Barkhor street @ Lhasa Tibet

After we have arrived in Lhasa, we were transported to our hotel to rest for the day as it is vital to acclimatise to the high altitude. Will blog something on how to deal with altitude sickness later on (at least that's what I do usually).

We spend the rest of the day loitering around our hotel and the next day headed straight to Barkhor street, one of the major street in Lhasa where most of the temples and tourist spots are located, or in this case, where Jokhang temple located.

Barkhor street had us gawking at the cheap souvenirs and many other stuff that the Chinese can think of. We of course opted for a Tibetan meal since we had a true blue Tibetan who refused to speak Mandarin eventhough he is well versed. I think he is kind of glad that we request the tour be in  English and we glad we opted for a Tibetan guide as we had tonnes of fun along the journey, from his stupid jokes with poker face to us misunderstanding his explanation.

Eventhough it was early in the morning, the street is already packed with tourists and locals. I can't help but notice most of the Tibetans dressed in black and grey.

Somewhere along the Friendship Highway

This gonna be a short one or mainly spammed with photos taken from scenary along the Friendship Highway, the road that connects Tibet to Nepal via Zhangmu.

The scenary is astounding, beautiful and almost look as fake as a photoshopped photo or painting. Most of these were taken after we descend from the Everest Base Camp, the journey from Tingri to Zhangmu.

We even bumped into a group of cyclist which I can't remember from where and they were cycling along the highway.

Stunning scenary along the highway

Freaking freezing cold!

Riding along the Friendship Highway

I think these are paddy fields

The Tibetan lady who monitors our guide using her water to wash his Land Rover

Sera Monastery, Tibet

Continuation from the debate of the monks...

Before we went to see the debate, we get to walk around the monastery to get a glimpse of the monks life. Since this was considered the first monastery we visited in Tibet, we were pretty excited plus we joined with another group from UK whereby we tried to matchmake their lady tour guide with our tour guide, Jamba. Since Jamba needs to settle our permit for the Everest base camp, we were left with the lady tour guide. And since her English is not as good as our guide, we spend most of the time hiding under the tree from the Tibetan heat and taking photos not knowing the building history. All I can remember from the visit is Sera monastery is one of the few monastery where you can find monks living inside.

Oh, have I not mentioned million times that I love the colour of the sky here. It's so blue...

the courtyard where the debate of the monks took place

one of the halls for prayers

somehow this photo looks like some water colour painting especially the sky

seriously the heat can be really bad

The Debate of the Monks

One of the highlights of my Tibet trip is the debate between the monks in Sera Monastery after the climb up the Potala Palace. We went to the monastery after lunch to catch the debate which starts around 2pm. However we walked around the monastery first before going into the open courtyard for the debate.

Although I don't understand a single word of the debate but it was an eye opening to see so many monks debating at the courtyard in the monastery. Their debates consist of a person standing stamping his foot and shouting to another person who is seated on the ground, who in turn needs to answer the question posed by the person standing, at least that's what being told by my guide. The topics are mostly involved Buddhism. I don't mean to disrespect but I find it rather amusing to see monks jumping, clapping and shouting than to sit and chant all day long.

Snow Capped Mountain

Back with another travel/photography related entry this time. I guess I will continue writing even though I might only have 2 readers.

I was looking through some of my old photos of my travel to Peru and Tibet and I realised although Swiss is the country famous for snow capped mountain, surprisingly Peru and Tibet have some of the more exotic ones comparing to Swiss. 

Snow mountain in Peru

Blamed it on my forgotten geography knowledge, I kind of forgot that part of the Andes mountain lies in Peru. When I was in Peru a few years back during winter, we were lucky that the good weather permitted us to see such stunning view during my two weeks stay. I can only imagine something like the above in paintings or CGI but yes, such view is actually real!

Snow mountain along the way to Tibet

 As Tibet is located at the heart of the Himalayas mountain, spotting snow capped mountains are quite a common sight along the road from Lhasa to Zhangmu. What we actually missed out during our trip was to see Everest upclose from the Everest Base Camp.

Snow mountain in Grindelwald

Switzerland is a country first famous for the snow capped mountain and second is still the snow capped mountain! Anyone who had never seen snow, dreamt of coming here for the view and not forgetting skiing during winter. This photo was captured 4 years back but the memory of standing right in front of this view in Grindelwald, at the moment was still surreal up until today. It almost, actually certainly feel that I was transported into Heidi, a story I used to love to read when I was young.

So which view do you love most? For me, I can't decide :)

The Famous Potala Palace @ Tibet

After so many depressing posts, I shall resume some of my happy writing on my travels which seem forever  unfinished. I came to know about the closure of Tibet (yet again) after chatting with my tour guide from Nepal. Yes, we still do keep in touch and he told me that Tibet is closed to tourists again this year. But from the latest news I read, it seems like Tibet has been reopened but not to Britain, Norway, Korea and Australia. I am not sure why is that arrangement but then again the Chinese authority is always doing things that beyond our understanding.

