Tibet - A Journey through the Top of the World (part 1)

Everyone has heard of the idiom 'on top of the world' referring to an 'exceptionally pleased, happy, or satisfied' person, but few people know that there is a place where this phrase can be used literally and figuratively at the same time. The Tibet Autonomous Region is located atop both the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. The former is the highest and largest plateau on the planet with an average elevation of more than 4,500 metres, justifiably nicknamed the ‘Roof of the World’, while the latter feature some of the Earth's highest peaks. More than 100 of them exceed 7,200 metres above sea level. Amongst them is also the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, located on Tibet’s border with Nepal and towering all the others with its 8,848.86 metres!

A trip to this less known region of Asia will bring you to one of the most mysterious and ‘off the beaten track’ places on Earth, on an extraordinary adventure through the Top of the World!

A journey through Tibet means:

• riding the highest railway in the world from Xining - the capital of Qinghai province in central China, known as the ‘gateway to Tibet’ - to Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region! But first, while in Xining, we got a first taste of Tibetan art and spirituality by visiting the 16th-century Kumbum Monastery, also called Ta'er Temple, with its colourful stupas, sculptures and paintings.

 

On the following day we boarded the overnight train to Tibet. This engineering wonder is fast and comfortable, which makes it the best way to reach Lhasa. It covers a distance of 1,972 kilometres in only about 20 hours, and ascends gradually from 2,261 to 3,650 metres at its terminus, giving you enough time to acclimatize to the higher altitude and lower oxygen levels. The train has two sources of oxygen which help to eliminate any chance of high altitude sickness on board - one increasing the oxygen content of the train as it enters into the high altitude plateau zone, and the other directly supplied to the passengers through independent ports in each cabin! There are also oxygen supply tubes and masks for emergencies everywhere in the train, just in case you thought the other oxygen supplies were not enough!

The highest point and one of the pinnacles of the railway is the Tanggula Pass at 5,072 metres! 

The other highlights of the ride are of course the spectacular sceneries along the railway. 

Deep blue and turquoise lakes, high peaks, mustard fields, huge plains with grazing yaks, nomad’s tents and prayer flags, and thousands of miles of wilderness and nothingness…

• discovering the treasures of the holy city of Lhasa - the capital and largest city in Tibet. It was founded in the A.D. 5th century and largely closed to foreigners until the early 1980s. 

Its name means ‘God's Home’ or ‘City of the Gods’ for a reason. People have always searched for spirituality as close to the sky as they could get. This explains the high bell towers and minarets, as well as the churches, temples and mosques built on top of villages, hills and mountains. Therefore, it will come as no surprise that the highest place on Earth, including its main city, is one of humankind's most sacred cradles of spirituality. 

Lhasa is home to the 14th-century Jokhang Temple - the holiest temple hosting the most sacred statue of Buddha in Tibet. 

The gilt roof is simply gorgeous, and the paintings on the walls and the door curtains are colourful and intricate! 

The Jokhang Temple is the spiritual heart of Tibet’s capital. You can stay there forever or join the crowds of pilgrims topping up the butter lamps in the dim light inside, or walking quietly and with determination around it, following the walkway on the Barkhor market square. It is quite the experience!

The streets of Lhasa are full of colours - from the prayer flags and golden wheels, to the gorgeous paintings of the temples and houses, the handicrafts in the local shops and the traditional costumes of the Tibetans!

Everywhere, in particular in the temples, you will spot the eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism, representing the offerings made to the Buddha when he attained enlightenment:

• • the precious parasol representing protection from suffering;
  • the two golden fish symbolizing living beings who practice the dharma (behaviours which are in harmony with natural law and virtue) in a state of fearlessness, without danger of drowning in the ocean of suffering or samsara (the cycle of reincarnation);
  • the vase of great treasures symbolizing health, long life, wisdom and prosperity, as well as the Buddha’s infinite quality of teaching the dharma: no matter how many teachings he shared, the treasure never lessened;
  • the lotus flower which has its roots in the mud, but its flower lies immaculate above the water, and thus represents the primordial purity of body, speech, and mind, floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire;
  • the white conch shell representing the sound of the dharma reaching far and wide, awakening beings from the slumber of ignorance;
  • the eternal knot signifying both cause and effect and the union of compassion and wisdom;
  • the victory banner representing the Buddha’s victory over the four māras, or hindrances in the path of enlightenment: pride, desire, disturbing emotions, and the fear of death; and
  • the eight-spoked dharma wheel representing the eight-fold path of virtuous actions directed towards enlightenment.

