Ben's Blog

Intensive Tibetan at UVA

2008-07-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

I've been taking a very intensive colloquial Tibetan course at the University of Virginia for the past month and a half. The class, which runs from 9-4:30, has three instructors: Professor Nicolas Tournadre teaching the main and grammatical component of the course, and two Tibetan instructors (Yangkey Wang and Tsering Wangchuk) leading the drill and conversation sessions. In the evening from 7-9:30, there is another class which focuses on conversation and presentations. There are weekly oral and written exams, daily journal writing exercises, and a lot of homework!

We've been very lucky to have a Tibetan Professor, Tsewang Lhamo join us for parts of the course. She's given us a fascinating lecture series on Tibetan Astrology (she's an expert on this subject) over the past several weeks.

Toronto Scientology Protest

2008-05-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the Scientology protest I stumbled upon last week outside the Toronto Church of Scientology. It was quite a spectacle, with a lot of creepy masks, and I even saw a heated exchange between a protester and...a Scientologist? I'll probably get my name on a list for posting this...but what the hell.

Toronto

2007-12-11T06:14:00.000-08:00

A cool picture of the Toronto skyline at night from U of T campus.

Montreal

2007-08-12T11:28:00.001-07:00

Back in Canada...Montreal to be exact. Sarah's got another project here - I'm accompanying her around as she writes about hotels, restaurants, tomatoes, and so on.

Macau

2007-08-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

Macau is filled with incredible Portuguese architecture, but not much of a visible European population remains. The locals speak many languages, including Macanese, a creole of Cantonese and Portuguese (among other languages).

We went to Macau on an unbelievably hot day. I had to keep dumping bottles of water over my head just to keep from passing out.

Hong Kong II

2007-08-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

This is a beach at Repulse Bay on the southern shore of Hong Kong Island. We spent the day swimming in the ocean. Here are some pictures from Po Lin Monastery we visited another day, on Lantau Island:

We ate a vegerarian feast at a temple restaurant.

Hong Kong I

2007-08-08T10:57:00.001-07:00

Sarah spent a month in Hong Kong while I was on the seminar, so by the time I got there she really seemed to know her way around.

Hong Kong Island at dusk.

One of the markets in the Mong Kok district of Kowloon.

Kowloon at night.

Approaching Hong Kong Island on the ferry from Kowloon.

Hong Kong and Kowloon from Victoria Peak.

Philipina domestic workers sitting outside money-wiring outlets on Hong Kong island.

Soho (District) at night.

Japanese propaganda posters produced during the occupation of Hong Kong from the Hong Kong Museum of History.

One night we ate dinner at a very, very confusing Taiwanese "vegetarian" restaurant, which served both real and fake meat...and had cartoons everywhere.

Lhasa to Hong Kong by Train (via Guangzhou)

2007-08-08T10:27:00.000-07:00

I could really go on posting about Tibet forever...I've barely covered half of all the places I visited. But I suppose it's time to move on, since I've already left. I took the train from Lhasa to Guangzhou in southern China, which took a total of 57 hours (plus another 2 hours to Hong Kong). The scenery was incredible. I shared a cabin with a rotating group of people...all Chinese. Actually, I hardly saw any Tibetans on the train at all, and there were only 2 other westerners all the way to Guangzhou. I managed to completely avoid the dining car this time...I really couldn't stomach the smell, and I had enough energy bars to keep myself alive. Needless to say, I was very happy to arrive in Hong Kong after three full days on the train.

Tibet Museum in Lhasa

2007-08-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

There were hundreds of incredible pieces of art at the Tibet Museum in Lhasa, but I especially loved this one that depicts Tibet as a demoness which has been subdued by Buddhist temples, which are all meticulously labeled on the painting. The Jokhang, for instance, covers her heart.

The museum also had many old manuscripts and a wide variety of statues, and thankas...I especially liked those depicting astrological and medical topics.

Back to Lhasa

2007-08-08T09:29:00.001-07:00

I was very happy to come back to Lhasa at the end of the seminar. I really missed the lively atmosphere, coffee, Nepali food, and especially all the friends I made before the trip westward.

Another trip to the Potala. This time, the stairs up felt much easier.

Here are a couple of videos of pilgrims in front of the Potala and the Jokhang:
http://www.vimeo.com/242640
http://www.vimeo.com/243162

A picture of Chinese tourists dressing up in Tibetan clothes in front of the Potala, which was taken during a lecture on the history of Lhasa. We were completely surrounded by Chinese police!

Mindroling

2007-08-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

This is the town of Mindroling.

Two pictures of our campsite - definitely our best camping experience in Tibet.

Mindroling Monastery.

Tibetan women repairing the roof of the monastery by pounding agar clay in unison, to the tune of a song. Here's a very short video clip: http://www.vimeo.com/266259

A view from the roof of Mindroling Monastery.

