Chengdu, China

On our way to Tibet, we had to make a 24-hour layover in Chengdu, in Western China. This city of 4 million people (a modest sized city in China) is home to the National Panda Reserve.

I was impressed with this city, and found it much more accessible, clean, and welcoming than Beijing, surprisingly Me and a giant sleeping panda.
A taoist musician plays in the park.
Wenshu temple
Kelly, me, and Sara, with three pandas
Bikes whiz by in Chengdu...there are separate bike lanes, which are almost as hazardous and dangerous as the crazy cab drivers.

Tibet!

Tibet was the main destination for this trip. We spent 4 nights in Lhasa, which was the only part of Tibet for which we could get a permit. We also found out that we had to get a personal tour guide, who turned out to be Tenzin, a Tibetan nomad. He was a great guide, who taught us much more than we could have learned on our own and who we had a lot of fun with.

Tibet was an amazing experience. We saw many Buddhist temples and monasteries, and experienced some great culture and food. I was struck how much traditional Tibetan life coexisted with modernity. The Himalayas and surroundings were beautiful, as well as the detail and color of every building. Tibet was definitely one of the best places I've ever been.

pictures from lhasa

Sara, me, Aaron, and Tenzin, our tour guide.
Prayer flags and scarves strewn over a mountain, which we saw several times.
Prayer wheels, always turned clockwise.
We made a lsat-minute stop at a local school in Lhasa...about 50 6 year olds in a small room, learning Tibetan, Mandarin, and English.
A yak butter stall in a street market.

pictures from lhasa, part 2

Monks debating at Sera monastery...a very noisy, animated event. They debate every day. Notice the young monk on the right taking pictures with his cell phone.
We saw Natalie Portman walking down the streets of Lhasa...it's hard to tell, but you can see hte back of her walking away. We were pretty impressed.
Sara and I took a rickshaw back to the hotel one evening, and our driver prompted us to stop and take a nighttime photo in front of the Potala.
A sample of some offerings given to the Buddha: these scarves, yak butter candles, money, and bowls of water. These kinds of offerings were everywhere in every monastery we visited.
Pilgrims prostrating and bowing in front of the Jokhang monastery. They bow down 100,000 times, over the course of several days.

pictures from lhasa, part 3

Pilgrims walk around the Barkhor, a circuit walk.
Outside of the Jokhang monastery.

(Where a Tibetan King lived in the 600's, when he unified Tibet).
Sampling some yak jerky. Yak products were everywhere.
Me, Aaron, and Sara outside of the Potala. The Potala was the home of the 5th-14th Dalai Lamas, and where many of the Lama's tombs are hosted.
Detail from the Jokhang monastery. So much color in Tibet!

Xi'an...our last leg

The last part of our trip was a 2 night stay in Xi'an, which is in the middle of China and used to be the capital city. The main attraction here is the Terra Cotta Warriors, a famous archeological discovery. The first Emperor Qin, who unified China, ordered soldiers to create a lifesized Terra Cotta Army to protect him in the afterlife. All those who worked on this army were buried with it so that nobody could find it and it could remain a secret. We got a book signed by the farmer who was digging a well and discovered this in 1974. There are three pits of warriors, but archeologists are still working on the excavation.

This is a close-up shot of the warrios. each face is made different from the next, and Emperor Qin was careful to make sure that different ethnic Chinese groups were represented.

Part of Pit 1, and a good picture of how some of the pieces are found.

We also saw the Bell Tower and Drum tower in Xi'an.

Here's me, Sara, and Aaron in front of the Bell Tower.

On the last day, Sara and I took a bike ride around the City Wall of Xi'an. The wall is still one of the original Chinese walls that were built around many cities.

A Year's End...

Today marked my first official day of summer vacation. Although I'm nowhere near ready to process, digest, and write about this past year, I do know that it's been an amazing one. If you would ask me about Hong Kong, my first reaction would be, "I LOVE IT HERE!" And then I might get really homesick. And then I might be euphoric. And then get a twinge of homesickness again. And then extremely excited... possibly all in the same day.

Before I head home to Denver for the summer, I have one more adventure. In a couple of days, I'll be taking off with friends Sara, Kelly, and Aaron. We are first going to Chengdu, China for a 24 layover. (Where we plan to visit the panda reserve). Our primary destination is Lhasa, Tibet, at all of 12,000 ft. above sea level. This has been a bit hectic to plan, and we just learned yesterday that we are required to either be part of a tour, or to have a personal tour guide while we're there. Our last couple of days will be spent in Xian, China, to see the Terra Cotta Soldiers and visit the original capital of China. I haven't even had the time to think about what the next week will hold for us...pictures to come.