Taj Mahal at sunrise, Agra, India

 

Photos of Agra, India

The primary reason most tourists go to Agra, India is to see the Taj Mahal. Nothing can prepare you for its' beauty, especially as the sun is rising in the morning. Another impressive but not as famous site is the Agra Fort, sitting on the river overlooking the Taj Mahal.

Taxi? Agra India. Your choice; camel or took tooks. 

Final act of the monkey/bear show at the road tax stop between Delhi and Agra, India. 

For the Skeptics

For all those who did not believe my story of being trapped in the car while a dancing bear, dancing monkeys, etc. performed outside the parked car, I've included pictures of the bear and monkey. By the time the snake charmer, jewelry merchant, and begger joined in, I was too terrified to continue taking pictures. See my previous entry on India.

Hauling stuff can take a variety of methods in India. 

Street scene in Agra India, but very typical of most of India. Somehow traffic seems to get through. 

Promised Photos

Now that I'm home, I can post photos from the trip. It's a little intimidating doing this because so many of you are great photographers (Sonny!), so please be merciful. I'm so sorry that I couldn't post pictures while I was travelling. Perhaps next time. Enjoy....Marion

A last look at the Tibetan mountains on the flight back to Hong Kong. 

Gasping and wheezing we toured the Norbulingka Temple, including the top apartments, reserved for the Dalai Lamas who visit there. The air is filled with the scent of burning candles made of yak butter and scents of incense. Walls are covered with shelves of the ancient books of the Bhuddist faith. Sadly, the Chinese government has placed limitations on the number of men who can become Bhuddist monks. Where there were once over 7000 monks, there are now only 1000 residing in this monestary. 

The Drepung Monestary and the surrounding market area with Buddhist pilgrims worshipping at the walls of the monestary. 

A Room in Tibet

With the tricky political situation in Tibet, the Chinese government has added an extra difficulty level for tourists; 1. You must have a Chinese visa, 2. You must be part of a tour, 3. You must have an official invitation from Tibet (this serves as your Tibetan visa), 4. You must enter Tibet from China. It would have been easier to visit Tibet from India, but I was forced to fly out of Xi'an and travel across China to get there. In my last minute scramble, I found a wonderful travel group (Wind Horse Holidays) that created a tour for one and sent all of my invitation paperwork to my hotel in China, just in time for the flight to Tibet. I was warned that my hotel reservation could be cancelled at any moment. The hotels in Lhasa will cancel one person's reservations for the opportunity to have a large tour group. This actually happened but I was moved to a fairly new hotel; the Dhud Ghu. It was located in a small alley which turned out to be a good thing. The best shopping in Lhasa is actually up and down the small alleys where the deals are the best. Also, each night I went to sleep with the sound of buddhist monks chanting outside my window, another reminder that I really was in Tibet.

The Dhud Ghu Hotel where I stayed in Lhasa Tibet, everything designed in a traditional Tibetan scheme. 

Loptsong,my knowledgable and gracious guide in Tibet with prayer flags flying overhead. The wind blowing the flags carries your prayers to heaven. 

I Love Hong Kong

In planning this trip, I selected Hong Kong simply because it was the best way to get to China and Tibet using frequent flyer miles. Unfortunately I scheduled very little time there - but it was love at first sight. I could live there. The city is actually a grouping of hilly islands and peninsulas surrounded by water. The hills are covered with new skyscrapers that average 50 floors(?) I would guess that Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated (person/ square foot) countries in the world. It is also a combination of the brand new and ancient traditional. Before my 27 hour flight home I wanted to pick up some novels written in English to read during the flights. I was directed through a huge open air market place selling flowers, fish, meats, and anything else you can imagine, but it felt like stepping back in time. The woman selling fish was actually using metal weights attached to a string to weigh the fish for customers. My final destination was the Times building where I was directed to the 9th floor. In between 1 and 9 was every high end store you can imagine; stores that you would find in the very pricey section of any city. Being in the Times building was like being in the US, except that everyone was oriental. In Hong Kong almost everyone speaks English and you are left alone as you browse through the open air shops on the streets. It is such a comfortable yet exciting place. Anything is possible in Hong Kong and it is easy to pick up on the excitement of the place. It is definitely another city where I will return. I regret that I had enough time only to touch the surface of the city, but also, my attention was on the end of my journey and the long trip home. I thought the trip would cure my wonderlust. Unfortunately it is worse now than ever. The trip was a tease to all the wonderful unexplored places out there.....Thanks for travelling with me on my excellent adventure. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Happy Trails to us all....Marion

The Deprung Monestary surrounded by the Tibetan market place. This is the temple we were not allowed to visit because of visiting Chinese dignitaries. 

The Potala, the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas, in Lhasa Tibet. 

