Public Zone 公開區 > Travelogues 遊記相薄
Tibet, China 中國西藏 (20 Jun - 4 Jul 2004)
chin:
Waterboys
Young lamas coming down from the "castle" with vases.
Later, in the second picture, I found out that they are transporting water.
chin:
Flag Carrier
Before the main ceremony starts, these young lamas brought the "flags" (I don't know what are they called) from the castle to the low ground.
Tashilhunpo Monastery is the seat of the Panchen Lama and "one of the great centers of Tibetan Buddhism." The castle-like building is probably the most important building in the monastery. (I did not get to visit the "castle" because by the time I wanted to go up, the road was blocked for the ceremony.)
When we first entered the monastery, there was a great banner the covered the whole front side of the castle. The square banner must have been 30 to 50 meters long on each side. On the banner is the image of Buddha and other religious drawings.
At the first signal, a blue and yellow cover (of the same size as the banner) fell from the top of the "castle" to cover the banner. At the second signal, both the banner and the cover felt to the ground following few guiding wires. At the third signal, the wires were retrieved by perhaps 15 lama monks on the roof.
It was quite a scene that shows the design, organization and discipline of the monastery.
chin:
Banner Carriers
About 30 minutes after the drop of the banners, a long procession started to come down from the "castle".
It start with musicians and the flag bearers in the front, followed by man dressing in horse like costumes, then two very large and heavy object each carried by perhaps 20 monks (picture here.) I think these two are the great banner and the cover of the same size.
chin:
Lama Musicians
As the long procession came down to where we were allowed to observe the ceremony, the musicians entered a platform on a bit higher ground, while the horses and the banner carriers disappeared into a courtyard that was off limit to us.
chin:
Misadventures
We left Lhasa in the morning for Chongqing. The plan was to stay in Chongqing for one night before heading home the next day.
So we thought we would stay in Chongqing.
Turned out the travel agent booked us in a hotel 120km (!!!) from downtown Chongqing, in an area that is technically still within the Chongqing municipality. And that was only the beginning of our misadventure.
Picking us up from the Chongqing airport is a minibus just have enough seats for our group, but no room for our bags and gears. So we had to pile up the bags in the walkway, 2 or 3 bags deep.
After more than an hour's drive, the hotel was no where in sight (we didn't know the hotel was 120 km from the downtown at that time.) Then the bus came to a stop in a dim tunnel. The driver then announced that the engine ran out of water. After cool down for some time, and gathered all the drinking water we have then, the bus would move and stop few more times.
It took more than 4 hours to travel the 120 km. In comparison, the flight from Lhasa to Chongqing was only 2 hours.
After checked into the "120 km hotel", my wife and I decided enough is enough. We wanted to see the famous mountainous historic city of Chongqing. After few calls to make hotel arrangement, we packed and get a taxi and off to Chongqing downtown.
It was the most expensive taxi ride I ever have in China at RMB400 (except when we chartered hotel cars for the whole day.) And another adventure in itself.
We spent the first 5 minutes insisting the driver to take us to the hotel front door, instead of dropping us at the downtown taxi station and get a local taxi. Then after few minutes of driving, he stopped the car, pulled out the key, and went straight to the trunk with two other guys waiting on the roadside.
I jumped out of the car immediately, afraid that they might take our bags. Turnout that one of the guy was the owner of the taxi and is getting his own stuff from the trunk, and the other guy was the driver for the evening shift who will take us to downtown.
With the new driver on board, we again spent the next 10 minute insisting that he take us to the hotel directly, instead of dropping us off at a taxi transfer. I even called the hotel on my cell phone to get him the direction. Luckily at the exit of the highway to downtown, we were able to hire a driving guide.
Finally, we arrived at the Chongqing Hilton, with all the creature comfort offered by a real 5-star hotel. The first thing we did, after a long hot shower, was to enjoy the sushi and pastries at the executive floor lounge.
It's good to back to civilization.
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