Edublogs Challenge #9

 

By Nachman Kaul-Seidman

 

Though I do reside in America, I have been overseas several times. I was actually born in England, and stayed there for the first year of my life. My family then moved to America. My maternal grandparents live in New Delhi, India, and I visit them at least once a year. So in the ten years of my life, I have been to India over 10 times. When I was younger, there were no direct flights from the New York area to India, and the one we usually took was via England, so I revisited England many times (until I was about 5).

By Lisa Kaul

However, now I usually just take the direct flight – though I have visited a few countries –

England, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and most recently Japan,  on my way to India.

 

by Lisa Kaul

I always enjoy visiting a new country. I like the chance to experience the different culture, from the architecture and food, to the way people behave. (I really like to try the new foods.) I actually got a passport when I was a couple of months old, to go from England to America. That must have have made something click inside my head, because after that, I have always been ready to board a jet, and fly around the world (which I did this year).

There are too many countries that I want to visit. I’d love to revisit France, and see the Eiffel tower, and eat a snail;  visit Greenland, and see the  northern lights; journey to the pyramids in Egypt, and take a Safari in Africa. Even other than these countries, there are so many more that I would like to go to. But one place that I would really like to visit is Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in China.

When I read Tintin in Tibet, I became interested in Tibet, even though I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t find a Yeti, the way Tintin did. I also read Daughter of the Mountains, which takes place in Tibet. Both of these stories made me feel that exciting and amazing things happen in Tibet. I too, wanted to experience traveling through the snow-capped mountains, visit the cities carved into them and enjoy the colorful and unique culture and food. Then my mother told me about Lhasa.

 

From wikipedia and Created Commons licensed

 Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world. (Tibet is on one of the highest plateaus in the world.) I would love to feel the thrill of breathing in the cool, sharp, rare air on the roof of the world. There is an abundance of temples and monasteries in Lhasa. Next to the bustling streets, full of color and life, a wanderer can come upon small wonders of life – a beautiful and intricately carved temple, or a colorful and bright monastery. In and around the great monasteries, nuns chant and pray with a single beautiful voice, and monks argue over life, religion, and the universe. As mesmerising chants fill the air, peace fills in one’s heart.

 From wikipedia

  Yak’s meat, and other products of the yak, are the specialty in Lhasa. I have eaten fried frog in Poughkeepsie, water buffalo in India,  carpaccio (raw seasoned steak), and wild boar in Italy, and yaki-tori in Japan, but I have never had yak, or salted tea made with yak butter. The cuisine, besides the colorful palaces and the chanting monks, is just another piece of culture that increases the ‘mass’ of Lhasa, pulling me further toward it.

  I am also intrigued by the political situation in Lhasa. In Tibet, the people are led by both a political, and a spiritual leader, called the Dalai Lama. When the Chinese invaded Lhasa – the capital of Tibet – in 1950, the Dalai Lama was forced to flee to India. Ever since, the Chinese government has been present in Lhasa. Now, the Chinese government has raised several important Lamas – who are chosen as infants – with beliefs that fit in with those of the Chinese government. Very few foreigners are allowed in Lhasa under Chinese rule, and those from outside Lhasa who are given permission to enter still are not allowed to interact with locals very much. Religion and life in Lhasa is very suppressed. To protest against this, in a final desperate step, many monks have committed self immolation (have burned themselves).

 

  After all that I have heard and learned of Tibet, I still have the desire to go there. Though I have heard of the chants of monks, and of the temples and cities and palaces, I still am yet to truly experience them, to rediscover them in Lhasa, Tibet.

From wikipedia