The monastery courtyard.

Nenying Monastery

2007-08-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Nenying Monastery was damaged by both the British in the early 20th century and then later during the Cultural Revolution, nevertheless it continues to be an active monastery.

Shalu

2007-08-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Shalu, where we stayed for three days. We drank chang (barley beer) out of gasoline containers in the dining tent.

Inside the courtyard at Shalu Monastery.

The wall murals inside the monastery, such as this fourteenth-century Mt. Meru painting from part of a huge narrative inside the circumambulatory path, were in excellent condition.

Samye Monastery

2007-08-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

Samye Monastery.

A depiction of Shambhala. Many of the murals at Samye had been vandalized, with deities' eyes often gouged out.

Gyantse

2007-08-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

Gyantse Dzong

Walking up the dzong.

A view of the town.

Palchor monastery as seen from the top of the dzong.

Walking through the town.

Two girls posing for a picture.

The Gyantse Kumbum, a three-dimensional mandala containing 108 chapels of religious murals and statues. the facutly discussed at length different classificatory schemes for the Kumbum (the most widely held view for instance, is that the different levels of the Kumbum are thought to correspond to a 4-fold classification of the tantras).

A mandala inside the Kumbum.

Camping in Western Tibet

2007-07-20T15:29:00.001-07:00

Although we camped at Mindroling, most of the trip we camped in Western Tibet. Here's a picture of me pitching my tent. We were usually surrounded by domesticated animals, such as yaks or sheep and goats, as pictured below at our campsite near the Dungkar Caves.
We also encountered thousands of Himalayan Pikas, which the group erroneously called "mini marmots," thanks to our regular encounters with similar-looking, but much larger marmots. Here are two Pika pictures:

Piyang "Library"

2007-07-17T06:29:00.000-07:00

During our visit to the caves at Piyang, we were shown the "library" (which is housed in the red building pictured above) by the caretaker. According to him, a certain old monk went around to all the caves and ruins at Piyang and collected all the texts he could find (including ripped pieces of texts (pictured below). Many of these texts are extremely old (dating back to before the 12th century) and were written in various scripts and on different coloured paper and with different types of ink. One of the lecturers on the seminar gave us some instructions on how to date the texts - for instance by looking at the orthography, cataloguing systems for canonical texts and binding holes. Unfortunately, we weren't permitted to stay for long enough to read any!

Tsaparang

2007-07-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

The Site Seminar visited Tsaparang - one of the ancient capitals of the Guge Kingdom dating back to the 10th century, and which has incredible ruins built into the side of a mountain. It has caves and tunnels snaking through the earth and various types of ruined buildings scattered along the top. The highest temple at Tsaparang houses a three-dimensional mandala with a tiny circumambulatory path around it.

Tibet Site Seminar

2007-07-13T03:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a seriously long time...my month-long trip with the Tibet Site Seminar didn't provide too many opportunities for updating my blog. It was a high-speed and intense 30-day jeep trek across central and western Tibet. Much of the time was spent traversing the huge expanses of territory in order to get from one place to the next, travelling on dirt roads and camping along the way. The Site Seminar was quite a serious academic affair, involving lectures on site by one or more of the buddhologists, art historians, architects, and archaeologists who travelled with us. Here are just two of the more than 5,000 pictures I took over the past month:

Mt. Kailash

The landscape of Western Tibet.

A Street Musician in Lhasa

2007-06-05T01:09:00.001-07:00

Here's a video link to a young street musician performing Tibetan folk music near Barkhor Square, which is pictured above from the top of Jokhang Temple:
http://vimeo.com/204507/l:transcoded_email

Tibet III - Sera Monastery Printing House

2007-06-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures and a video from the printing house at Sera Monastery.

Here are some of the thousands of woodblocks from which the texts are printed.

The printers rub paper on top of the woodblocks that they cover with black ink. I was lucky to be able to buy one of these texts from the monks.

Here's a link to a video of the printing process: http://vimeo.com/204220

Tibet II - Ganden Monastery

2007-06-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from Ganden Monastery:

The monastery.

This is the road up to the monastery.

The view from the monastery (600 meters above Lhasa).

Part of a mural at the entrance of one of the colleges.

Seven Weeks in Tibet

2007-06-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

My first two weeks in Tibet have been a whirlwind of activity--hard to keep up with due to altitude sickness that's improving ever so slowly--visiting monasteries, nunneries, and temples around Lhasa; studying spoken Tibetan with Pema, my outstanding teacher; meeting a lot of interesting people; and eating lots of vegetable momos. Here are a few of the hundreds of pictures I've already taken:

I took this picture in Barkhor Square, the center of Lhasa's Tibetan quarter, during Sakadawa, the celebration of the Buddha's birth, death, and enlightenment, when Tibetans come to Lhasa to do the Lingkor--a pilgrimage circuit around the old city.

