Day 4 in Tibet (Gyantse)
Door: Feng
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Feng
17 Juli 2007 | Nederland, Amsterdam
Last night, I played some western chess with Jacky. We got that travelset in Nepal. After a couple of times playing, we got hooked. We didn't noticed that last night's game took so long. We slept at about 4am. This morning, we had to get up at 8am, so we got a total of 4 hours sleep. The day started with a nice headache because of this.
We drove off to Gyantse after some breakfast. During a short pitstop, Jacky found out that he had last his wallet. We looked everywhere in the car, but we couldn't find it. Then we reconstructed the misplacement scene in our heads. It seems that the only places where the wallet could be, is the hotel room, the hotel lobby or the breakfast place. The guide called that place, but nobody has found anything. After some thinking, Jacky decided to make a call himself. He told someone in the hotel that if they have found the wallet, they could keep the money. Jacky's main concerns is his creditcard, debit-card and military card. He told the guy that he already had blocked his cards, so the wall would be useless to them besides the money. The hotel clerk told him that he would look again and give a call back. After 5 minutes, the guide got a call from the hotel clerk that they have found the wallet. It was pretty obvious that they had it all the time, but didn't want to return it because of the money. Once Jacky said that they could keep the money, they were more willing to cooperate. That's what we call: The Chinese System. That is how things go. But whatever. So, Jacky asked the driver to go back. He would cover the extra expenses.
Once we got back at our hotel in Shigatse, Jacky got his wallet back. The money was till in it and Jacky gave them all the cash. But they wouldn't accept the money. The girl, who has found the wallet, said that she didn't looked thoroughly in our room. After a second check she found the wallet. Jacky insisted her to accept the finders fee. But she and the other clerk refused. That pretty amazed me. I felt very guilty about myself making the conclusing in my head, that they had kept the wallet to themselves. While they act out of pure goodness. BTW, the wallet contained 600yuan cash, which is about 60 euro's. That is alot of money in Tibet. You have to be very good hearted to refuse such a generous finders fee.
So, our bad start of the day turned into a bright one. Because we have experienced a true warm helpfull gesture of some Tibetans. So then we went off to Gyantse (again). We arrived at the hotel in about two and a half hour. We checked in and got some lunch. After that, the tourguide took us to see the monastry. It was pretty nice, but there were some strange monks again. It's like they are obsessed by collected money for taking photos in the monastry. It is only aloud to take photos, once you have paid a certain fee. I think this is ridiculous, because we already paid entrance fee. If photos are not aloud because of some religious reason, I would totally understand it. But in this case, it's all about the money. I don't think the buddhist religion is about materialistic stuff. Later at that monastry, I entered an other tempel were I didn't saw any monks. I thought it would be okay to make some photos. So I did. A monk saw me taking photos and runned into me to show me a small note which says: It costs 20yuan to make photos in the monastry. He was like, because he saw me making photos, I had to pay the 20 yuan. I said I didn't had money with me and he immediately rushed to an other tourist who was making photos. Weird right? It's like, you don't even get to see a sign or a warning. So after today and yesterday's observation, I'm not totally sure about the purity of the Tibetan buddhist culture. But still, I will not make any conclusion before I have been in Lhasa.
After the monastry, we had the day off. So we visited the governmental castle up in the hills. Because of the high altitude, the walk was pretty exhausting. Well actually very exhausted. It's like your normal size lungs, turned into ping pong balls sized lungs. Breathing was pretty hard. But the great views were all worth it. Once we got down, we walked around in the old town part. This was pretty nice. You could really see the authentic Tibetan way of living. These kids are really funny. They come to you and instead of begging for money, they beg for pens or pencils. I heard it's because they like to write and draw things, but I'm not sure.
Finally, it was time to go back to the hotel and get some diner, followed by a visit to the internet cafe. See you!
We drove off to Gyantse after some breakfast. During a short pitstop, Jacky found out that he had last his wallet. We looked everywhere in the car, but we couldn't find it. Then we reconstructed the misplacement scene in our heads. It seems that the only places where the wallet could be, is the hotel room, the hotel lobby or the breakfast place. The guide called that place, but nobody has found anything. After some thinking, Jacky decided to make a call himself. He told someone in the hotel that if they have found the wallet, they could keep the money. Jacky's main concerns is his creditcard, debit-card and military card. He told the guy that he already had blocked his cards, so the wall would be useless to them besides the money. The hotel clerk told him that he would look again and give a call back. After 5 minutes, the guide got a call from the hotel clerk that they have found the wallet. It was pretty obvious that they had it all the time, but didn't want to return it because of the money. Once Jacky said that they could keep the money, they were more willing to cooperate. That's what we call: The Chinese System. That is how things go. But whatever. So, Jacky asked the driver to go back. He would cover the extra expenses.
Once we got back at our hotel in Shigatse, Jacky got his wallet back. The money was till in it and Jacky gave them all the cash. But they wouldn't accept the money. The girl, who has found the wallet, said that she didn't looked thoroughly in our room. After a second check she found the wallet. Jacky insisted her to accept the finders fee. But she and the other clerk refused. That pretty amazed me. I felt very guilty about myself making the conclusing in my head, that they had kept the wallet to themselves. While they act out of pure goodness. BTW, the wallet contained 600yuan cash, which is about 60 euro's. That is alot of money in Tibet. You have to be very good hearted to refuse such a generous finders fee.
So, our bad start of the day turned into a bright one. Because we have experienced a true warm helpfull gesture of some Tibetans. So then we went off to Gyantse (again). We arrived at the hotel in about two and a half hour. We checked in and got some lunch. After that, the tourguide took us to see the monastry. It was pretty nice, but there were some strange monks again. It's like they are obsessed by collected money for taking photos in the monastry. It is only aloud to take photos, once you have paid a certain fee. I think this is ridiculous, because we already paid entrance fee. If photos are not aloud because of some religious reason, I would totally understand it. But in this case, it's all about the money. I don't think the buddhist religion is about materialistic stuff. Later at that monastry, I entered an other tempel were I didn't saw any monks. I thought it would be okay to make some photos. So I did. A monk saw me taking photos and runned into me to show me a small note which says: It costs 20yuan to make photos in the monastry. He was like, because he saw me making photos, I had to pay the 20 yuan. I said I didn't had money with me and he immediately rushed to an other tourist who was making photos. Weird right? It's like, you don't even get to see a sign or a warning. So after today and yesterday's observation, I'm not totally sure about the purity of the Tibetan buddhist culture. But still, I will not make any conclusion before I have been in Lhasa.
After the monastry, we had the day off. So we visited the governmental castle up in the hills. Because of the high altitude, the walk was pretty exhausting. Well actually very exhausted. It's like your normal size lungs, turned into ping pong balls sized lungs. Breathing was pretty hard. But the great views were all worth it. Once we got down, we walked around in the old town part. This was pretty nice. You could really see the authentic Tibetan way of living. These kids are really funny. They come to you and instead of begging for money, they beg for pens or pencils. I heard it's because they like to write and draw things, but I'm not sure.
Finally, it was time to go back to the hotel and get some diner, followed by a visit to the internet cafe. See you!
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