Tibet

A steaming cup of liquid butter with a prominent after taste of raw yak meet left me gagging. The flavor also negatively impacted the taste of the yak steak I was eating as I reflected on the past nine days I snuck into the spiritually alive, stunningly beautiful, and blatantly oppressed country of Tibet

To get into Tibet I took the highest train in the world into Lhasa. I had the Chinese family I was staying with in Xian buy the ticket for me to avoid having to go with a guided tour and entered the "country" illegally. Ignorance proved blissful as I enjoyed the ride mostly worry free as the only the westerner on the train. It wasn’t until I was in Lhasa that I heard horror stories of people getting kicked off the train half way and having to wait countless hours or days for a train to come the other direction. From Xi’an it was a 36 hour trip through the high plains that reached elevations of over 16,000 ft.. The train ride was simply spectacular. Zooming by herds of yaks, grand mountains, bright yellow grass and the occasional fox. Oxygen outlets were mounted by all of the beds in case the 14,400 ft of altitude gain proved too much for anybody. The passenger train was comfortable and new, but 

as the trip carried on it became very clear railroad was not solely build to take tourist to Lhasa. We passed numerous dusty mines with hundreds upon hundreds of dump trucks steadily climbing out of the hug pits, headed for a railroad station to deliver their goods back to mainland China. This permanent connection between China and Tibet is not only allowing China to pillage the natural resources of Tibet, but will have serious affects on Lhasa and all of Tibet as it pours more and more Chinese and Westerners into the region. A memorable ride that provided ample time to imagine all the implications of the two pieces of metal 1,700 miles long.

Getting off the train Lhasa I was swarmed by 20-30 taxi drivers as the only white person on 350 person train. I finally checked into a dorm room of a hostel for less than $2 a night. The price was right, but the dorm room was meant for 12 and proved lonely as I tried to go to sleep by myself in the corner. That night I was as alone as I have ever been, home seemed very far away. The idea that if I disappeared I would never be found crossed my mind multiple times over my 8 months of travel. This night is likely as far away from everything I had ever know as I will ever get. As lonely and even scared as I was my situation also evoked and eerie sense of freedom. The hardest times of my eight months of traveling however were quite often fallowed by some of the most memorable and fulfilling moments I would find. I spent the next 8 days in Tibet hiking up the sides of mountains to find monasteries, walking with the pilgrims, and loosing myself in the mayhem of the markets and back alleys of Lhasa. Watching these people pray, spin their prayer wheels, prostrate themselves, smile, and fiddle with their ritual beads hours passed like minutes. I never got sick of just walking and observing these beautiful and peaceful people. 

Lhasa is the Buddhist Mecca and as spiritually alive, but blatantly oppressed as anywhere in the world. It was eye opening to walk around the largest temple in Lhasa and count over 150 Chinese police make there presence painfully known. It’s sad to think what is happening to the place, but I was glad to see what did, when I did and hope to be able to come back and see that it has remained as memorable and alive as I remember.