-- From Lhasa to Kathmandu

The day of the 26/09 was dedicated to visit the both monasteries located at the north of Lhasa.
Michel and me left to Drepung in the morning by taxi with Liu and the interpreter. We returned about 13:00 to the carpark to lunch. Drepung is a great Gelugpa monastery founded by a disciple of Tsongkhapa in 1416. It was the residence of the Dalai Lamas until the construction of Potala. Currently there are approximately 600 monks. The photograph of the cover of this Internet site shows a cell of monk with the Stars and Strips Banner!
The Chinese government controls the number of monks in monasteries.
Around 14:00 the same people left to visit the Sera monastery. It was founded in 1419 by another disciple of Tsongkhapa. He was the rival of Drepung for training of monks. In addition to the various rooms, the main attraction is a debating courtyard where monks by group of three discuss points of the Lamaist canon.
About 17:00 we went to seek our passport at the consulate of Nepal.

The day of the 27/09 was occupied by the visit of Potala then of Jokhang.
Potala was the residence of the Dalai Lamas from the Great Fifth to the escape of the current Dalai Lama after the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese army. To visit it it is necessary to make a reservation one or two days before and to present the passport at the entry. The visit lasts an hour. The guide approved point at the entry and at the exit gives the ticket with the hour of entry. In the event of going beyond of the imposed duration, it can be made withdraw his approval and the tourists to pay a fine. In each visited room there is a soldier of the occupying army which supervises and possibly pushes the visitors who spend too much time. Potala became a museum, we visited it at a day dedicated to Tibetan pilgrims. It gathers the various rooms of the Dalai Lamas, vaults dedicated to the various deities of the Lamaist pantheon and the chortens, reliquaries, of the skins of some Dalai Lamas. The unit is sumptuous colours, richness of gold, silver and precious stones. The atmosphere is charged with incense, but remains a building without life in spite of the presence of pilgrims. Potala does not undergo the insults of the Cultural Revolution protected by the own troops of Zhou Enlai! It is rather ironic to see the Chinese tourists there.
Jokhang was built by King Songtsen Gampo about 640 AD to shelter two sculptures of which that of Jowo Sakyamuni. The two storeys of this quasi rectangular building are occupied by vaults containing sculptures of the deities of the Buddhist Pantheon. The sculpture of the Buddha of the present is venerated of all Tibet. Jokhang is located on the Barkhor square gathering pilgrims. At the time of my journey in 1991, Jokhang was under restoration after the sack of the Cultural Revolution. Few sculptures are original.
Barkhor and the adjacent streets are populated by pilgrims, monks and tourists strolling from shop to shop.
Assigned time did not enable me to go to see the railway station inaugurated in July 2006 which will pour out cohorts of Chinese tourists.

From Lhasa the road progresses on the Tibetan plateau towards the border between China and Nepal by visiting the main monasteries. I made this trip in opposite direction at the time of my journey in 1991.

The 02/10 about 9:00 we made the tail at the border post that opened at 10:00. In spite of a jumping the queue by a group of English, Liu made us pass the passport control quickly. It was different at the customs where we had to await a blow of plug during nearly two hours. We paid a tax by vehicle, any category, of 640 CNY.
Finally, we left Zhangmu around 11:45 to go the descent towards the Friendships Bridge for a last passport control and to give the Chinese number plates to our guide Liu. The journey in China was finished.
The Nepalese border crossing was a simple formality: Presentation of the carnet de passage en douane at the customs for filling of a shutter, then presentation of the passport at the immigration office for joining of a sticker of the entry date in Nepal. We were in Nepal.
The road until Bhaktapur is a much degraded dirt track that goes down from 2,200 meters to 1,300 meters high with some tarred parts. Then the road became asphalted until our entry in Katmandu about 17:30. I drove this last part of the road in the only company of Henriette and Roland. The looking for the carpark advised by China Comfort Travel was relatively simple, since I recognized the city where I had remained in the Shanker hotel at the time of a trekking in Nepal in 1999. Alas, the cost of the carpark being prohibitory I stationed in the street close to the Ambassador hotel.
During the way from Zhangmu to Katmandu, I have as copilot our charming interpreter Stéphanie who took a few days off in Katmandu before going back to Shanghai.

At the time of my trip in 1991, the Chinese occupying army was visible especially in Lhasa and the Chinese were still very few except in Lhasa in social buildings vis-à-vis Potala. Therefore, the policy of settlement of the Chinese government starting from Chengdu had had consequently that Tibetans are minority in their country. Lhasa is a Chinese city. Xigazé that was a large Tibetan borough in 1991 became the second city in Tibet. Would the conquest of the west Tibetan be a disastrous remake of American Far West?
It is as obvious as the policy of destruction of Tibetan civilization evolved; it became more subtle, less brutal. The restoration of the monuments destroyed by the Cultural Revolution, their development for mass tourism are noticeable. Thus in Lhasa the dreadful social buildings built in front of Potala moved to a nicely raised park.
Have regard to the policy of settlement, the annexation of Tibet is irreversible. Let us hope that the Tibetans will not be parked in reserve like Indo-American in USA. Tibet is always under administration of the occupying army.