Tibetan Prayer Flags

As a minority people in China , People in Tibet do believe in different thing from the Han culture.
Different from the modernized look , unique lifestyle , unique skills , unique medicine ,unique arts or architecture, unique spiritual things and of course living on the world famous plateau.

The Tibetan / Zhang people love to expressing their feeling through song , dance and prayer. Especially for prayer flags are a common sight in Tibet area prayer flags are colorful panel or rectangular cloths often found strung along mountain ridges , peaks high , trees, on hill tops , a rock , around religious sites such as monasteries and stupas to bless the surrounding countryside also each type of flags has a different purpose carries different image and different prayers.

Prayer flags found between Lhasa and shigatse

The traditional five colors represent the five Buddha families and five elements
Blue (symbolizing sky/space) Akshobhya Buddha and space.
White (symbolizing water ) Ratna Sambhava Buddha and water.
Red (symbolizing fire) Amitabha Buddha and fire
Green (symbolizing air/wind) Amoghasiddhi Buddha and air
Yellow (symbolizing earth) Vairocana Buddha and eart



There are two kinds of prayer flags:
horizontal ones, called lung ta (meaning "Wind Horse") in Tibetan,
the vertical Darchor. "Dar" translates as "to increase life, fortune, health and wealth", "Cho" translates as "all sentient beings".

Lung Ta (horizontal) prayer flags are of square or rectangular shape and are connected along their top edges to a long string or thread. They are commonly hung on a diagonal line from high to low between two objects in high places such as the tops of temples, monasteries, stupas or mountain passes.

Darchor (vertical) prayer flags are usually large single rectangles attached to poles along their vertical edge. Darchor are commonly planted in the ground, mountains, cairns or on rooftops and are iconographically and symbolically related to the Dhvaja.

Lung Ta / Wind Horse flags are the most common prayer flag in Tibet and The prayer is written in Tibetan and always express positive intentions for the happiness, enlightenment and protection of all beings.

Timing of Hanging , Taking Down , and other things about Flag Prayers
1. Flags should be hung in the correct sequence,: blue, white, red, green, yellow from left to right or from bottom to top.)
2. Old prayer flags are replaced with new ones annually during the Tibetan New Year Old prayer flags should be burned not thrown in a rubbish bin. . .
3. For the best effect they are hung on an auspicious day or at an auspicious moment, such as early on a windy morning , windy days, especially on a Friday. Try to avoid hanging new flags on Tuesdays and Saturdays
4. They should not be placed on the ground or used in clothing..
5.. Please don't place them on the ground or use them in clothing.
6. never associate them with intoxicants such as tobacco or alcohol.

As a Tibetans believe that hanging flags in high places the wind moves the flags, will carry the blessings , happiness , long life , prosperity.

I love these flags since I was saw for the first time in the Shangri La journey, they are so lovely to display and i hang them around my house to show that I am support for the Tibetan people, and bring peace to my home.

Day 11 - beijing -

crazyyyyyyyyyyyy

I am in Beijing and It raining in Beijing - I was sitting with Ge for lunch – its Korean bbq – in the xiong jia resto – still our fav resto in Beijing .

I heard It is 5 degree C. is Not too bad for Beijing. It is not as cold as in Shigatse or lhasa . Yesterday, I was still in Lhasa , at around 10 degree C, and the day before yesterday, I was at a cold place of minus 0 degree C.
and I am so lucky that I don’t feel uncomfortable.

bangun nya siang benerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr jam 10 lewat gitu...

beres beres jadi nya jam 11 lewat gitu.

hal yang pertama makan siangggggggggggggggggggggggggg

kita pilih xiong jia...... our fav...korean BBQ

nyam nyam

ini tuh makan lahap banget.. sampe lupa foto foto sebelum makan.. ritual wajib kita.. hahahaha

dudul

lumayan suasananya rintik rintik ujan gitu deuuuuuuuuuuuuu romantis deh kalo sama co masing masing hahahaha.

sambil makan tuh kita coba kontek temen temen yang laen , tapi karna pada libur panjang semuanya lagi jalan jalan keluar bj , jadi yang bisa di hubungi cuma si shan kou li nan , nama jepangnya lupaa...

ketemu sama dia janjian di wu dao kou , tapi karna dia agak lama kita ke wnet dulu mau beli tiket ke shanghai , trus dari shanghai ke hongkong , tapi ga tau ke napa dari shanghai ke hong kong tuh lagi ga ada tiket , adanya dari bj ke shanghai doang.. laaaaaaaa ga bisa ... ntar g tidur dimana? soalnya si lin itu uda ada tiket shanghai - hk ,
HUH ga jadi ke shanghai , jadinya langsung ke hong kong aja , tgl 8 oct sore

akhirnya kita ketemu ama shan kou li nan , ternyata dia bawa dd cewenya.. cute banget namanya nana
nana itu dewasa loh , baru beberapa jam aja ngob sama dia , dewasa banget jadi kaget sama kita kita yang masih cekikikan kaya gini .

