On Top of the World
Can Tibet Deal With Its New Popularity?
LHASA, China -- For travelers to the sky-high capital of Tibet, the biggest problem used to be altitude sickness. Now, it's being turned away from its major attraction, the Potala Palace, the focal point of Tibetan Buddhism. Those who haven't made it through the massive red doors by mid-morning usually can't get in.
Since China launched the first train into its remote Tibet Autonomous Region in July, there's been a rush to the roof of the world. The high-altitude Qinghai-Tibet Railway will deliver 800,000 visitors annually -- and it's spurring change to this exotic place, a devoutly Buddhist region that has mostly been the province of pilgrims and high-profile Westerners, including Richard Gere. Now, restaurants are serving fusion food like yak burgers and stores are stocking shelves with canisters of portable oxygen for tourists gasping in the thin air.
And Tibet is being taken upmarket. A boutique hotel in Lhasa, House of Shambhala, opened over the summer; it will be followed by Tibet's first five-star hotel, a Park Hyatt, which is under construction. The government says other top chains from Banyan Tree to InterContinental have scouted locations, too. Next year, a luxury train with butlers and bathtubs is slated to make its way from Beijing into Tibet over a mountain pass at 5,072 meters above sea level.
But for visitors hoping to do more than wander around the compact capital, advance planning is a must because bookings on the ground are hard to organize. And don't expect Tibetans to speak English, much less Chinese. As for accommodation, the alternatives currently range from big characterless hotels where most tourists end up to small guest houses that are cute on the outside and bland on the inside, with twin beds and minimal service.
China, which has ruled Tibet since the 1950s, is bringing modernity to this harsh land. It presents a delicate challenge for Beijing. Since the region's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled Communist rule in 1959 saying he feared arrest, China has faced international scorn for the political, religious and economic policies it has imposed on Tibet. Now, officials hope to combat the criticism by giving visitors a chance to see for themselves how much of Tibet's rich Buddhist heritage remains intact, despite Beijing's grip.
In the same way other Asian paradises have been transformed by tourism -- from Angkor Wat in Cambodia to Bali in Indonesia -- the risk for Tibet is being modernized at the expense of its traditional charms. In just over two months, the new train has carried more than 270,000 people, most of them Chinese from elsewhere in the country. Already, poor nomadic Tibetans need to compete with big-spending tourists for the 2,300 spaces allotted each day to enter the vaunted Potala, a colorful 360-year-old wood and mud hilltop structure that was once the Dalai Lama's home. Potala officials are considering tripling the entrance fee to $37.50 for non-Tibetan visitors to discourage the hordes, according to its director, who calls tourists "my biggest headache." (The Potala operates under a daily quota system to reduce wear and tear on the fragile structure.)
The train to Lhasa wends its way across the Tibetan Plateau near the town of Nagqu.
Rajneesh Narula, a 43-year-old British business school professor, spent six days in Tibet in July. Excluding airfare, the trip cost him about $1,000 for basic hotel accommodation, a guide who took him to the Potala and other sights, plus two days exploring the pristine mountainous area outside Lhasa in a 4x4 truck. Mr. Narula got to Tibet the week the train opened, since "I wanted to see it before it got ruined," he says.
Really getting away in Tibet means a visit to its side of Mount Everest. Canadian Annouk Ruffo Leduc, 32, and her 59-year-old mother made the bumpy, weeklong, $2,500 guided road trip to the mountain, passing a high-altitude lake, farmers sowing barley and remote monasteries. Climbing to the base camp of the mountain Tibetans call Qomolangma took no mountaineering skill. Seeing Everest from such a high perspective, though, made it look like "just another mountain," Ms. Ruffo Leduc says. But the vistas getting there made the trip well worth it, she adds.
Once travelers arrive in Tibet, acclimation to the altitude is as important as a comfortable bed. Tibet sits on one of the biggest and highest plateaus in the world, and with Lhasa at 3,641 meters above sea level, climbing a single set of stairs is enough to leave a visitor winded and sometimes nauseous. For the first 24 hours, a visitor is advised to avoid drinking alcohol and showering lest it unsettle the body. (A researcher at High Mountain Disease Research Center at the People's Hospital of Tibet says: "We suggest that visitors avoid showers for a week because it is easier to catch a cold that could lead to pulmonary edema.")
Dizziness, headaches and bluish lips are common side effects of the thin air; to relieve symptoms, many hotel minibars stock oxygen canisters at $3 a pop. Chinese insurance companies now sell altitude sickness policies with up to $1,250 in hospitalization coverage.
Red-scarred Tibetan faces are a reminder that the piercing sun can be as much of a hazard as the altitude. The solution: cowboy hats, which sell all over Lhasa for as little as $1.
