Letter from Tibet

One of the parents on our tour, Ron Hollander, writes:

Hi, All.

Because so many expressed envy at Mei Ming's and my Tibet trip, I
thought I'd share some of it with you. In a word, it was stupendous!
I've been all over the world, but nothing compares to the "exoticness"
(I know that's a colonial construct, but there it is) of Lhasa (and we
didn't even take any of the many day trips out of the city). I felt I
could have been confined to one block, and never tired of the scene, nor
never stopped shooting and taping: The stream of Buddhist pilgrims
making pilgrimage to the temple; many of them advancing two steps, then
prostrating themselves on the pavement to the four points of the
compass, then taking two more steps and repeating; push carts of
vegetables and fruits, with hawkers holding hand scales to weigh their
sales; motor scooters with cool kids weaving through the throng; porters
bent under bales of produce; holy men sitting on the street, reciting
page after page of prayers; souvenir booths lining the street; monks in
saffron and maroon robes--some with yellow hoods--posing proudly for me;
the cacophony of hawkers, prayers, bike bells, honking horns...you begin
to get the picture.

The Potola Palace was stunning not merely in its size, looming over the
city, and in its storiedness (remember Shangrila) but in the wealth of
its interior (what happened to ascetic, non-materialistic Buddhism?).
The towering, gold coffins of prior dalai lamas put what I saw in King
Tut's tomb to shame. The city was a fascinating meld of bustling
commerce and intense religiosity. Very friendly; people had the most
stunning smiles, and their faces were so, so different from what we had
seen on our tour. Oddly, many more people spoke English (mostly
Tibetans, not Hans) than I found in most parts of rural China. Bing and
I stayed in a really gorgeous Tibetan hotel that was a converted
merchant's courtyard home ($90/day, though there are many far cheaper).
We slept on kangs, the furniture was all authentic, the walls were stone
and orange rough plaster, and the food (lots of yak) was delicious. So
different from most of our soulless, overly glitzy Chinese hotels.

However, it's not for everyone, and certainly should not be part of our
tour. To start with, you need a travel permit, which of course in
typical Chinese style has to be paid for in renmenbi, not credit card
(one of the reasons we arrived early in Beijing, to visit the tour
operator with our cash, about $100/person). There are no direct flights
(most through Chengdu or Xi'an), so it takes most of a day of travel.
However, we easily bought our tix in advance through our travel agent,
and had them in hand when we arrived in Beijing (about $700/person RT).
Most importantly, Lhasa is at 15,000 feet (some of the surrounding day
trips are to even higher altitudes), and it can take several days to
acclimate. I did fairly well, but Ming was still short of breath and a
little head-achy even when we left, despite her using portable oxygen
bottles commonly available. Apparently there's no predicting who will
be affected; marathoners can suffer, while smokers can feel fine; kids
can be great or not.

Even with the above hassles, it was unbelievable. If travel is to
discover the "other", to find life as different as possible from yours,
then Lhasa is a prime candidate. I want to go back. If any of you want
my email contacts--as I provided some before leaving--let me know.

[Slightly editted for publication.]