These symbols are also woven, together with different mantras, into the patterns of the kataks (or prayer scarves) that you will see in front of the temples, or hanging from thangka paintings, statues, altars, or photos of reincarnated lamas (or spiritual leaders) known as rinpoches. They are offered as a sign of respect, gratitude, or greeting. While the kataks come in the same colors, representing the five elements, as those of the Tibetan prayer flags - blue for sky and space, white for air and wind, red for fire, green for water, and yellow for earth, the most common one is white, symbolising purity, auspiciousness, sincerity, kindness, and justice. 

You cannot miss the hundreds of white kataks tied in front of the most impressive landmark of Lhasa - the iconic Potala Palace. It dominates Tibet’s capital at an altitude of 3,700 metres, and pops up against the blue sky backdrop with its white, yellow and crimson-coloured layers! 

The former winter home of the Dalai Lamas looks like an impregnable medieval castle, but was actually both a residence and a religious building similar to the dzongs in Bhutan. 

It hides in its chapels, reception rooms, prayer halls and libraries priceless treasures, such as mural paintings, thangkas, ancient manuscripts, butter lamps, costumes and masks, including the stupas with the remains of eight Dalai Lamas. 

The palace is huge - it contains over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and 200,000 statues! 

The views from the top of the fortress are jaw-dropping as well!

Lhasa was also the place where we started our daily ritual of joining the locals in walking clockwise around the temples, and spinning the prayer wheels around or inside them. 

Each prayer wheel has mantras (or sacred words) inscribed on the outer surface of the cylinder and also printed on scrolls of paper tightly wound inside it. Therefore, spinning it has much the same effect as orally reciting the prayers! For us, it was just a way of showing our respect and taking in the spirituality of each place!

It was just the beginning of our mystical journey through the Top of the World!

• visiting the largest monastery in Tibet. Drepung Monastery, located on the Gambo Utse mountain, only five kilometres away from Lhasa, was founded in the 15th century. It used to be the residence of the Dalai Lamas until the Great Fifth Dalai Lama constructed the Potala Palace. 

It is not just a monastery, but rather a self-contained town with its web of white-washed alleyways, medieval kitchens, printing presses, colleges and giant prayer halls.

As always, after we entered the monastery, we joined the local pilgrims in spinning the dozens of golden prayer wheels, walked around some white-washed stupas (do not forget that you should always walk around stupas and temples clockwise), and started exploring the endless treasures of the place.

There were of course the mural paintings of the four fiercely looking guardians (or heavenly kings) - four devas (or gods) protecting the entrances of Buddhist temples and monasteries. Each of them is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world - the north one is carrying an umbrella, the west one is holding a red naga or rope in his hands, the east one is playing a lute, and the south one is brandishing a sword. 

In Drepung Monastery we also found frescoes of some of our favourite stories. The ‘tale of the four friends’ depicting a bird, a rabbit, a monkey and an elephant reaching for the high branch of a tree for fruits is the perfect example of how far a person can go with the help of friends. Another fresco - ‘the tale about the six symbols of longevity’, illustrated by the rock (stability), tree (growth), water (nourishment), crane (freedom), deer (harmony) and old man (survival), symbolizes longevity and natural harmony, carrying the moral that people should cherish all life on Earth as everything on our planet is interdependent.

We wandered for hours around the monastery, filled with awe by the colourful rock and mural paintings, woodcarvings, doors, windows, curtains, thangkas and flags. 

The eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism are everywhere in the monastery! 

You cannot miss the rooftop where, next to the golden victory banners shining under the mountain sun, stands the sign of Buddhism - the gorgeous golden dharma wheel with a pair of deer gazing steadily at it. It is always located at the highest point of each monastery you will see in Tibet. The sign represents the Buddha's first teaching, after he attained nirvana (or enlightenment), at the Deer Park in Sarnath, a town northeast of Varanasi, in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. The deer symbolize the Buddha's first disciples, both male and female, who embraced the dharma. 

