Swayambunath temple

Swayambhunath is a Hindu and Budhist temple standing on a hill overlooking Kathmandu. It is also called the monkey temple since the hill is inhabited by a big number of monkeys. Last year I got too close of one of them and got knocked on the head by a protective mother. This year I kept the distance !

Nepal

This is my first post in Nepal.

Even if you have been in Kathmandu before, nothing prepares you for the noise, the pollution, the chaotic traffic and let's not forget the marijuana - tiger balm - flute sellers that harass you at every corner (it must be my long beard but I seem to attract a lot of the hash-marijuana sellers - I even thought of buying a "NO MARIJUANA, NO HASH, NO PROBLEM" tee-shirt).

But the Kathmandu Valley has its charms as you will see in the following pictures. And Kathmandu city has a special vibe that seems to attract a lot of tourists. Nowadays maybe too much.

Tibetan people

Some photos of Tibetan people. Don't expect much because I have a small digital camera. My only requirement is that it should fit in my pocket !



Dancers rehearsal for a religious festival being celebrated in Lhasa. This photo was taken in front of the Dalai Lama's old summer palace.



Yak butter seller in her lunch pause. This photo was taken in the Kora (pilgrimage circuit) behind the Potala.



Painting the Jokhang temple in Lhasa. The temple was crowded with pilgrims since winter time is when they come from different parts of Tibet and China to visit the main religious temples.



A monk enters Reting monastery, one of the most important monasteries in Tibet and also one that most suffered with the chinese cultural revolution.



Monks in a religious ceremony in Sakya monastery. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of pilgrims. Sakya is probably the most authentic place I have been during my stay in Tibet. We were the only tourists in town.



Small children and huge monastery. Sakya monastery is really impressive and we were going around the monastery's Kora when this girl smiled for the photo.

Back from EBC

I think this photo shows well why they call Tibet the roof of the world...

The photo was taken on our way back from Everest base camp. We slept in Rombuk monastery, close to the Everest Basecamp (which was desert, being winter) and it was an extremely cold night. All the water bottles in our room were completely frozen in the morning and so were we...

Deep blue

Just after a 5100m pass, the deep blue of Yamdrok lake seems unreal. Maybe an effect from altitude sickness?

Ganden monastery

Not far from Lhasa, Ganden monastery is slowly recovering the splendor it had before the cultural revolution.

Drigung Till

Monk admiring the beautiful landscape from Drigung till monastery. It was early in the morning and very very cold but the light was fantastic and the colors very autumnal...

Walking on the water

Walking around lake Nam Tso, 4900m high

Is this Lhasa ?

Tibetan pilgrim family overlooking Lhasa from the Potala

Inside Potala

White palace courtyard, Potala Palace

Potala

Ok, this is a classic, but it is still so impressive that I had to post it.

Back online

After three weeks of censorship in Tibet, I am finally free from the chinese government control paranoia and can write you a few words before publishing some pictures.

Blogspot is not the only site I found out to be censored (Facebook is another) and I can only say that the chinese government seems completely paranoiac: The streets and the roofs of Lhasa are still full of soldiers and the temples and monasteries full of cameras. Freedom of speech is inexistent (I was told that the walls have eyes and ears), just as the photos of the present Dalai Lama.

What is more ironic in the whole thing is that you can easily see that the chinese presence in Tibet and more particularly in Lhasa is irreversible, and the only thing that the people from Tibet really want is the return of the Dalai Lama and the preservation of their culture.

Instead, the chinese government demonises the Dalai Lama and promotes a criminal Han immigration policy that is transforming Lhasa (already transformed) in a chinese city.

On the good side of the chinese action the latest years is the rebuilding of all the temples and monasteries that themselves had destroyed during the cultural revolution.

I had promised I would only publish pictures but I could not resist to write this, even if politics are clearly not in the scope of this blog.

Anyway, Tibet was a great experience and it was great to go during the low season (winter) when all the pilgrims fill the streets of Lhasa and tourists are almost inexistent. The weather during this period is also the best. Clear blue sky everyday. The drawback is the cold, but living in Switzerland we should be used by now... or not?

I leave you with the pictures (if I am able to upload them because my internet connection is so bloody slow...) .