I still remember the day we left Tibet and travelling by land back to Kathmandu through Zhang Mu, we had to go through the immigration and we were travelling with these 3 other tourists from Britain. Our bags were searched while the locals were not. One of the guy travelling in that group actually had a travel guide book on Tibet and it was confiscated because there were Dalai Lama's photos in it. Just because of that! And because of that, I decided to buy a book about the current 14th Dalai Lama in Kathmandu and it's actually written by the Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama himself! I have only managed to read the first few chapters and it's already very interesting. A book where he wrote from his point of view, from he was a young kid selected to be the Dalai until his exile.

We were glad that we had a pure Tibetan as our guide even though they offered a Chinese guide for us. We keep emphasizing that we are Malaysians and not Chinese which was so funny. We had never been so patriotic until then, haha. Our guide mentioned to us that Potala Palace was the residence for the Dalai Lama in the winter while he had another home during summer, the Norbulingka.

waiting in line

On the way up to the Palace and under such thin air, it's very exhausting

This is the last place we can take photos before going in

view from the Palace

Tibetans are the friendliest people I ever met

Top Destinations for Photography

I was reading about this top 5 destinations for photography in Lonely Planet website the other day. The article mentioned that Rajasthan, India, Yellowstone National Park, USA, Venice, Italy, Hong Kong and Ladakh, India as the top 5. It's amazing that India has two destinations in the top 5 and it's a country that I always wanted to travel to, for her amazing colourful culture and of course Taj Mahal.

After reading that, I decided to name my very own top 5 destinations for photography. Photography here does not only reflect landscape photography but street and portrait photography. I find that getting a good shot at people is tougher than taking a shot of the non moving subject such as buildings and landscape.

My lists would be as follows:

The crowd during Gai Jatra festival in Kathmandu

Kathmandu, Nepal
I was lucky to be in Kathmandu during the Gai Jatra festival, which I had so much fun taking many shots of the people in colourful costume and unique culture. Do not be fooled by the chaotic and dusty environment as beneath all those, lies a very vibrant and friendly city.

One of the market streets in Hong Kong during a rainy day

Hong Kong
I agree with the list by Lonely Planet that Hong Kong indeed is suited for street photography especially when she is lit up at night with colouful neon lights. Visits to the Peak, Victoria Harbour and the famous streets in Mongkok during the night are a must.

Made in Peru stuff against the snow capped mountain

Basically anywhere in Peru
Haha, I am tempted to write Lake Titicaca as one destination but after that I realized the whole of Peru is very 'photogenic' and plus it's unfair not to include Machu Picchu as one of the destinations for photography.

Another side of Potala Palace, once a home to the Dalai Lama

 Lhasa, Tibet
When I first arrived in this city, my guide told me that we can't take photos around Lhasa especially those with army personnel in them. So I kept my camera in my bag until I climbed the Potala Palace. I watched 7 Years in Tibet acted by Brad Pitt recently, a real story based on the life of Dalai Lama and his friendship with this Austrian hiker/mountain climber and many of the scenes reminded me of Tibet. Tibetans are generally very religious people and you can see many of them circling 3 rounds around the Potala Palace for blessing. Oh, and it got to be in clockwise.

Looks like something out from the fairy tale books

The Highlands, Scotland
Just for the landscape, this got to be the most photogenic. You are basically transported back to Highlander movies, Lord of the Rings, Stardust (the real filming locations are in Scottish highlands) and any movies with witches, lords, knights, kings in them. And not forgetting men in skirts..ops..kilts. They are very accommodating for photos, haha.

Namtso Lake, Tibet

Namtso Lake in Tibet is considered one of the most beautiful lake in China and I totally, absolutely agree to that statement. The lake is sometimes called as the Heavenly lake due to the location of the lake which is way up high in the mountains from Lhasa to Gyantse.

Although we were still having a bit of effect from the high altitude, it did not stop us from taking lots of pictures as well as mesmerise by the stunning scenery. However it was here that I had my first real exposure to the real toilet in China. Never did I expect that not only I need to pay for the usage of the toilet but it was without door and proper sewage system. I practically can see what my neighbour is doing her 'business'. Little did I know this is considered one of the 'better' ones along our journey across Tibet. The worst has yet to come. Anyway enough of toilet talk.

 

Namtso lake is as stunning as the lochs in Scotland, but something very fairytale about it that it almost looks fake, yet mysterious. Love the turqouise colour of the water against the lush greenery of the Tibetan mountain. No wonder it's called the Heaven Lake.

Another Reflection

 

A favourite shot of mine during my trip to Tibet recently.

All my favourite reflection shots can be found here

Close Up

What do you do if you have too much time in a place where there's nothing much you can do?

This is what I did while we were in NewTingri, Tibet.

Close up shots of flowers at the hotel.

We were 'stranded' in our hotel for the next leg to Everest Base Camp. We practically count down for dinner right after lunch!