我到天边走一回(1)Going Tibet
文接自：我到天边走一回(2)On the way to Tibet
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17/9/2012 在高原的第一晚超级难受。First night in Lhasa Tibet…… a miserable night… heart palpitated in extreme speed… head ached like the skull was going to crack off…
6:00am I felt nauseous, crawled off and knelt down beside my bed. “要吐就去吐，气压闷在里面吐去来会比较舒服。我也刚刚去吐了”after mum’s encouragement, I dragged my step to the toilet and vomited, pouring out water and air…
Important note: Keep meals light! Do remember that the air in your body and the air outside of 
your body might be of different pressure.
We agreed that we may have had too much food the night before.
8:00am I went to the buffet breakfast area in the hotel but with no appetite. 这时我在想是不是我没有服“高原康”的关系，但我听到那些服了药的人也在谈论着昨晚的惊心动魄……原来《心跳100》是这样来的~!
The tour guide said that it was a normal symptom and that it would be be worse at night. Difficulty sleeping is just a common symptom in the first few days after arriving at Lhasa. Bear in mind the air was thin, lesser oxygen and lower air pressure.
Tried to open a mineral water we brought with us from the lower ground…… psss…… 都会有气跑出来呢。
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9:00am To visit Potala Palace, group tourists need to make an appointment in advance. Restricted time would be given and once entered into the building, group must come out of the palace within an hour, otherwise the tour guide license would be revoked. As so, our group was instructed to visit the Palace at 10:45am. We started off early because it took time to climb the massive stairs up to the entrance.
9:30am Bus was parked by the foot at the side of the great Potala Palace。远远就凝望着我们的目的地，我不再是从照片中展望它了，布达拉宫散发的磁场我深深感觉到……那稳重的气息，给与整个拉萨城安全与精神的寄托。众多藏族手持各型各色的转经轮徒步的来到这里，可以看得出这是他们日日轮回必做的事。
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Many people were confused as to why Tibetan monks are not vegetarian. In Tibet, eating vegetable is considered more luxurious than eating meat, because vegetables are hard to grow and cultivate in the country. Plus at this altitude, rich fat, protein, high carbohydrate food are needed. Tibetans mainly live on beef, mutton and milk products. However, not all meat are edible for them. Horse, donkey, dog, monkey, rabbit and even fish are avoided.
We took a slow stroll to catch the front view of 布达拉宫。
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藏族做什么都在念经，时时都念经，也可借助大自然念经：口念经、手念经(转着经轮或连珠)、风念经、水念经、步步念经……
檫肩而过络绎不绝的是他们，日复一日诚心的踏着同一条路线，南南自语……
It was quite cold under the morning cloudy sky.
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远眺有一座庙夹在布达拉宫右侧的山间，那是一座药王山17世纪建造的藏医学院。
Zoomed my camera lense to the furthest on the right of Potala Palace, we could see Chakpori. Tibetan name meaning "mountain corner of the mountain”. It is a famous shooting location to capture the beauty of Potala Palace. At every dawn, many photographers like to wait for the moment of the first sun ray illuminating horizontally through the mountains and shining on the Potala Palace.
On this hilltop there were piled gravels of Medicine King Bodhisattva. During the 17th century, this temple had evolved and turned into a School of Medicine. Selected Lamas were sent here to learn medical knowledge recorded from China, India and Tibet. However all this was already a history for this abandoned building.
The tour guide told us that as long as she passed us the ticket, we had to stop taking photos as it is prohibited to take photos inside the Palace, as your equipment may be confiscated.
She guided us to this entrance as there is a strict custom like checking right after the threshold. Our bags and cameras had to go through a scanner and we even had to walk through a metal detector. “Oh no… can’t take photos anymore…” that was what was running in my mind. The tour guide said “We still can take photo… As we are yet to reach the real entrance… " the guide ensured us but sounded very serious about the rules and laws in the palace. There was a vague tensed atmosphere hovering around.
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Finally we were right at the foot of the giant Palace. Our hundreds of steps started at that point.
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ZigZag up the stairs… because of thin air, after only 20 steps, I could not help but leaned on the wall gasping and panting heavily. I had tried to go really slow, but it was unexpectedly tiresome.
