City of Love

Lhasa, for many Tibetans and Buddhists it is the holy city with the majestic Potala palace and the beautiful Jokhor temple and the Barkhor circuit but it could just be known as the city of love.

"I'll give you all I've got to give, if you say you love me too
 I may not have a lot to give but what I've got I give to you
 For I don't care too much for money, for money can't buy me love
 Can't buy me love, ev'rybody tells me so
 Can't buy me love, no, no, no, no" - The Beatles

Not only a Beatles song but also the title of an 80's popcorn movie starring Patrick Dempsey. Apparently both have never been to Tibet as love can be bought here. It's even not so expensive as you might think. In most cases a woman or girl approaches you and will tell you; "You giveh me oneh, I giveh you loveh" and no it is not oneh hundred but oneh Yuan.

I think oneh hundred will get you a whole lotta loveh perhaps even more, I never tried this. If you don't part with oneh of your precious Yuans they will start with persistent and resilient begging until you budge and giveh them oneh or eventually they will budge and starve you of their loveh.

Another tactic often used by little children is to wrap themselves around the "hostage victim" until the "hostage victim" decides to pay a small donation for the good cause or decides no longer be the "victim" and tries to shed off the little kid. I've seen it happen a lot with foreign tourists almost always in resulting that the "hostage victim" parts with some Yuans and runs like hell to get away. You could say that it is a human shield to get money from rich tourists.

Not only the constant begging is always present but also the odor of Yak mixed with urine, this gives Tibet a distinct odor character that is nowhere to found on the globe. Yak is omnipresent in Tibetan culture you'll see Yak meat on the street, Yaks on the mountains, Yak on tourist T-shirts, Yak butter, Yak butter tea to drink and off course you'll smell Yak near any monastery or temple for it is used a plenty in every chapel.

The youth hostel we’ve checked into was pants so we decided to relocate to the Yak hotel. Sean and Claire were lucky as they got a room immediately while Connie and me were on the look for a decent place to stay all morning, in the end we ended up in the Yak hotel. Connie told me that Sean and Claire were looking for some partners to team up with to go on a three day tour.

While I couldn’t find Martin in Lhasa and tours to Mt. Kailash were scarce and more importantly very expensive. Y15000 for the jeep and driver alone. Sean and Claire had already found two partners in Andy and Ellie-Ann but as everybody is on a budget I could squeeze myself in the trunk of the Toyota Landcruiser.

That afternoon I wanted to see the Drepung monastery and headed to the bus where I found Andy and Ellie-Ann, they also wanted to go to the Drepung monastery. The guidebook tells you that bus no 301 or 302 drops you off near the Drepung monastery. Yeah right, it was a good hour walk from the drop point to the monastery all the way up but we made it. When we were in one of the chapels we could hear some faint noises and chatter from a courtyard. Curious as we were we headed out of the chapel in search of the chatter. We saw some other tourist overhanging a wall looking down and decided that’s where we have to be to see it all. When we arrived we could see the monks in discussion meaning one is sitting and the others are slapping their hands to make their point or something. I thought they only did this in the Sera monastery.