Though Tibet is roughly a third the size of India, it has a mere 2.7 million people. Herding is the key industry, which explains why yak is featured at every meal. Traditionally it is just boiled in salt. But Lhasa's nouveaux French-Tibetan Naga Restaurant & Bar features dishes like Yak Bourguinon at a bargain $3.25. At the candle-lit rooftop restaurant at House of Shambhala, the menu features Indian-style spicy Yak Vindaloo and Nomad Wild Soup, both scrumptious, at $3.50 each.
Despite the retrofit taking place, Tibetan spirituality and culture literally hangs in the air. Burning yak butter from street-side shrines is a ubiquitous reminder that fast-growing Lhasa is still more than just another smoggy Chinese city. All day, throngs of pilgrims dressed in timeless, all-weather gear twist prayer wheels as they beat clockwise circular paths around revered sites like the Jokhang Temple, often trailed by their tiny dogs. In dance halls, young Tibetans surreptitiously pull down collars to show the Dalai Lama's photograph hanging by a string around their necks -- which under Chinese law is forbidden -- and demonstrate their culture's hold.
As the train whizzed by in the distance one recent afternoon outside of town, a family of devout but exhausted Buddhist pilgrims was making a slow journey toward Lhasa. Lying prostrate on the road after each step forward, it's a method of travel dubbed "kou chang tou," meaning kneel-long-head. Herds of yaks and antelopes, animals that can't be seen elsewhere in urbanized China, dotted the windswept grasslands. Thuggish-looking vultures lurked in a field, a chilling reminder of how Tibetans traditionally leave the dead for "sky burial."
As much as the train promises to develop Tibet, critics see it as a Trojan Horse that will sully local culture with an influx of disrespectful visitors. (Tibetans are one of China's 55 minority groups, and like Uighurs in the far western province of Xinjiang, they feel like outsiders in a national population that is more than 90% ethnic Han.)
Some human rights groups, like London-based Free Tibet Campaign, are even advising tourists to boycott the "politically motivated" railroad.
Laurence Brahm, a 45-year-old American lawyer-turned-author and filmmaker who owns the 10-room House of Shambhala, says the railway will pump much needed money into Lhasa so handicrafts such as lantern-making and other traditions can be sustained. Yet, in other ways, he worries it threatens to turn Tibetans' spiritual society into a kind of tourist theme park. For Tibet, he says, "the train is the good, bad and ugly."