墙上红色粗粗的颜料是白玛草植物压榨出来的红色汁液涂抹而成，这种白玛草并非一种草，而是一种權木，质地坚硬，同时也是上好的建筑材料，布达拉宫金顶群四周的围墙就是用这种材料建成的。据说这种特殊的墙体不单结实干燥，透气性强，而且重量相对较轻，也是布达拉宫几百年屹立红山不倒的因素之一。
布达拉宫的白色是用牛奶、石灰等材料涂抹而成的，牛奶通常是信徒供奉而来，如果您见过藏族奶渣的话，会发现布达拉宫白宫墙体的颜色和奶渣的颜色是十分相似的。
另外需要说明一点，白色在藏传佛教中象征着慈悲。红色象征着智慧和力量，只有贵族家族或者是寺庙才能用它。
……I am…… almost reaching…… the real…… entrance……
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Finally we reached the great entrance, protected by the four heavenly Gods which are the common icons for most big temples around the whole world. It was a tall majestic entrance but the width was narrow, hundreds of tourists seemed to be stuck at the bottle neck entrance. The tour guide distributed our ticket at that point…… and the time.. started… then…… (Haha… and she did look quite tensed up)
We started off from the “White Palace”… Majestically big outside but inside was not spacious at all… However, the treasure inside was magnificent~! Real gold, fossil Agate, Red Coral Ruby, Turquoise, Sapphire, Pearls, Jade…… Infinity of fortune there~!
It is just a one way route which was only the width of 3 people standing shoulder to shoulder. We followed really closely with the guide because the interior was exactly like a maze, I would have felt lost, but it was really congested as you can imagine thousands and thousands of tourists and 
locals flocked into this narrow pathway everyday. Especially the locals come here to pray and do their offerings as part of their daily routine.
I wished one of the precious stones could fall off from any of the casting in the building… SIN~! Cheryl SIN~! How could I have such a greedy thought~!……blow away the bubble… blow… blow… Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu……
The White Palace was for secular uses and contained the living quarters, offices, the seminary and the printing house. Totally lost sense of direction, we finally came out from the dark spinning maze to a central yellow-painted courtyard, the highest point of White Palace.
As we stepped into this entrance, we would then be heading towards the Red Palace of the building.
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The Red Palace is completely devoted to religious studies and prayers. This Red Palace is made up of complicated layouts as well as with many different halls, chapels and libraries at many different levels with a complex array of smaller galleries and winding passages. The tomb of the V to XIII (except VI) Dalai Lamas’ giant stupas contains their bodies with priceless jewels and one ton of solid gold. Devotional offerings include elephant tusks from India, and a mandala made from over 200,000 pearls. Elaborated murals in traditional Tibetan styles depict many events of the life of the their history.
Although this was a great holistic place, but the atmosphere inside was quite somber. Dim yellow lights and guards located at every corner of the “maze” urging visitors to hurry up… to make way for the others… and keep going…
Our tour guide tried to introduce each Stupas and monuments, but because of time factor, she was explaining very quickly, giving as much information as she could. To be honest, I can’t remember any of the names and events. I am impressed that she has memorized all these facts and put in so much effort to make us understand. To visit the interior of the Potala Palace, you would really need a guide, or else, it would be pointless. After having some ideas of the use of the Potala Palace, you will be impressed of the happenings and history of the place you’ve stepped on.
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Descending time~! My dad was still gasping… Well going down was a little easier.
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Looked like the wishing stones we saw at Korea, where people stacked the stones to make wishes come true if the stones stay as it is. It is believed that the higher you stack the faster the wish will come true. However, this stacking of stones has a different meaning in Tibet.
← Sun is up~! Quite glaring and piercing hot… the one with backpack and head scarf, it’s me~
12:30pm Potala mission accomplished~! Set off for lunch… I’m hungry…
1:00pm Lunch for the day –Nepalese food-. Never had this before… I could not imagine… hoped that I could swallow something~ fingers crossed…
拉萨雪域餐厅 Lhasa Snow Land Restaurant
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Oooooo….. our familiar Naan came with the starchy Hakka “leicha” kind of soup…… 像蕾茶不过没有蕾茶的香。
The tour guide advised us not to drink beer for the first few days, but the adventurous uncles just wanted to have a taste of Lhasa beer.
Pizza~! Spaghetti with tomato paste~! Chicken curry~! Fried spring onion dumpling~! Yummm… This was really a good meal~! Thumbs UP. But I never knew Nepalese ate pizza and spaghetti… haha…
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If you travel Potala Palace by yourself, do take note of the admission Fee:
CNY 200 (May 1-Oct.31); CNY 100 (Nov. 1-Apr. 30); Free for children under 1.3m and seniors aged above 70.
Travel Tips: Only 4000 tickets are issued each day and about 100 tickets are issued every 20 minutes.
Opening Hours: 07:30 - 18:40 (May 1-Oct.31);
09:00 - 16:00 (Nov.1-Apr.30)
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