Of course you had read about altitude sickness. Seeing it real time was another thing. A lady was cradling her head while her husband discussed in that particular urgent low voice that somehow in a movie, meant that someone or something was going through a not so nice time. We even had a little clinic at where we were housed up. So it was pretty darn good that T.D. suggested we took it easy on the afternoon of arrival. Our first day would be a flat walkabout on the highest plateau in the world - Norbulingka Palace, the summer residence of the Dalai Lama.
Previously I may had mentioned that the minorities, especially "Autonomous Region" races such as the Tibetan people got really annoyed (to put it mildly) with the ruling majority Han race because of the sheer audacity of remodeling and remaking of their history and culture. It was hard to ignore this, what I will come to see, blatant fact.
T.D. took us carefully through the primitive legacy of their Bon religion, then through the four great periods of the Kings, decentralisation, Satchyaba period, all the way to the Lama period as well as the intrusion of the People's Republic of China. Although sparse, there was still a healthy number of evidence in the temples and monasteries that spoke of the extent of the Tibetan empire's influence, especially with the Tang Dynasty, building up to a Renaissance with the Mongolians during the Yuan Dynasty. As a matter of fact, the title bestowed by the Yuan, "Dalai" in Mongolian denoted an "ocean" to represent the depth and expanse of a wise person higher beyond the common man, here pronounced by the word, "Lama". In between ties with Nepal, China which many a princess had been married off to prevent wars, and India, the Ming and Qing Dynasties were to see further years of rich art and religious growth between these empires.
The salient points are available easily on any decent write-up on the Internet outside of China but what I would dwell about is the sheer sense of disbelief of the surviving richness of this race. If the Cultural Revolution had rampaged through this part of the world and devoured most savagely the Tibetan cultural, social, and religious relics, then the evidence of that unhampered and lucky enough to evade this assault of madmen stood bravely to testify the greatness of a kingdom unlike of any in the history of time. Fact is the Red Guards had made it this far, and truth is what little that prevailed today will put you in awe. You couldn't help but wonder if only...
Not that I agreed with mindless propaganda of "I love Tibet" T-shirts, public graffiti of "Free Tibet" on highways, and disruption of sporting events to showcase a cause. On a personal level, I felt very useless and helpless. I sought relief in a hope that maybe the pen was indeed, mightier than the sword. I would encourage you to visit Tibet. Forget about the Government sanctioned public displays of Tibetan villages and shops to humour the paying tourist. Yes, Tibet has to move with times but this place, despite its fair share of trinket shops and bargaining, brimmed with life of the spiritual kind. You do feel the inner desire to seek the higher self. As we were very fortunate to arrive at the time of the remembrance of the Great Sakyamuni's birth and passing into Nirvana, Lhasa was alive with pilgrims, soldiers, and the smell of burning incense, pine and Cypress wood, and chatter.
Much was happening but a lot more laid just beneath the artificial layer circling us. There was just too much to absorb yet I was trying to not get too sidetracked thinking about not getting myself into trouble just because I happened to point my lens at "forbidden" areas. In a silly way I felt like I was in a huge flashy Bollywood remake of Full Metal Jacket except we're not in 1960s Vietnam. So much colours, patterns, faces, food, sounds and movement. It was a heady introduction to what was idealistic and what was just sad reality. You sort of caught yourself in between getting involved be it emotionally or physically to make it a bit happier (maybe?) for the locals, and then swinging violently to cursing under your breath on the futility of it all because you're the one who got a ticket to get out once you're done. It did feel like shit.
