Last day in Tibet (Lhasa)
Door: Feng
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Feng
20 Juli 2007 | Nederland, Amsterdam
Today me and Jacky planned to go to the tourism board. We had to make time for this, so we skipped the visit to the monastery. Last night, Karen has typed an overview of all the complaints in the proper terms. She has put hours of work in it, but she didn't received the credit which she deserves. Thumbs up Karen! At the tourism board we spoke with Mr. Benny. He called Tashi (our guide) and said to him that he needs to report in the office at 3:30pm. Otherwise, his tourist license will be suspended. Because of this arranged, we were able to join to group at the next sightseeing place. Once we joined them in the bus, Tashi said: "i give you two options. We can go to the tourism board and complain or we can continue the sightseeing tour. There is no need to complain right? It's just a waste of time". So he put us in a situation where we had to choose. Smart bastard. We were promised appointments with his agency from the moment we arrived in Lhasa, but he didn't kept to any. Karen stood up and said to him that this wasn't right. She made really good points, but he practically ignored her. Suddenly, an Italian lady stood up and shouted to Karen: "I don't have a problem with him! I have a problem with you!". Most of us got pretty surprised, because Karen was just helping out the group. I can understand that the lady didn't want to be late for the sightseeing. But what is 3 minutes of her life for sorting out the issues? What is it with those SOUTH european people? They seems so stuck up. I don't see anybody else volunteering to give up some spare time to help out the group.
So after the discussion we finally went to the Sera monastery. It didn't really bothered us, because Tashi had to report himself to the tourism board at 3:30pm to maintain his license. We just enjoyed the monastry. The most interesting part in the monastry, were the monks who gathered around on a square for a discussion. It seemed that this was a sort of an exercise to practice you patience with each other. I heared that they discussed about buddhism and when they made an argument, they had to clap in their hands very hard. It's hard to explain what I saw there, but it was pretty interesting.
After that, Jacky and Karen left to the tourism board, because Tashi didn't went at 3:30. I decided to stay and visit the next monastry as I didn't had much to add at the tourism board. The next monastery was the Drepung monastry, which is the largest monastry among the ones of the same kind. It was very peacefull over there. No crowded groups like at the Potala palace. So that was ok.
After that, we got back to the hotel. Tonight, Tim (a german tourist) had arranged a group diner gathering at a restaurent, because this was our last day. Tomorrow, everybody would go his own way. Some would stay in Lhasa some more days, others would go back to Kathmandu and others would go on to China (like us). Well I guess this is about the end of our Tibet adventure and an adventure it was! About Tibet itself. I had a totally different image of Tibet. I expected it to more Tibet and less China. So in a sort of way, I was quite disappointed. I don't mean that this trip wasn't worth my time, because I saw alot of great things. I just mean that I didn't expect it to be the way it is. I hope that I will have the chance to get back some day before it will totally change into China. I would definately recommend Tibet. Just make sure to book the right tour and you will have a great experience over here.
Tomorrow we will leave to Xining at 11:25. I think the train ride will take about 24 hours. We will stay one extra day in Xining to explore the city and the next day we will take the plane to Kunming. Actually, this turned out quite good. We get to see the most interesting part of the Qinghai railroad and we will not loose any extra days for travelling to Yunnan. So I guess I'll be seeing you guys in China. Zaijian!
So after the discussion we finally went to the Sera monastery. It didn't really bothered us, because Tashi had to report himself to the tourism board at 3:30pm to maintain his license. We just enjoyed the monastry. The most interesting part in the monastry, were the monks who gathered around on a square for a discussion. It seemed that this was a sort of an exercise to practice you patience with each other. I heared that they discussed about buddhism and when they made an argument, they had to clap in their hands very hard. It's hard to explain what I saw there, but it was pretty interesting.
After that, Jacky and Karen left to the tourism board, because Tashi didn't went at 3:30. I decided to stay and visit the next monastry as I didn't had much to add at the tourism board. The next monastery was the Drepung monastry, which is the largest monastry among the ones of the same kind. It was very peacefull over there. No crowded groups like at the Potala palace. So that was ok.
After that, we got back to the hotel. Tonight, Tim (a german tourist) had arranged a group diner gathering at a restaurent, because this was our last day. Tomorrow, everybody would go his own way. Some would stay in Lhasa some more days, others would go back to Kathmandu and others would go on to China (like us). Well I guess this is about the end of our Tibet adventure and an adventure it was! About Tibet itself. I had a totally different image of Tibet. I expected it to more Tibet and less China. So in a sort of way, I was quite disappointed. I don't mean that this trip wasn't worth my time, because I saw alot of great things. I just mean that I didn't expect it to be the way it is. I hope that I will have the chance to get back some day before it will totally change into China. I would definately recommend Tibet. Just make sure to book the right tour and you will have a great experience over here.
Tomorrow we will leave to Xining at 11:25. I think the train ride will take about 24 hours. We will stay one extra day in Xining to explore the city and the next day we will take the plane to Kunming. Actually, this turned out quite good. We get to see the most interesting part of the Qinghai railroad and we will not loose any extra days for travelling to Yunnan. So I guess I'll be seeing you guys in China. Zaijian!
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