Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Lhasa, Tibet: Oh Tibet! The Land of Snows! The Roof of the World! The stuff of my dreams!! I can't believe I've finally arrived...


Lhasa is a big city: The main streets of the Barkhor are always bustling with hawkers, tourists, merchants and pilgrims. Tibetans of all ages sell their wares (prayer flags, jeweled daggers, vegetables, yak butter...) Tourists snap photos and adjust fanny packs while wizened nomads shuffle around the temple, prostrating, turning prayer wheels and chanting.


But amidst the bustle, (and always below it, as I'm beginning to recognize) is a peacefulness and sort of ancient calm that only a city so holy can embody. I like to stand in front of the Johkang Temple, smelling cedar and incense and yak butter lamps, letting throngs of pilgrims pass me in waves, and think about where these people have come from and where they are going. Today I thought I could feel the whole world turning around me.

But! Enough reverie in Lhasa: Tomorrow I set off on my adventure proper. I've signed on to a sixteen day journey that will take me first to the holiest and then to the highest mountains in the world, and in between, the best adventure Tibet has to offer.

After seemingly endless hassles with the Chinese government, I've decided the best way to travel is by private Land Cruiser. Yesterday, by a stroke of serendipity, I met two (charming) Austrian medical students who also want to travel to Mt. Kailash and Everest. Basan, our travel agent, is also charming, though his favorite phrase is "trust me" which usually has the opposite effect. We've only just met Chime and Nawang, our driver and guide, but, like most of the people I've met here, I liked them immediately. Our car is a bright blue Toyota whose odometer stopped at 400,000 km. I think the six of us will make a good team.

After just four days in Lhasa, I'm ready for the solitude of the plateau and the majesty of the mountains. Maybe my Shangrila waits for me there...


"I was lifted above a worlds of love, hate and storms of passion for I was clam amidst the eternal silences, bathing in the living blue. For peace rested on one bright day on the mountaintop."

Isabella Bird, "A Lady's Life in the Rockies"

Wednesday, July 05, 2006


Shangrila, Yunnan: I've now begun teaching in earnest. ETLI offers classes to all ages and right now I'm teaching a primary class (ages 8-11) and an adult class (19-35). My students are lovely: bright and enthusiastic and a little bit feisty. Actually, I have the feeling my primary students could get a little too feisty if I let them. They all call me "Teacher" and as much as I've tried to discourage them, still stand and shout in unison, "Good-Morning Teach-er" at the beginning of class. (Some get confused and shout in Chinese.) Just since I've been teaching them, they've begun to loosen up a little and now they chatter and laugh as we do activities. Last class the overall effect was more like a happy circus than a class but we had a good time and they're learning really quickly. They're cute as buttons.

My adult class is great too. They know some basic English already so I hope by the end of the month we'll be conversing like good buddies. Here we are at our favorite Tibetan restaurant. Can you tell we've been drinking butter tea non-stop?

Last week we organized a party to boost enrollment for the summer session. Mostly, we played Pin the Tail on the Yak and ate lots of junk food and I think it was a big success!

Ann, Xioa yun and Liu, ETLI synchronized balloon team:


Musical chairs was a big hit.