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh kita jalan jalan gitu ke mall baru , di samping subway nya wudao kou ada mall baru , lumayan gede la...
dari sana di ajak makan lagiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii , gileeeeeeeeeeeee kirain makan apaan ga tau nya makan india lagi.. tuh si ganges masih berdiri restonya.
yummy..yummy....
lumayan laper lagi seh.. sebenernya mau makan sushi issin tapi bukanya jam 5 , jadi deh jalan kaki dari wudakou ke arah tsinghua ximen.

ujan rintik rintik gitu , ga gitu dingin seh.. maklum masih oct awal , sampe di resto nya dulu yang perna g makan sama ecua pelayan nya masih sama ihihihihihihihi
kita pesen banyakkkkkkkkkkkkkk banget...


kekeyangan deh... jalan kaki kita dari resto ke tsinghua.. motong jalan gitu.. fresh.. ga ujan lagi , trus sepiiiiiiiiiiii tuh tsinghua , maklum lagi pada liburan.
ada kali kita jalan 1,5 jam
ternyata si nana tuh skul di tsinghua juga trus tinggal di gedung no 20, gedung yang dulu g tinggal .... tapi beda lantai deh...
pertama tama kita ga bole masuk, penjaganya lebih ketat skrang.. ga kaya dulu bisa slonong boy.....

trus penjaganya lebih pinter jaganya di depan lift ahahhahaha dulu kan duduk manis di lobby jadi orang masuk kemana aje ga di tanya tanya, skrang di tanya tanya sampe nunjukin passport segala...
untung si nana bilang ini temen dia ,kalo ga kita di suruh nunggu di luar.

nah.. ini kamar dia.. rapi ya.. wangi pula.. trus barang barangnya ikea semua.. hahahaha dia bilang belanja belanja sama koko nya

its tsinghua dorm , building 20 room no 911...

at reka's house

pulang dari sana uda jam 10 malem deh
nguantukkkkkkkkkkk tapi sempet foto foto lagi

Day 5 - Guang Zhou - Lhasa - Tibet

Sept 28 2008

It’s 4:30 a.m. and time for us to wake up. Our flight from guang zhou to lasha 8 am but we haven’t get the ticket from our tour agent. And claire’s driver waiting us around 5.45am.

arghhhhhhhhhhh so sleepy but we must wake up, prepare go to guang zhou airport for the flight to lhasa – we ate our breakfast on the way to airport -.

We have arrived early coz we don’t have any idea about the ticket and whom we will meet – everything can be happen in china - hehehehe.

Our flight from guang zhou – lhasa , will stop in chongqing to change the flight

and Yeah….. boarding the flight was kind of stressful and going through immigration was so many problem.

Security is extremely tight at the airport. All luggage goes through an MRI machine and passengers through metal detectors just to get inside the terminal.

1. Christ give me seal document , our travel agent said we cant opent the document because its secret , when we arrived at lhasa just give the document to our guide.THATS IT , if u open it, our trip will be cancel.

2.So of course we remember what our agent said, but the problem when we want to check in the airport officer want us to open the document , they want to see our permit after long argue with them we let them open the document.

3.Customs was a little different , passengers who have flight ticket to lhasa or chong qing have own line to queue the customs and before we passing our body through the machine we must take off our shoes and put them through the machine. No vehicles are allowed to pull up front.

THE HOLY DOCUMENT - TIBET PERMIT

Fuih… after all the custom , we finally sitting at the gate, the announcement came that the flight to Lhasa would board in fifteen minutes. A little wave of excitement came over me. I still can’t quite believe we’re about to get on a plane to Lhasa – Tibet !