Some of the gorgeous scenery on the trip from the airport into Lhasa, Tibet. 

The view from the airport in Lhasa Tibet. After all of my smog filled days in China it was such a relief to see blue sky. 

Tibet: the Roof of the World

Tibet should come with a warning: it is painful for your body, but even more painful for your heart. The body pain comes from Tibets' altitude. Of all the countries in the world, Tibet is the highest. In a moment of total stupidity I decided not to take my pills for altitude sickness and paid for this decision. Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, where I stayed, is at 14,000 feet and the highest part of Tibet is 16,000 ft. At 14,000 feet oxygen is at 65% of what it is at sea level. The result was 3 days of excrutiating headaches, always gasping for breath, continuous chest pains, and a cold. Eating dinner at the hotel was like being in the hospital. We tourists were truly a ragged looking group. I was tempted to use Valerie's expression; "you want some cheese with that whine?".....The pain in my heart, however, is a different matter. You really can't talk about Tibet without touching on their sad political situation. Like Bhutan, Tibet is strongly Buddhist. For centuries Tibet was ruled by a succesion of Dalai Lamas, men who served as both political and religious leaders of Tibet. The Buddhist religion teaches non-violence and the Dalai Lama is a living example of those teachings. For centuries Tibet was a country untouched, protected by the surrounding mountains. Tibetans lived their compassionate peaceful existence until Oct 7, 1950. Here is a paragraph from a tour book that summarizes the change;....."Unknown to the Tibetans, the communist takeover of China was to open what is probably the saddest chapter in Tibetan history. The Chinese "liberation" of Tibet was eventually to lead to 1.2 million Tibetan deaths, a full-on assault on the Tibetan traditional way of life, the flight of the Dalai Lama to India and the large-scale destruction of almost every historical structure on the plateau." To this day the Dalai Lama continues to live in India, waiting for the day when he will be restored to his rightful place in Tibet.......Visiting Tibet made me realize how quickly the Tibetan culture is vanishing and the Chinese culture is taking over. (Visit now while you have a chance!!!) The few temples that are still standing are riddled with destruction from the Chinese invasion. Almost overnight, Lhasa has been turned into a shopping mecca. Chinese is the language seen everywhere with Tibetan seen and heard mainly in the temples. All Tibetans must speak Chinese in order to get work. The Chinese army is everywhere. Loptsong, my guide, was taking me to a beautiful temple close to my hotel. A visiting Chinese dignitary was using the temple for a meeting and hundreds of soldiers in riot gear kept the religious pilgrims and tourists from getting close to the temple. It is truly heartbreaking. If you want to learn more about this issue and see the gorgeous scenery near Tibet, do see the movie "Seven years in Tibet." It is the true story of Tibet and the Dalai Lama before, during, and after the Chinese takeover. Interestingly, the movie is banned in Tibet.....Despite all my kvetching, I loved being in Tibet. You can't look at the temples and mountain scenery without being awestruck. The Tibetan marketplace is huge and gives you a rare opportunity to interact with the Tibetans. A warning - yak is an important part of Tibetan life, both as a beast of burden and as food. Butter is made from yak milk and the national drink - butter tea - is made by pouring hot water over yak butter. Yummy! I also had sweet and sour yak for dinner. It tasted like beef......A warning to Tibet - I will return for at least a week and this time I will take my pills for altitude sickness.....Farewell for now. Next stop Hong Kong and the 27 hour trip home. Happy Trails, Marion
Pictures Below from China!

People I met selling their vegetables across the street from one of the tourist sites. The woman with the tomatoes kept hitting me in the arm and yelling "Hey, hey, hey!" I finally started hitting here back and yelling "what, what, what?" Everyone started laughing at that point and she couldn't keep a straight face . 

Running the gamet between the terra cotta warriors and our car; a huge opportunity for some last minute impulse shopping. (Last chance to buy that lifesize terra cotta warrior, a pomegranite, and an animal skin, all in one place.) 

Pieces that have been placed in a nearby museum. The carriage top left is for a high ranking soldier. The "turtle" carraige on the top right was for the emporer. Xi'an, China 

Proof that I was actually there! It is still hard to believe. 

More details of the terra cotta warriors of Xi'an Chine. In the photo (upper left corner) the space between the horses and men is where a wooden carriage would have been. The 2 men behind the horses have their arms raised to hold the reins. 

Closer look at the warriors of Xi'an, China 

Home of the terra cotta warriors of Xian, China 

Grave site of Emporer Qin Shi Hung who created the terra cotta warriors, Xi'an China 

Statue of Lady Yang, Huaqing Palace, Xi'an China 

Details of Huaqing Palace, Xi'an China 

Mists over Huaqing Palace, Xi'an China