7 days of Tibet

7 days of Tibet 

So a few days ago I just finished my adventures in Tibet. To say the least it was epic.

It began with a flight from Shenzhen to Lhasa. Getting on the plane was a bit nerve wracking as they checked our passports and permits many times (For those who don't know, the Chinese aren't the biggest fans of people entering and leaving Tibet). Alas, we made it onto the plane after a few hours and an airport official disappearing with our passports and permits for what seemed like half an hour.. But may well have only been 10minutes. Nonetheless, 10minutes in a foreign country where not many people speak your language and not knowing the whereabouts of your passport or if you'll get it back is 10minutes I can do without. However due to our kiwi nature we stayed cool headed about it all and it all turned out fine.

Controversial

The next leg was the flight. The majority of the flight was over the Tibetan mountains and it was beautiful. The landing was interesting as we weren't too sure if we'd land on sand or a mountain.. Alas we landed and were picked up from the airport and driven for about 1hour to our hotel in Lhasa. I liked Lhasa immediately. The mountains surrounding it reminded me of central Otago, but I also couldn't help but notice the plethora of Chinese flags. About two on every single lamp post.. Just in case we forgot...

Just like home

Because Tibet is difficult to get into, the only way for us to get in was through doing a tour. The other members of our group were mostly in their late 20s and came from chile, Lithuania, France and the United States. We were lucky to have a really cool group of people who all had interesting stories to share from all different corners of the world. We had a guide and a driver and had 3 main destinations: Lhasa (3300m altitude), shigatze (4500m altitude) and Mount Everest base camp (5300m altitude). The altitude at Lhasa alone was much higher than I'd ever been but luckily I didn't get sick.. Which I was very relieved about!!

Lhasa town centre

The first few days we spent in Lhasa in the old part/the Tibetan part. It was very beautiful and the Tibetans were some of the loveliest people I had met and the buildings were beautiful with Tibetan prayer flags strung all over the place. We visited potala palace (a huge temple with some 299 rooms!). It was pretty magnificent.. I could definitely feel the altitude when I was climbing the steps to it! 

Potala Palace

We also visited a number of other temples as well as trying local food such as yak meat. One evening we watched the sun set over the mountains from a rooftop bar, that was pretty magnificent.

We did much of the same in shigatze. At one temple in shigatze Steph and I were resting sitting on a step an within a number of minutes we had an audience: about 10 locals stood around us just watching us. At another temple we found a very friendly child who ordered us around and insisted he took photos of us on all our cameras.. It was very cute.

Making friends with the locals

Budding photographer

One of the highlights was definitely going to base camp of Mount Everest. To get there involved a very long drive over the mountains with a ridiculous amount of hair pin turns. It also involved a lot of tooting of horns (they're big on that here) and a lot of driving around animals. The animals in Tibet were great. Sheep, cows, dogs, yaks.. They were all very nonchalant and lay around on the road resulting in the traffic having to move around them. However, the scenery was pretty breath taking: mountains, lakes and glaciers, and if course, eventually, Mount Everest.

On our way to Everest

Dam

Glacier

The view of Everest from base camp was amazing. To be honest at first we did think 'it doesn't look that high'. But when we accounted for the fact that we were already at 5300m and the tricks of visual perception, we realised it was pretty awesome (we had that confirmed by watching the movie 'Everest' the following night. We stayed one night up at a guest house at base camp and it was very cold. But we all made it through and were pretty stoked to say we had stayed at the base camp of such a magnificent mountain. People were discussing the first person to climb it and one person from our group said 'oh yeah wasn't he British'... Steph and I were very quick to correct him..

Base Camp

Sun setting on Everest

In sum, Tibet was absolutely amazing. The scenery, the people, the animals, not to mention it's interesting past.. This latter point was particularly poignant with the amount of military and police checks we had to go through while on the road. However, what struck me was the joy and love that the Tibetans still showed. They were curious and caring and still held onto their traditions and beliefs despite it all. I think it's one of the most beautiful places on earth and I am very lucky to have been able to go there.