This picture was taken during a day of heavy pilgrimage traffic. The plumes of burning incense and juniper can be smelled all over the Barkhor.

Right outside my hotel, I snapped this picture of two Khampas on the pilgrimage. I didn't realize they noticed me until I saw the picture! The pilgrim behind them is completing the entire circuit by performing full prostrations.

Tourists are allowed to take pictures and videos of the monks debating in the courtyard at Sera Monastery. My guide, Gyatso, explained the content of the debates, which focus on metaphysics, and the bodily actions which facilitate the debate: a clap from the standing monk signals a question being asked (to the seated monk), a rosary swung around the questioned monk's head means the answer is incorrect, and a correct answer...I'm not sure. If anyone out there knows, please leave a comment!

Here's a short video clip of the debating monks at Sera Monastery: http://www.vimeo.com/clip:202706

Shanghai to Lhasa

2007-05-31T20:37:00.000-07:00

The Qinghai-Tibet railway(http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Tibet/171193.htm), which opened last year, connects Lhasa with a number of major Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. The journey from Shanghai takes 49 hours and passes through the cities of Xi'an, Langzhou, Xining, and Golmud. In the TAR, the train passes by Namtso Lake, and a number of railway stops in the middle of nowhere, which are unpopulated, except for Chinese guards standing at attention.

The train passes by permafrost, glaciers, mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers, villages, towns, cities, farms, factories, and numerous enormous posters exalting the "miracle" of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Onboard announcements in Chinese and English point out cultural, geological, and other noteworthy points of interest, as well as the various engineering feats which had to be overcome in the railway's construction.

This is the city of Langzhou in north-western China. It enjoys the unofficial title of 'most polluted city in the world'.

Passing by a village in central China.

Here is the onboard altimeter. The train passes above 5,000 meters, and is supposedly pressurized in order ease altitude sickness. The open windows in the washrooms didn't seem to help matters.

Passing by permafrost in Tibet. The railway apparently uses a number of technological breakthroughs in order to keep the ground frozen, such as circulating liquid ammonia below the rails.

Namtso Lake.

A rainbow over the Tibetan landscape.

The dining car. The absence of refrigerators makes for a smelly train.

Shanghai II

2007-05-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

Before I move on to my Tibet posts, here are a few more pictures from Shanghai:

These Cultural Revolution figurines are everywhere in one of Shanghai's "antique" markets.

These are the statues inside the main hall of the Confucian Temple (from the previous post).

This is a typical street scene in the old part of Shanghai (where the Confucian Temple is).

Finally, here is Nanjing Road, one of the city's main shopping streets.

Shanghai

2007-05-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from my one of my favourite neighbourhoods in Shanghai, the French Concession.

Follow this link for a video I took of a ritual (honouring ancestors) at a Confucian temple in the oldest part of Shanghai: http://vimeo.com/192715

Next Stop: Lhasa.

Ferry to Shanghai

2007-05-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

We spent 50 hours on the ferry from Osaka to Shanghai. Here's a picture of our Chinese ferry, the "Su Zhou Hao" docked in Osaka.

The ferry sailed through the inland sea between the island of Honshu on one side and the islands of Shikoku and Kyushu on the other before crossing the East China Sea. Here's some pictures we took at sunset.

Finally we arrived in Shanghai.

Sayonara Japan...

2007-05-10T04:49:00.000-07:00

It feels like I just got here, but already it’s time to leave Japan. We set sail for Shanghai tomorrow afternoon. Here are a few interesting pictures I haven’t posted yet:

A few days ago, we visited our local Shinto shrine, here in Nishinomiya. The young attendant was kind enough to let us take her picture.

I was struck by the thriving Pachinko (pinball gambling) industry in Umeda, Osaka...it seemed like there were quite a few brand-new parlours.

This is a late-night line-up (a familiar sight in Osaka) outside a kushikatsu restaurant in Tennoji.

Part of a moss-covered shrine at the foot of a mountain in Kyoto.

This is a noodle shop in “Piss Alley” (Shomben Yokocho), a narrow lane lined with tiny restaurants and bars next to Shinjuku station, in Tokyo. Here’s a link to a video I took while wandering through:

http://www.vimeo.com/clip:187231

Tennoji, Osaka

2007-05-09T02:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture I took in Tennoji, a district in southern Osaka, a few nights ago. There were so many people on the street on this warm night, attracted by the dozens of bars serving do-it-yourself kushiage (skewered and deep-fried meat and vegetables).

