The Road To Tibet: Crossing The Friendship Highway

Tibet’s background is a difficult tale of spirituality, invasion, conquest, and persecution. When a Buddhist nation governed by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual identification was brutally stripped away in 1951 when Chinese troops forcibly occupied the location, destroying monasteries and killing 1000's of civilians.

In 1959 the Dalai Lama fled Lhasa and settled beneath the safety of neighboring India where by he continues to peacefully protest the Chinese profession of his beloved homeland. Today, Tibetans are prohibited from practising Buddhism and forbidden to keep or screen any idolatry of the Dalai Lama. Tourists have to also stick to demanding rules that have been set in position by the Chinese govt, maintaining in brain that pictures of the Lama and maps exhibiting Tibet as an independent nation are prohibited.

Michael J. Ybarra witnessed the implications of touring with banned paraphernalia while reporting for The Wall Road Journal for the duration of his 5-day vacation from Kathmandu, Nepal to Lhasa — now regarded as the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Area in the People’s Republic of China. Ybarra’s journey led him throughout the Friendship Freeway, the greatest paved highway in the environment, and the only one with a magnificent look at of Mount Everest. His bus journey averaged  higher than eleven,800 feet, with three passes topping 16,000 toes.

“At the border we crossed the Friendship Bridge into Tibet — China’s thought of friendship seemingly demanding you to leave 1 bus, then hike uphill for half an hour to another. Not to point out confiscating your guidebook. China bans Lonely Planet guides because of a map symbolizing Tibet as a individual country,”  recalls Ybarra. He also details out that quite a few folks in his team (China only makes it possible for persons to vacation to Tibet with tour groups, restricting the quantity of time that can be used in the location) had to rip out or cover any publications with pictures of the Dalai Lama so that the guides would not be taken away.

Sadly, on the day his bus crossed through Lalungla — a pass at sixteen,four hundred toes that provides sights of five of the world’s tallest mountains which includes Everest — Ybarra was not able to get a glimpse of the giants thanks to cloudy climate. The take a look at to Lhasa was also disheartening as the sprawling city’s turbulent earlier was evident in the stringent Chinese troops that surrounded the Jokhang Temple, Tibet’s most revered shrine.

Right after shedding his way on a muddled path to see the Sera monastery, Ybarra felt a glimmer of hope for the fate of Tibet when he was redirected by a girl whom he thought to be his own “Bodhisattvas,” or Buddhas who have attained enlightenment but decide to keep on earth to help some others.

The journey ended on a astonishing take note when Ybarra lastly noticed Everest from a first-course seat he snuck into on his flight leaving Lhasa. “And there it was: Just a bump on a ridge—but what a ridge. Everest and its satellite peaks rose higher than a sea of clouds like an island, into a cobalt blue sky, a plume of snow blowing off its summit like a flag. Its bulk was remarkable. I commenced to glimpse for climbing lines . . . Then I bought kicked out of the seat. It seemed a fitting departure from Tibet.”

[Picture by Stevehicks/Flickr]

By Maria Russo

About the Writer

Maria Russo is a freelance writer who enjoys natural wonders, very good eats, moral journey, and boutique lodges. Her work has appeared on the Huffington Put up, United states of america These days.com, Individuals.com and A Luxury Vacation Website, amongst other people.

 

When Maria is not creating for her all-time favourite site (that would be The Expeditioner), she spends her time blogging about overseas jaunts and delectable food items ordeals for her internet site: Memoirs of a Vacation & Meals Addict. She is also up to no good on Twitter (@traveladdictgrl, @expedmaria).