Ann and I are sitting in a Lhasa Restaurant eating Tibetan and Nepalese food. The music in the background is Indian or Nepalese. I can tell by the squeely voice of the woman. I feel much better in this region, much better than I did in China. And this is a Chinese restaurant? The Chinese, in their North Face parkas with their expensive Nikon cameras, look as foreign as Ann and me. This is the land of Buddhism and the Dalai Lama. He would in fact reside just up the road from where Ann and I now sit, at the Potala Palace. They have named this road Beijing Dong Lu. East Beijing Road. How fucking tacky...
Tibetan Buddhism is a religion in exile, as I do not think the Chinese guards that surround this city would much appreciate if the Dalai Lama came back to make his rightful claim to the throne. Might makes right, and the Chinese military has taken over this entire city. I think the Dalai Lama is in France right now, and he resides in India and has done so since the Chinese government claimed this entire area in 1959 with the PLA under Mao Zedong. Buddhism is so present here, however, and this all started in India but then spread past the Himalayan mountains and into Tibet and then China.
The beauty on this side of the country is striking, as I have said. I am sad for the Tibetan identity. I have not talked to any Chinese who have experienced Tibet; I have only spoken with ignorant ones who believe this land is China's --and has forever been. But I don't know Tibet either. I have only been here for one day, and I have all these high-minded Western notions mainly based on aesthetics and ideas of freedom I gained in the West.
On another note, I am a little sick from the drastic change in altitude and temperature. I'm used to 90 degree heat about 1000 feel above sea-level. Now I am cold and high. Everything is so different from what I am used to, and I like it.
I want to find some good Tibetan music and also new shoes, postcards, and mini-souvenirs for myself and my friends in the states.
Tibetan Buddhism is a religion in exile, as I do not think the Chinese guards that surround this city would much appreciate if the Dalai Lama came back to make his rightful claim to the throne. Might makes right, and the Chinese military has taken over this entire city. I think the Dalai Lama is in France right now, and he resides in India and has done so since the Chinese government claimed this entire area in 1959 with the PLA under Mao Zedong. Buddhism is so present here, however, and this all started in India but then spread past the Himalayan mountains and into Tibet and then China.
The beauty on this side of the country is striking, as I have said. I am sad for the Tibetan identity. I have not talked to any Chinese who have experienced Tibet; I have only spoken with ignorant ones who believe this land is China's --and has forever been. But I don't know Tibet either. I have only been here for one day, and I have all these high-minded Western notions mainly based on aesthetics and ideas of freedom I gained in the West.
On another note, I am a little sick from the drastic change in altitude and temperature. I'm used to 90 degree heat about 1000 feel above sea-level. Now I am cold and high. Everything is so different from what I am used to, and I like it.
I want to find some good Tibetan music and also new shoes, postcards, and mini-souvenirs for myself and my friends in the states.
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