The rooftop is also the place from where you can admire the mind-blowing views of the surrounding mountains! It is so peaceful and serene!

But the Drepung Monastery is not a museum of relics and artifacts. It lives with its red-robed monks praying and chanting in the prayer halls, surrounded by the aroma of juniper incense and yak butter, or the Tibetan grannies and grandpas mumbling mantras, swinging their prayer wheels and prostrating themselves in front of the statues. Their faith and devotion, on top of the beauty of the place and a certain mysticism which is ubiquitous, will not leave you indifferent - at least not until you visit yet another stunning monastery in Tibet!

• attending a monks’ debate. Sera Monastery is another impressive 15th-century university-town monastery near Tibet’s capital. 

It showcases stunning prayer wheels and flags, murals including the four guardians and the famous Wheel of Life that we had already come across during our trip to Bhutan, as well as thangkas and statues of Buddhas, bodhisattvas and lamas.

However, the highlight of the place is the possibility to witness the daily debates on Buddhist doctrines among monks, studying in the colleges of the monastery. 

These debates are considered facilitating the learning process of the students. The monks, observed by their teachers, take the roles of either a questioner or a defender - the latter has the onus to prove his point of view on a specific subject. The debate has to follow strict rules and procedures, such as opening and closing phrases and time frames. You might not understand much of what they are trying to prove, but the theatrics that they are using are quite mesmerizing!

Each gesture has a specific meaning, from clapping hands to robe wrapping. 

Even if you understand Tibetan, since all groups of monks debate loudly and simultaneously in the courtyard, you might have some hearing issues! The fact that our Tibetan guide was a former monk was quite helpful - his knowledge of the artifacts and the rituals in the temples and monasteries was priceless! And he was the sweetest person in the world, like all Tibetans!

• hiking to the palace of the first Tibetan king. Yungbulakang Palace was the first building in Tibet and home to the first Tibetan king, Nyatri Tsenpo, whose reign is said to have begun in 127 BCE. It was demolished and then partially rebuilt in the 20th century. 

It is perched on a steep hill and surrounded by beautiful mountains, farmlands, a whitewashed stupa and thousands of rainbow prayer flags. 

The hike to the top of the hill was really nice. If you are not in your best shape for walking though, there are some cute horses who can take you there!

• admiring a pearl thangka in the first Buddhist temple in Tibet. Tradruk Temple, not too far away from Yungbulakang Palace, is said to have been founded in the 7th century by a Tibetan king. According to the legend, at the site of the monastery there was originally a lake inhabited by a dragon with five heads. The king was able to call by meditation a huge hawk, who defeated the dragon and drank all the water of the lake, so that the temple could be built. The legend explains the name of the temple, translating into ‘Hawk and Dragon’.

Just like in other Buddhist temples and monasteries, you will come across beautiful mural paintings, including the four guardians, as well as intricate doors and windows, colourful rock paintings, rainbow prayer flags and some pretty impressive ancient giant prayer wheels! 

Contrary to the small prayer wheels at most places, these huge structures are really hard to spin!

However, the most important treasure of Tradruk Temple is a priceless thangka embroidered with thousands of pearls, which is said to have been made by the king’s wife herself. It depicts Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of infinite compassion and mercy, and is stunning. It is believed that Avalokitesvara has a special relationship with the people of Tibet and intervenes in their fate by incarnating as benevolent rulers and teachers such as the Dalai Lamas. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) tradition, the most powerful and influential sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and is therefore considered Tibet's spiritual leader. According to the 14th Dalai Lama's website, he is ‘the seventy-fourth in a lineage that can be traced back to a Brahmin boy who lived in the time of the Sakyamuni Buddha (the Buddha of the present and the founder of Buddhism)’...

• visiting the first monastery founded in Tibet. Samye Monastery was founded in AD 775 and is laid out in the shape of a giant three dimensional mandala depicting the Buddhist cosmos. 

