We landed on the roof!

On the roof of the world i meant..

Just got to Lhasa today...
Via the official way and after having properly paid for my invisible permit to the Chinese government..
Sorry but the more i'm here and the more i feel sick about this tibetan mess... i don't mind the Chinese in China! But all over Sichuan and Tibet, when i see them parading in expensive cars like they own the place it gives me the creeps..
The whole world knows about this and.. or does it? I realize i didn't know much about it myself before reading some ("The mountains of Buddha" by Xavier de Moro) and getting here...
So as a quick reminder, in 1950 China entered Tibet and decided it was theirs.. in the process they tortured and killed thousands of monks, destroyed temples and monasteries and settled massively..
The Dalai Lama being an extremely influent figure, they tried everything from buying him to killing him and he's now a refugee in India.. He's been calling for help to the world community for years but everyone is more interested in keeping China's huge market (possibly including tibet!) than helping non-consumer contemplating monks..
Since then chinese school children are tought that Tibet is a province of China and when you ask chinese people what they think about the Tibet situation, they go "what situation? Tibet is just another province!".. the scary thing is that they apparently really have no clue... really makes you think about what you were yourself taught in school as the "true" history of your country! There's always an official way to look at things..

I know; one half of you will tell me that this is also a very simplified version of the story, while the other half will argue that there's much worse going on in the world... both are probably true but being here i'm obviously more sensitive to it, and it's just been itching for a while...

anyway.. here are some pics from the sky.. just to change the mood!

and the imposing Potala palace.. first thing you see when you get here!

No elephants yet...

..Sorry Albin!
But some cute pandas instead...
Did you know there were only 1500 giant pandas left on the planet? So you should feel lucky that braved all the dangers to go out in the wilderness of Chengdu's panda breeding center and bring you these rare images!

i even found out there were red pandas... you'd think they're giant racoons but they're not!

i also got you a peacock while i was there... you can't say i'm not trying my best!

Other than that, Chengdu is nice city... for a big chinese city i mean... nothing like the tibetan countryside but nice atmosphere... and there's even a funny huge boat parked on the sidewalk.. what else would you want?

Kangding love song festival!

Well.. to be honest, the festival was so packed that i didn't get to see much!
So instead i went to dress up and dance my own kangding love song with a crew of chinese students on vacation!


and here's the only image i actually managed to bring from the festival...

Cool bread :-)

more random photos..

i'm just emptying my memory card!

some more yak..

a small tibetan nomad camp..

tibetan architecture..

i'm not sure if i posted this one already..

and don't ask me why i shot this!

F*ck*d Up!

.. So Ganzi was THE place.. beautiful people, beautiful scenery, beautiful light, beautiful sky.. well.. beautiful place!
And it's only 13 hours of nasty mountain roads in a beat up bus to get to Kangding so really nothing to complain about!

Now, after hearing as many different stories as i've met different travelers, i finally went to the police here in Kangding and for the first time got a clear definitive answer to my question from a competent authority in charge: this "st*p*d f*ck*ng ch*n*s* g*v*rnm*nt" -as i would personnaly call it without yet having the balls to write it it full letters!- won't let me reach Lhasa by land.. no land permits for foreigners, period.. makes you wonder what they're so ferociously trying to hide from us.. the only way is to get to Chengdu and get a packaged flight to Lhasa..
I'm still convinced that it's not impossible.. but in the end, if it requires non stop driving for 5 days without being able to visit anything.. and for twice the price of the plane.. well, screw it..
So the bottom line is that i'll change my plans.. no Lijiang and no Tiger Leaping gorge for me.. Hopefully at least it'll give me some more time to hang out between Lhasa and Kathmandu.. (well, yeah, believe it or not i'm running short on time.. the september appointment with my parents is coming quick and i already had to forget about Myanmar)

Tomorrow is the "Kangding love song festival"! So whatever it is, it's probably a good excuse to chill here one more day before hopping on the bus again!

The Lonely Planet (which i keep reading from fellow travelers as i don't have one myself) describes Kangding as the entrance gate to the Tibetan world, expecting people to come from Chengdu.. so for me it's actually a temporary exit gate from Tibet..
Kangding, just like Maerkang did, looks to me a bit too much like a settlers town: the whole region and neighbouring villages are obviously tibetan, but in town everything and everyone is chinese.. the few tibetan places are tourists attractions and the tibetans in town look like an ethnic minority, selling some vegetables on the sidewalk.. pretty sad if you consider the town is originally theirs .

Anyway.. i'll be in Chengdu on the first of august, trying to get a plane ticket to Lhasa..