Peace and Shaka 

J x

Ramblings from the departure lounge

So, the Uni year is over... Finally. Part 1 masters was hard. Satisfying, but hard. I feel I learnt a whole new meaning to the term stress and somehow managed to survive the year functioning on un-ideally high levels of stress. But hey! I made it. Now it's time for a break. 

So, to kick off my break I flew to nelson and met up with my friend sofie and her cow-spotted van. Sofie and I had worked together at a bar in Wellington and one day in a spate of spontaneity, we decided we would road trip down to Dunedin. So we did just that. We travelled down the kaikoura coast and saw seals.. Lots of seals. We also camped beside an Irish motel/pub. That was a first. We then went inland to hamner before heading south again to lake puakaki and camping there before finally heading south to Dunedin. 

On the topic of spontaneity, about 5 months ago my friend asked me if I wanted to come travel China with her over the summer. I said yes. So, I find myself sitting in the international terminal of Auckland airport. My flight leaves in 7hours, I get a whole 30minutes free wifi, there's subway, McDonald's and kfc, and my flight has moved up 3 spaces in the board since I got here... So who knows what exciting adventures I'll get up to in the next 7 hours!!

Anyway, as stated, I'm off to China for a month. Flying into Hong Kong, a week in Tibet followed by 3 weeks travelling around and exploring China, then ending it all off with the finals of the miss world beauty pageant in Sanya. So here starts a new adventure! I will try keep my blog updated to my best ability (I'm unsure what sites I'll be able to access etc.) and will see you all when I get back late December. 

Until then.. stay happy, have fun, keep loving and most of all; just keep doing what you're doing 

Aroha

J X 

Why 'Adventures With My Two Left Docs'?

I have decided to start up a blog as summer approaches which brings with it new adventures and experiences. Every story starts with a title. So, I shall explain the reason behind the title of my blog.

'Adventures With'
I like adventures. I like the outdoors. I like new and interesting things. My biggest fear is becoming boring. I seek new experiences not only because I want to.. but because I need to. I have a short attention span, but I don't see this as a bad thing, it is who I am.


Adventures to beautiful places

'My Two Left'
I have 2 left feet. Metaphorically speaking that is. I blame the fact that they are small. However, they are actually pretty amazing things. They make me who I am and they take me on adventures.  Yes, my two left feet can be a bit of a disadvantage. But I wouldn't be me without them.  Thus, I like my two left feet. Which is just as well because they sure as heck aren't going anywhere.


'Docs'
I like docs (Short for Dr Martens - a type of shoe, for those wondering). Perhaps maybe even love? I have always loved Docs but it wasn't until I shifted to Wellington and stopped worrying what people thought that I really embraced this. Living in Dunedin I was too scared to stand out because I was worried about what people would say. I wanted Docs, but wasn't brave enough. Shifting to Wellington gave me a change in perspective hence creating a waterfall effect for my love for docs... I bought 6 pairs within 6 months. Docs to me symbolise to be true to myself and who I am.



Dr Martens aka 'Docs'. Disclaimer: The point here is not about my shoe addiction...
We'll address that in another blog

So there we go. An explanantion to the title. Three things that encapsulate me pretty well. Also, three is my lucky number, so hey presto!

I guess I felt an explanantion was necessary because in order to understand my story you need to undertand the title. If science has taught me anything it's that every action has an opposite or equal reaction. This is something I am passionate about sharing. Everything we do is the result of past experiences and stimuli intertwined and knitted together to give us the actions we carry out. This is what I believe society needs to understand better. I believe that too often we don't undertsand ourselves, let alone others. We don't understand that this person is this way because of X, Y and Z. And most importantly we don't understand that that is OK. Each event, each encounter, each moment is a thread in knitting together the tapestry that is life, and that is beautiful, regardless of the person.

Deep, yes. But I think the point I'm trying to portray here is that we need to open our hearts and our minds. We need to understand the basic principles of human thought and action and stop letting our hearts and minds be clouded. When it comes down to our basic elements we are pretty amazing creatures, each and every one of us, and not one of us should ever be left behind.

So, keep doing what you're doing. Keep living, keep breathing, keep loving. And in turn I'll keep you updated on my life




Adventures in my two left docs

Peace and Shaka
J x