世界屋脊喜忧录
对前往世界屋脊西藏旅游的人来说，高原反应往往是他们面临的最大难题。现在游客们的最大难题则是如何进入藏传佛教的圣地──布达拉宫。它的那座红色巨门在晌午以后就对游客关闭了。
自从西藏今年7月开通火车后，人们纷纷前往世界屋脊一游。建在高海拔地区的青藏铁路每年可向西藏输送80万名游客，它正促使充满异域风情的西藏发生变化。铁路通车前进藏的主要是虔诚的佛教信徒以及理查德?基尔(Richard Gere)那样引人瞩目的西方人。现在，人们已经可以在西藏的餐馆里吃到口牛汉堡等中西合璧式食品，饱受空气稀薄之苦的游客也可在西藏的商店里买到便携式氧气瓶。
西藏相关报导
? 西藏感受经济发展脉动
? 中国寄望青藏铁路加强西藏对外联系
? 西藏迎来首趟列车
西藏正在恶补市场经济课。拉萨一家名为香巴拉大厦(House of Shambhala)的特色酒店已于今年夏季开业；而西藏的首座五星级酒店柏悦饭店(Park Hyatt)也正在建设中。当地政府说，从悦榕庄(Banyan Tree)到洲际酒店(InterContinental)，一系列顶级酒店连锁店都已纷纷在西藏选址。明年，配备侍者和浴缸的豪华列车将经由海拔5,072米的唐古拉山口从北京开进西藏。
但对于不满足于只在拉萨狭小的市区内闲逛的游客来说，进藏之前必须做周密的规划，因为到了西藏再订酒店就晚了。别指望西藏人能说流利的汉语，更别提英语了。至于住宿条件，大多数游客只能选择住毫无特色的大型酒店，有幸住进小宾馆的游客会发现，宾馆的建筑虽美但内部设施却不怎么样，往往只有双人间，服务也不周到。
中国正在将现代化带进西藏，这对北京来说是个棘手的挑战。自从西藏的精神领袖达赖喇嘛1959年逃离西藏后，国际上一直有人指责中国在西藏的政治、宗教和经济政策。中国官员希望游客们能到西藏亲身体验一下，看看西藏丰富的佛教文化遗产究竟保留下了多少，他们认为这有助于回击外界对中国政府的指责。
随着柬埔寨的吴哥窟和印尼的巴厘岛等亚洲天堂纷纷被旅游业改变了面貌，人们也担心西藏的现代化会以牺牲其传统魅力为代价。在仅仅两个多月的时间里，进藏火车就将27万多人带进了西藏，他们大多是中国人。
贫穷的西藏牧民已经需要与花得起大钱的游客竞争那每天2,300个布达拉宫参观名额了。这座建在山顶的土木建筑已有360年历史，它曾是达赖喇嘛的居所。据布达拉宫管理处的负责人说，为了限制游客，正考虑将非西藏游客的门票提高两倍，提到37.50美元。他称游客是最令他头疼的事。(为了减少游人对建筑的破坏，布达拉宫为每天的游客接待量规定了上限。)
43岁的纳鲁拉(Rajneesh Narula)是英国一家商学院的教授，他今年7月在西藏待了6天。除机票外，他为此行花费了约1,000美元，支出项目主要有旅馆住宿费、导游费以及乘卡车到拉萨以外的山区游览两天的费用。纳鲁拉是在进藏列车开通那周去西藏的，因为他想“在西藏被毁掉之前看看它。”
到西藏不去珠穆朗玛峰就不算到过西藏。32岁的加拿大人勒狄克(Annouk Ruffo Leduc)和他59岁的母亲为游珠峰在路上颠簸了一周，导游费花了2,500美元。他们旅途中经过了一个高海拔湖泊，看到了播种的农夫以及地处偏远的寺庙。爬上珠穆朗玛峰的登山大本营并不需要多少登山技巧。勒狄克的母亲说，从如此高的海拔看珠峰，这座世界最高峰看上去不过就是一座普通的山峰。但她说，沿途的景色使她觉得不虚此行。
对抵达西藏的游客来说，适应这里的海拔高度与获得一张舒适的床同样重要。西藏所在的青藏高原是世界上海拔最高、面积最大的高原，由于拉萨的海拔高度达3,641米，在这里攀登几级台阶就足以使一些游客气喘吁吁甚至呕吐不止了。人们建议游客在抵达拉萨的头24小时里不要喝酒和淋浴，以免身体受到损害。(西藏人民医院高山病研究中心的一位研究人员说：“我们建议游客进藏一周内不要洗澡，因为洗澡容易感冒，从而引发肺水肿。”)
头昏眼花、头痛以及嘴唇发紫都是空气稀薄导致的常见身体反应。为了帮助游客缓解这些症状，许多旅馆都备有氧气瓶，游客花3美元可以吸一次氧。中国一些保险公司现在已经推出了高原疾病险，因高原病住院最多可报销1,250美元。
西藏人红扑扑的面庞提醒人们，在这里紫外线与高海拔一样对人有害。解决之道就是戴一顶牛仔帽，这种帽子花1美元在拉萨随处可以买到。
虽然西藏的面积差不多是印度的三分之一，但它却只有270万人口。畜牧业是这里的重要产业，这可以解释为什么人们每餐都吃牦牛肉。西藏人传统上只将牦牛肉在盐水里煮煮就吃了，但在拉萨的法藏合璧餐厅Naga Restaurant & Bar，人们花上3.25美元能得到一份用牦牛肉烹制的美餐。这家位于香巴拉大厦顶层的餐厅仅以烛光照明，菜单上列着咖哩牦牛肉和牧家风味汤，这两道美味的售价都是3.50美元。
尽管受到了现代生活的冲击，但西藏人传统的信仰和文化仍然无处不在。街边神殿里点着的牦牛油灯提醒人们，快速发展的拉萨还没有变成中国又一座烟尘滚滚的普通城市。在大昭寺等宗教圣地，每天都有大批的佛教信徒推动转轮、绕殿祈祷，他们的小狗常常跟在身后。而在舞厅里，年轻的藏民会偷偷拉开衣领，向人们展示挂在脖子上的达赖喇嘛照片。
拉萨郊外的一个下午，一户来拉萨朝圣的藏民正虔诚但精疲力尽地缓缓行进着，远方地平线处一列火车呼啸而过。他们每前进一步就要五体投地朝拜一次，这种行进方式被称做“叩长头”。在风吹草低的原野上，点缀着一群群口牛和藏羚羊。秃鹰在天空盘旋，这令人记起传统上藏民死后是要“天葬”的。
政府保证说铁路通车会促进西藏的发展，但批评人士却将铁路视为特洛伊木马，认为它送来的游客将玷污西藏的文化。
总部设在伦敦的自由西藏运动等人权组织甚至建议旅游者抵制这条“出于政治动机”修建的铁路。
45岁的美国人劳伦斯?布拉姆(Laurence Brahm)说，这条铁路可为拉萨带来急需的资金，从而使灯笼制作等传统手工艺得以流传下去。但他也担心，铁路有可能把拉萨这一藏民的宗教圣地变成一个主题公园。布拉姆说，对西藏来说，铁路通车既是好事也是坏事。
James T. Areddy
