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Exploring Shigatse
I visited India and Nepal for the first time on a Buddhist pilgrimage led by Shantum Seth in 2007. The following is from my 2008 trip to India, Nepal, and Tibet and is about Tibet.
For lunch, we walked down a street where I beheld the gruesome sight of what Gyantzing explained was lamb carcasses drying. They were the pink skinned torsos of sheep. I had previously seen some hanging up to dry and had quickly averted my eyes, but the ones on this narrow street sat lined up in a row on the sidewalk. I’ve never been a Shangri-la person who thinks Tibet is a utopia, but… wow.
We approached a narrow and flat store front, to have lunch at what turned out to be a busy Chinese restaurant. We had weak tea like at the little restaurant yesterday; I kept gulping it down, though it was hot water with a few floating leaves. We had a mixture of scrambled eggs and tomatoes; shredded potato with leek and red chili peppers; more of the usual limp greens with red chili peppers; and sticky rice. I felt glad to have rice underneath and mixed with the other food.
During lunch, Gyantzing told me that the driver had a toothache (which got me wondering about healthcare in Tibet, though I didn’t ask about it), and he asked if I had a painkiller, and I said yes, but it’s at the hotel. After lunch, we stopped at my hotel room, where I gave the driver a couple Tylenol caplets. They left me…