Get get rid of gold? Can I make a discrete suggestion? <VBG>
FEATURE-In Tibet tourists
find Buddhas-and bowling
09:38 p.m Jul 04, 1999 Eastern
By Andrew Browne
SHIGATSE, Tibet, China, July 5
(Reuters) - It's a long way to drive to
go bowling.
Over the roof of the world, past
glaciers, nomad huts and mediaeval
monasteries, the scenic route from
Lhasa to Shigatse takes 11 hours by
car across a bumpy dirt-track road.
At the end of the journey, Tibet's
second holiest city offers dazzling
treasures from an ancient Himalayan
kingdom: a monumental bronze
Buddha, the biggest in the world, and
bejewelled and gold-encrusted
Bodhisattvas.
And a ten-pin bowling alley.
On a recent Friday night, Nema
Sewang, a portly young officer of the
People's Bank of China, was making
the pins fly. He sported a chunky
gold watch and had a girl draped on
each shoulder.
''Very few people can afford this,''
he said with a swagger. ''But I come
here all the time.''
So much for Shangri-La, the mythical
paradise made popular in Hollywood
movies such as ''Kundun'' and
''Seven Years in Tibet.''
A TRAVEL WARNING
Tourists beware. In Tibet, expect
Buddhist monks and barroom
mama-sans, breathtaking lamaserias
and dismal new office blocks. The
headspinning mixture of ancient and
modern, sacred and profane, is not
to everybody's taste.
''Heinous, absolutely heinous,'' said
Alice Woods, a 20-something
backpacker from London with red
hair and a nose ring, commenting on
the architecture of new Lhasa.
''It's not what you expect. I wouldn't
advocate it for anybody.''
Huge investments by Beijing have
turned much of Lhasa and Shigatse
into Chinese cities like any other.
Whole Tibetan neighbourhoods have
been razed to make way for glitzy
shops and department stores.
The time warp begins in the
departure lounge of Chengdu
International Airport in southwest
Sichuan province, the most popular
jumping-off point from China for
flights to Tibet.
There are Dutch backpackers and
American tour groups, Moslem
traders from China's far west and
businessmen from Shanghai. And
young Chinese women in mini-skirts
and hot-pants on their way to the
''Roof of the World'' to make a
living in the brothels and karaoke
parlours.
The Air China flight on one of the
bigger Boeings takes a little more
than two hours, and the landing
glide-path to Lhasa airport curves
like a giant slalom between
snow-capped peaks.
CIVILISATION, CHINESE
STYLE
In Lhasa, it is possible to leave the
17th century Potala Palace -- the
winter residence of the exiled Dalai
Lama -- hop into a Volkswagen taxi,
and 10 minutes later be seated for
the floor show at the Fragrant Tea
Nightclub.
The club boasts no fewer than 100
hostesses, a mama-san called Mary
and a compere nicknamed ''Little
Ding Dang,'' Tibet's most famous
television showbiz figure who sings
Cantonese pop songs in a gold lame
dressing-gown.
Mary, like most Chinese, is in Lhasa
to work; it has never occurred to her
to try sightseeing. Besides, she likes
to keep her distance from Tibetans,
who she says are ''a bit uncivilised.''
''They don't have the same level of
hygiene -- they're a little smelly,'' she
confided.
The foreign tourists, of course, can't
get enough of the Tibetans with their
braided hair and embroidered
gowns, exotic jewellery and
weathered faces.
''I love it,'' beamed Yesa Dietrich, a
Dutch jewellery designer on the hunt
for antiques at Lhasa's Barkhor
market. ''The Tibetans are just so
incredibly friendly -- big smiles in
their eyes.''
WEIGHTWATCHERS BEWARE
Getting there has never been easy,
although for Woods the overland
drive by Toyota Landcruiser from
Nepal -- a journey of some 36 hours
-- was one of the few high-points of
her trip.
''Even better than the Lake District,''
she enthused, comparing the world's
highest mountain peaks with one of
Britain's favourite holiday spots.
China does not encourage individual
tourism to Tibet, preferring large
groups that can be more easily
organised and monitored. Outbreaks
of anti-Chinese riots in 1987 and
1989 -- and sporadic bombings and
violence ever since -- make Beijing
authorities wary about visitors.
+Still, 1999 has been designated the
Year of Tourism in Tibet, and with a
little ingenuity and patience
backpackers often manage to sneak
in on their own.
''It's a lot of bureaucracy,'' sighed
Stephanie Wang, a
Chinese-American from California
studying in Beijing, who evidently
succeeded.
Most travellers leave Lhasa and
strike off on their own after a few
days. A good place to organise a car
and tour guide is the Snowlands
Hotel, popular with travellers for its
cappuccino coffee and cinnamon
rolls.
Shigatse is a favourite first stop.
The spiritual seat of the Panchen
Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's
second-ranking figure, it also lays
claim to being the loftiest city in the
world.
The thin air can give visitors
headaches and nausea, at least for
the first day or so. But, according to
wags in the city, it may be better to
be fat and unfit than lean and healthy:
big muscles need more oxygen.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. |