Christon Cafe

2007-05-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

Last night, Sarah and I went out to celebrate (Sarah finishing her latest writing assignment, and me, the last of my coursework) at one of our favourite restaurants in Osaka, Christon Cafe. Christon Cafe is one of Japan’s most fascinating “theme bar/restaurants”—it's full of Christian religious art, like Jesus paintings, crucifixes, and so on, apparently taken from derelict churches in Europe. I wonder if any Japanese Christians think Christon is blasphemous. It’s a really popular place, as is the Buttu Trick Bar—Christon’s Buddhist equivalent (see advertisements below).

Kyoto

2007-05-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we spent the day in Kyoto, which is only about an hour by train from where we're staying. Walking by a plush-looking tea house, we spotted a Maiko (apprentice Geisha) out with a client. It was unbelievable luck, since I've only ever seen a glimpse of a Maiko scurrying through the streets of Gion at dusk into a taxi. Even the Japanese passers-by were excited. She let us take her picture and seemed to be amused by us, especially Sarah's gushing compliments about her beauty.

The rest of the day seemed to pale in comparison to this vivid experience, except for the incredible Kiyomizu temple.

...and the walking through Kyoto's old, narrow streets.

Osaka

2007-04-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

With our rail passes now expired, Sarah and I are going to linger around the Kansai region until we leave for Shanghai by boat on June 10th. We're staying with our very good friends Rositsa and Pierre Serge in Nishinomiya, a suburb of Osaka. Here's a picture of them with their daughter Rayia, friend Ari, and Sarah.

We spent yesterday in Umeda, one of Osaka's busiest buisiness and entertainment districts, where I used to live five years ago. It seems like very little has changed. Here's one of my favourite Shinto shrines, under a train station and behind a taxi stand.

Uwajima

2007-04-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

We travelled to Uwajima on Shikoku Island to visit our friends, who opened an English school there. The economy in this town has gotten much worse since the last time we visited three years ago. At least half of the businesses downtown were permanently closed. We hiked up a mountain - past old temples and shrines, and a huge cemetary - to visit an Onsen, and sat outside in the steaming hot water, while it rained.

The "Snow Monkeys"

2007-04-21T23:39:00.000-07:00

We went to visit the "snow monkeys" in the Village of Yudanaka near Nagano that are famous for bathing in the hot springs there to keep themselves warn in the winter. Most of them ignored us as we walked around, except for one that got agitated when I looked at him in the eyes.

Overnight in a shukubo at Zenko-ji

2007-04-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

We stayed overnight at a shukubo (Buddhist temple lodging) at Zenko-ji, Nagano’s 1300-year-old Tendai and Jodo Temple (allegedly home to the oldest Buddha-image in Japan...which is unfortunately never displayed!). Upon arrival at 5:00pm, we were shown to our room, had a meeting with the head of the house, and had the timetable for the evening and following morning explained to us. We were purportedly given the best room and fussed over endlessly at this shukubo (I don’t think they’ve had too many foreigners stay here). After having our bath and getting changed into our yukatas, we were served a Buddhist (vegan) meal (shojin-ryori) (pictured below) which consisted of a wide variety of jellied, pickled and boiled “mountain vegetables,” roots, beans, and mushrooms (most of which I’d never eaten before). True to the restrained lifestyle embodied in this cuisine, there were no strong flavours, or satisfyingly heavy starches in this meal.

Woken up at 5:00am (!) by drumming outside, we made our way to the head temple building for morning prayers. We were blessed (on the head with a heavy rosary) by the Tendai abbot on the way in and the Jodo abbess on the way out (see her leaving the temple under the red umbrella), along with the other pilgrims who had come for the daily chanting. After the prayers, we made our way under the temple into a pitch-black tunnel to search for the “key to paradise” on the wooden walls...which felt more like a door knob.

Later in the day, we visited the various buildings of the temple. My favourite was the sutra repository—a massive box (see the picture - it's too big to get in the frame), containing all the sutras ever given to the temple, which pilgrims are encouraged to rotate for merit.

Our shukubo had an amazing shrine and Edo-period mural which tells the the story of Zenko-ji within the wider history of the transmission of Buddhism to Japan.

Tokyo III - Shinjuku Gyoen

2007-04-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

We’re starting to realize (and remember) that Tokyo is just too massive to visit all our favourite old neighbourhoods, restaurants, and so on. So we gave up and spend the afternoon in the park (Shinjuku Gyoen).

Tokyo II - Roppongi

2007-04-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

It's great to be back in Tokyo, even though it's been raining ever since I arrived. Sarah booked us into the "b" hotel in Roppongi, right in the middle of one of Tokyo's most animated entertainment districts. We woke up early (around 6 am) and went out for a walk. Everyone was still heading home!

Tokyo

2007-04-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my travel blog from Tokyo to Hong Kong via Tibet, over land (and sea).