To Xigatse (the Second City)

Himalayan view from Tingri, Tibet

We decompressed at a rest-stop/food shack in the outpost town of Tingri (population: 520; elevation 4,300m/14,000ft+). Tingri is more or less the initial base camp for climbers setting off to the North Face of Everest which is about 60 km southwest from the town, or to Mt. Cho Oyu (6th largest peak in the world).  It had one road running through it and traditional Tibetan buildings and homes sprinkled about on both sides.  At the eastern end of the town, there was a PRC check-in point with a couple of red army staffers.  Everyone in my tour group seemed to be suffering the effects of the high altitude. We had so far come down about 2,000ft from Lalunga pass. Faces were contorted with discomfort and unease. The A.M.S. spouting guy somehow bought a couple of O2 canisters from the shop owners.  He inhaled them like he was doing whippets. I watched him out of fascination, but finally turned away and told myself that I only had a headache and it would subside. I had little appetite, but was able to eat a fried rice dish and drank a bottle of water. I then went outside to find the bathroom which was an incredible sight in and of itself. It was like entering an outdoor closet, but when you got inside there was nothing there to greet you except a rectangular stone slot that opened into a pit. I had used a few bush toilets in my time — some real classics — one of which had crossed my path 10 years earlier during a camping/safari trip through Tanzania. In that situation, the toilet itself was located in an unroofed, thatched space and there was some wooden urinal-esque device raised off the ground.  But, this small concrete slot I looked at now threw me because of its utter flatness and because I was already struggling with my depth perception. I positioned myself about a foot or 2 near the slot — steadying myself for what was probably the most complicated act of urination in my life.  I didn’t want to miss, stumble, or faint during the drainage.  Let’s just say, I had mixed success.

Traditional Tibetan building – Tingri

I walked out in the road and tried to see Everest and Cho Oyu — both were mostly obscured by clouds, but I could see their enormous landbases rise from the plateau floor. I studied the flat-roofed and square-windowed Tibetan structures around me. There was an organic, breathable design to these buildings. I wondered how they held up to the snows which pounded the region in the winter.  I saw a bunch of pancake-sized yak chips stacked high upon one another as they baked in the sun. It then struck me that the yak in Tibet was what the buffalo was to the AmerIndian. It provided all the necessities of life — food, clothing, and shelter.  Like the buffalo, the wild yak herds of yore are no more. Most yak today are hybrids. They have been crossbred with cattle, but a good chunk of Tibetans still pull most of what they need from these animals. After an hour or so in Tingri, it was time to get back in the Landcruisiers and continue to Lhatse. We made it there in the early evening.  My head still ached, but I was more dehydrated than anything else. I went into the town and bought 2 of the largest water bottles I could find. That night I had the most vivid dreams. I saw trees with leaves flashing with multi-colored lights.  Those had to be manifestations of the prayer flags I had seen in Lalunga earlier that day.  I also retained fleeting dream images of elfish spirits or little demons darting from the trees. I had previously read about the pre-Buddhist, Tibetan folk religion of Bon which centered its practice around a multiplicity of gods and spirits of nature, so these concepts must have materialized in my head during that first night of sleep on the Tibetan plateau.  When I woke up that next morning, I felt like my normal self save for some chapped lips. But, other than that, I felt like I had acclimated to the altitude and was ready to kick things in gear which was timely because we were now heading to the second largest city in Tibet, Xigatse (or Shigatse). I was ready to explore every inch of what we were going to see there — the Tashilumpo Monastery – Seat of the Panchen Lamas.

Main Street – Xigatse, Tibet

As we entered the city, the first glimpse of the physical facelift of Tibet by the PRC occupation became clear. The infrastructure and look of the buildings was in stark contrast to what I had so far seen in Tibet. Admittedly, I had only been traveling through the remote southwestern corridors of the region, but if I had been plucked from Kathmandu and dropped into the main street in Xigatse, I would have thought I was in some small Chinatown of any country in the world. There was a generic feeling to everything. It was as if I was walking through the PRC’s version of Disneyland’s “Main Street, PRC”. Even the bicycle-rickshaws seemed fake. As we drove towards the hotel, I noticed a brand new looking white and red brick alabaster building on an outcrop overlooking the town. For a second I gasped. This couldn’t be what I thought it was because we were not in Lhasa. But, it looked very similar. Somehow my driver who didn’t speak English picked out the look on my face and through his broken English and my broken, phrase-book Tibetan I was able to learn that this building was a recreation of the “Dzong” (fortress) that used to be residential and governmental building the Panchen Lamas and citizenry used. The original building had been blown to smithereens in 1959 by the red army when China claimed Tibet.  Now, nearly 50 years later, the PRC had recreated the building they destroyed — brick by brick — in order to establish it as another tourist attraction in Xigatse and charge 20 Yuans per head.  It would never be on my list of my sights to see, but how strange it was to see the PRC rebuilding something that they had purposefully destroyed.  Like any “liberators”, the PRC cut out the heart of the Tibetan people by going after and destroying most of their important monasteries, shrines, and spiritually significant buildings. They had to free the Tibetans from their backwards, Lama-worshipping lives. I saw a stone inscription in some monument that said something to the effect of: “The Tibetan People welcomed their reformation and re-education at the hands of their liberating brothers…”  How many times have we heard that same old rubbish before? After we dropped our gear at the hotel, I took off by foot towards Tashilumpo.  I bypassed the recreated Dzong which was an eyesore to me.  A bunch of buses bringing in hundreds of Chinese tourists from the PRC whizzed by me.  I would see these buses and Chinese tourists during the remainder of my travel in Tibet. I’m afraid to say these folks really got on my nerves as I will detail later.

Prayer Wheels – Xigatse, Tibet

I strolled towards Tashilumpo and I happened to notice something that appeared to be a Tibetan flea market off the main road, so I veered off in that direction. That turned out to be one of the best decisions I made during that trip.  A group of 4 elderly Tibetan women were doing a dance and singing in a small plaza area of the market. I didn’t snap a photo or shoot any film of it. It was too powerful of a moment to mar by reaching for anything. I just stood and watched. Their long hair was braided and joined in 2 strands behind their backs. Their faces were red and cracked by the sun and snow. They wore faded, floppy hats and colorful sleeves poked out of their black smocks.  They moved atop closed-toe, bulky shoes of some kind that I had never seen before.  A crowd surrounded them and clapped along or waved handheld prayer wheels.  Once they finished, they started to laugh and their gestures hinted of embarrassment.  I had no idea what they were singing about, but it was beautiful and rang of sentimentality.  As they filed past me, one of them stopped for a closer look. Other than the Chinese, most Tibetans have never seen foreigners, so I was like an alien species to many of them.  I smiled at the old lady and she responded by sticking her tongue out at me. It was purple in color.

Tags: cho oyu, Dalai Lama, Everest, Panchen Lama, PRC, Shigatse, Tashilumpo, tibet, Tibetan, Tingri, Xigatse, yak