Winter holidays in Tibet worth the trip
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E-mail China Daily, March 13, 2014
In Lhasa, ringing in Losar, the Tibetan New Year celebration, has much to recommend it. Not only can visitors witness important cultural and spiritual rituals but also they can enjoy the city's scenic spots free from the throngs of tourists. Sun Ye soaks in the atmosphere.
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Worshippers visit and pray at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, on Losar Eve. [Photo/ hina Daily] |
Believe it or not, visiting Tibet in winter is actually very pleasant. Yes, the air is a little thinner and you'll have to wear layers of clothes in case the night chill gets to you. After all, it's 3,600meters above sea level in Lhasa.
But here are two huge perks to visiting during the winter season: There will be no crowds to tackle (and there will be hefty discounts at hotels, and vacancies at otherwise impossible-to-book locations, like entry to the Potala Palace), and there is the joyous week long celebration that is Tibetan New Year, known locally as Losar.
It's recommended that you keep to Lhasa, the capital city of the autonomous region, where the biggest celebrations take place. You will love the city flooded by festivity and spirituality.
This year, the year of the Male Wooden Horse on the Tibetan calendar, began on March 2. But the fun started days before Losar officially arrived. Make sure you get there at least two days in advance, so that you can enjoy the night of guthuk (a noodle soup in Tibetan cuisine) and have your fortune told.
But first, a little holiday shopping. It's natural to desperately want a holiday outfit that is traditional Tibetan attire. The three-or four-piece long-sleeved dresses are bright and auspiciously patterned-usually featuring the eight Tibetan Buddhist symbols. The best ones are from 777, the city's biggest retailer, and are made of silk.
Skip the open-collars - they're out. Try one that comes with a petticoat. It's fashionable. If you're a single woman, don't put on the apron, however. It's only for married women, who also wear their hair in tied-up braids.
New Year gifts and treats are everywhere. And Barkhor Supermarket is the place to find the mall.
Barkhor Street, or the ritual path that circles the Jokhang Temple at the center of the city, was refurbished late last year. Some 3,000 vendors of clothes, artifacts and other local products are moved to the nearby supermarket to make room for the thousands of believers who walk, kowtow and worship clockwise, whose turns have to come in odd numbers, around the temple every day.
While in the supermarket, follow the hurrying locals.
Popular goods include fried crispy dough in various shapes that serve as both offerings and snacks, and good-omen red boxes that hold barley, wheat, and yak-butter sculptures and will herald harvests in the New Year. There are window clothes that are mostly white and decorated with the colors of the "five elements" - metal, wood, water, fire and earth - and, of course, the ingredients of guthuk that include ginseng fruit, peas and barley.
These seasonings will go into the guthuk noodle soup with the balled-up dough. If you manage to visit one of the local households, a pot is sure to be steaming with the filling broth.
Fortunes are revealed when families gather to put the ball in each other's bowls of guthuk soup. If the stuffing is ginseng fruit, the person will enjoy a year that is all happy and good; if it's wool, one is big-hearted and soft; if it's chili pepper, it says that the diner is mean and prone to sharp words. The worst thing to chew on is charcoal - it means the eater has a bad black heart.
The next day, Losar Eve, there are even heartier treats: As the city prepares for the final stages of stocking up and cleaning up, visitors can take advantage of an almost empty Potala Palace.
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