. We have passed so many ruins of destroyed monasteries all along the road. How could so much blood be shed in this surreal and beautiful place?
The day we visited the monastery in Gyantse we were given a good deal of free time to wander around individually. I was fiddling with my camera and preparing to photograph the Kum Bum Chorten when two little Tibetan kids came running up to me. They were both brimming with smiles and I let them look through my camera and then they wanted me to photograph them. The older boy, Ching Me (8yrs), was very proud of his recently closely shaved hair and took off his cap and waited patiently for me to photograph the back of his head. The younger boy, Tenzin Loche (5yrs), was incredibly adorable and kept doing the cutest little thing: he would raise one knee while making an “A-O.K.” sign with his hand over his eye an then would exclaim “O.K.!” Gosh! I just wanted to tuck him under my arm and take him home! A young monk I had shown my camera to earlier came over and invited us (Marcella had come over by this time too) over to a building tucked away in the monastery. It turned out to be a small prayer hall and Marcella and I, the two young boys, and three young monks were the only ones there. One monk began to do a Tibetan dance and wanted me to photograph him. Oh, it was incredible! Marcella joined in and of course I had to too! I let one of the other two monks take photos of us with my camera and it turned into quite a photo session.... posing with monks by yak butter lamps in front of a gold statue of Sakymuni and his disciples, I even got to wear the special yellow hat that monks wear! It was pretty awesome! We managed to exchange addresses and I can’t wait to see the photos and send them some.
Afterwards, Ching Me wanted to take us to meet their mother! He and Tenzin Loche proudly carried my fully extended tripod across the monastery grounds - oh, they were so adorable! Always smiling and giggling! We found their mother sitting in a corner of the large yard in front of the Kumbum Chorten. She and a few other Tibetan ladies were enjoying yak butter tea and milk tea in the shade of a tree. We were immediately offered way too much to eat: tea, bread, crackers, rice... even Marcella couldn’t avoid her tea being turned into Tsampa! Then, I went with the two boys to a grassy yard and they wanted me to watch them do somersaults and cartwheels. Meanwhile, the women were enjoying playing funny jokes on Marcella and offering her way more Tsampa than she could ever ingest. We eventually said good-bye after dispensing sparkling stickers to the women and kids.
We then met up some guys from our group and climbed way up the steep hill of the monastery to the tall earth walls surrounding it. Quite an impressive view of the monastery, town, and green valley below.... especially as a dark storm encroached on the surrounding mountains. We explored the huge stone displaying wall used to hang giant Buddha portraits during certain annual festivals and eventually made our way back down to the hotel. That afternoon was the best set of experiences I had during the Tibet tour. Lhasa, however, offered much in a more historical, political, and spiritual way.
The Potala Palace is such an amazing edifice and touring it brought frustration and awe. Security cameras everywhere and the typical Chinese tourist fixtures: opportunities to pose for photos on the roof in Tibetan costumes.... ugh. The most striking moment for me was seeing the Dalai Lama’s living quarters... including his study and the room where he met special guests... including the Chinese.
