Back from China

Just returned from a great trip to China. I went with Judy and Joel Bedford from Denver whose son and his family live in Beijing. So it was like having an almost native tour guide to help us.

We started our trip in Beijing with its magnificent temples and the Forbidden City. On the anniversary of Sally's death we were at the Temple of Heaven and had a toast to Sally.

We then took a train to Tibet passing over areas as high as nearly 17,000 ft before arriving in Lhasa at a lower (about 14,000 ft) altitude. A little headache early on but Diamox for a day helped keep it from getting bad. In Lhasa we saw the Potala which is the palace of the Dalai Lama. He has been in exile for the past 52 years in India. Tibet is quite different from China. The language is different and the people seem to live a simple life, unlike people in the cities in China. It doesn't appear that the Tibetan people could stage any kind of uprising and yet Lhasa is patrolled by armed chinese military, some in full riot gear. Possession of a picture of the Dalai Lama is a prison-able offense. Lots of wonderful sights and wonderful Chinese food. In Tibet, the food is influenced by India. The main meat in Tibet is Yak. I had a yak steak and a yakburger. Joel wanted to open a franchise for the "Big Yak" to compete with MacDonalds.

Everything is so old. Many structures date to 400AD. The great wall was initially consructed in about 250 BC. We saw parts of the great wall in disrepair and parts that had been reconstructed. Very impressive.

In the "cultural revolution" Mao tried to destroy many of the temples and monasteries. He even destroyed some the great wall. The Potala was spared. It is said the the loss of life under Mao was greater than Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin. But Cultural Revolution sounds so much nicer than Holocaust and people don't realize what really happened!!

Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism are fairly different, I am told. Tibetan Buddhism is referred to as Lama-ism by the Chinese. Buddhism came from India and then spread through Tibet and China. I'd like to learn more about this fascinating religion and plan to do some more reading on it. I guess that is what defines a great trip--the desire to learn more after you have gotten back.

Meanwhile, the house repairs are partly done. We are now waiting for the arrival of the wood that should be here by the end of this month. We had a successful estate sale while I was in China.