In its center lies the main four-storeyed temple, called the Utse, in medieval Tibetan, Chinese and Indian styles, representing the legendary Mount Meru. It is enclosed by four symmetrical giant stupas of four different colors - white for peace, black for hell, green for medicine, and red for long life. The whole is surrounded by a circular wall with four openings at the cardinal points. This shape is also found in a number of temples in South East Asia and East Asia such as the Tōdai-ji temple in Nara, Japan. The 1200-year-old site is believed to be the place where Guru Rinpoche battled and subdued the demons to allow the construction of the monastery and the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. 

The monastery is a real treasure trove of stunning statues and wall paintings, prayer wheels, ephemeral but amazingly beautiful yak butter sculptures, and the icing on the cake - the Buddha of Compassion with 1,000 eyes and hands! 

When we visited, the monastery was decorated for the upcoming Full Moon Festival. The colourful scarves were everywhere and the views of the surrounding mountains were jaw-dropping!

• driving along stunning rivers. During your journey around the Top of the World, you will undoubtedly come across the holy Yalong River once, twice or even more. 

The mountains in the background, the random ancient villages and stone towers scattered along the banks and the lonely yak skin boats slowly sliding downstream are picture-perfect.

In addition to being the cradle of Tibet’s ancient civilization, the Yalong River is a major tributary of the Yangtze River - a sacred river which is the longest in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world! The Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding mountains, including the Himalayas, are also the source of other major rivers, such as the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra. Since the region holds the largest ice and snow reserves outside the Arctic and its North Pole, and the Antarctic and its South Pole, it is also known as the ‘Third Pole of the Earth’! 

• stopping at breathtaking mountain lakes. The Tibetan Plateau is also home to several turquoise lakes. Similar to rivers and mountains, they are considered sacred by Tibetan people as they are the homes of protective deities, and therefore invested with spiritual powers. This explains the thousands of rainbow flags for blessings and prayers hanging around them, which are supposed to appease the deities.

There are four particularly holy lakes where local people make pilgrimages, two of which are Namtso and Yamdrok. You can spot Namtso - the largest lake in the Tibet Autonomous Region with a surface of 1,920 square kilometres and lying at an elevation of 4,718 metres - from the train between Xining and Lhasa. It is the highest saltwater lake in the world and is said to have descended from the heavens to Earth, which explains its name - ‘Heavenly Lake’.

A little bit further south, after driving for hours along a road with some stunning mountain views, you will come across the fan-shaped Yamdrok Lake, located at an elevation of 4,441 metres. With a surface of 638 square kilometres, this freshwater lake is the largest in all of southern Tibet. It is surrounded by snow-capped mountains and its crystal clear waters are a deep turquoise colour, which is where it gets its name from - roughly translated as ‘Turquoise Lake of the Upper Pasture’. According to local mythology, Yamdrok Lake is the physical manifestation of Dorje Geg Kyi Tso - one of the twelve goddesses who are believed to be the worldly protectors according to Tibetan Buddhism, and is also associated with Guru Rinpoche.

We walked for hours along the lake and came across many stone towers, a cute duck family and tons of grazing yaks scattered around it. These huge furry animals are definitely fully geared for the freezing temperatures! Their bodies are also well adapted to high altitudes as they have larger lungs and heart and greater capacity for transporting oxygen through their blood than cattle found at lower altitudes. 

For thousands of years, yaks have been kept in Tibet for transportation, as well as for their milk, wool, meat, and… dried droppings which are an important, and often the only, fuel available on the high, treeless Tibetan Plateau. 

A more recent use of yaks though is for Instagram purposes! At many touristy places, including at Yamdrok Lake, you will come across people taking pictures with these majestic animals, and I promise that some poses look rather hilarious… 

Other animals that tourists in Tibet want to take a picture with are the Tibetan Mastiffs. These unbelievably cute buddies are used by local tribes to protect sheep from predators, such as wolves, leopards, tigers and bears, and are the largest dogs you will ever see!

Around Yamdrok Lake are also located other more ‘off the beaten track’ lakes, such as the stunning Kongmu Tso. The reflections of the mountains in the deep blue waters, contrasting with the bright green of the surrounding meadows and the stormy sky, were out of this world!

A journey through Tibet also means...