Yeah… TIBET Here We Come, we prepare for this tibet trip from june , but serious research around end of aug but I think its not enough to make us stay as comfortable as possible because we heard that people will exercise at least 6 month to go there , but we didn’t do anything even jogging everymorning to prepare the weather.

we arrived at Lhasa Gonggar airport at 2 PM the airport is not actually in lhasa , but is 2 hours away. We were ready to get off the flight and we followed the crowd of the people to the area where passangers are picked up. We were look for a sign with one of our names on it and I finally saw a man waving a sign that wrote our name. We waved to him and he beckoned us over. He told us that his name was Wang Dui and that he would be our guide during our stay. We walked over the car that we would use for our travels and met our driver.

They greet us with white silk prayer cloths that they drape around our necks. We climb into a car and on the way to our hotel. We promptly stopped for take a first picture to see Buddha that had ben carved into this rock and so many prayer flags drapped all over the hill.

Buddha... right there waiting for us .

Our guide took us to our hotel and we will meet them around 5pm to had dinner with them a. Our hotel was a 3 star hotel and near with potala palace , just cross the street.

first impression about Tibet’s capital city – Lhasa - Lhasa literally means "place of the gods" There are many police controls around Lhasa.

Near our hotel we headed down was lined with army trucks and The soldiers had set up 1 place with various position , 1 soldier see in the north side , west side , south side and the last see the east side, I want to take a pic but I am afraid if they know I took a pic I will go to trouble zone.

Speaking of food, Our first dinner in Tibet we went to Lhasa Kitchen ,

around barkhor lhasa area.

We order tibet native food such as tsampa , yak momos (momos are the Tibetan version of the Chinese dumplings) , some Indian food also we ordered butter tea.

We returned to the Hotel and start to take a rest. When I do sleep I feel so uncomfortable may be because of the high altitudes, its feels like u already sleep very long time. I always woke up after 2 hours slept and its still dark. It’s so terrible when you keep waking up in the night, checking the time, and get frustrated because it’s not time to get up yet and hope its will over soon.

For me and ge, we still have a planning to stay at Mt Everest Base Camp and its will be a story to tell to our grandchildren. hehehehehe

coz i always believe if u can think about it so u can do it.

Free Ferry Macau - Hong Kong

Its Free Ferry from Macau to Hong Kong or Hong kong to Macau !!!!

horayyyyyyyy.........

i am so happy when i heard that , i can save around 300HK for return ticket (one one ticket HK$ 140 - HK$ 2136) coz i am planning go to hong kong and back to macau again before i enter the mainland China.

Btw macau have 2 ferry terminal : Macau Ferry Terminal and Taipa Ferry terminal.

Ferry Services route from hong kong to taipa ferry by Cotai Jet - cotai Strip - takes around 1 hour
departure time every 30 min until late but i think its 24 hours and its very convenient and of course free shuttle bus hehehehehe

Its luxurious boat ,they offer 3 classes :

1. Cotai VIP Cabin (private salons): Step aboard to a world of luxury and unrivaled service including complimentary snacks and beverages on select sailings.

2. Cotai First: Located on the upper level, this cabin offers a commanding view of the scenery. What's more, facing table and seat arrangements are available - creating an atmosphere that's as comfortable as a lounge.

3.Cotai Class: This class lets you relax in a comfortable modern environment. A range of food and drinks available for purchase.

for the free ticket you will get cotai class , step by step to get free from hong kong ferry terminal.

Step 1

if you in macau , try to get membership at Sands Casino, Venetian resort.

Easy and staff very friendly , just show it to them your passport and fill the form. They will take a pic less than 5 min and u get your membership card.

Sands Membership card - oh.. u can use it too for free playing slot machine -

Step 2

In Hong Kong Ferry terminal follow the sign until you are in 3F then u must find room number 322 , beside WALDO HOTEL

step 3
line up , prepare your membership card and your id. 1 person for 1 id

step 4
Violaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa u got the free ticket


Step 5
look at the time dont be late to go to east bridge, the officer at the east bridge will let u enter the border for immigration around 30 min before departure

East Bridge
or
looking a sign for Cotai Strip

iinside the boat

Note :
ticketing office in Macau - to get free ticket to hong kong - yippieeeeeeeee
-taipa ferry terminal
- the venetian macao resort hotel ( go to concierge desk in hotel main lobby , venetian travel limited office near hotel west lobby,cotai stip cotai ticketing )
-sands macao hotel (concierge desk in hotel lobby , guest service counter and venetian travel limited office )

ticketing office in Hong Kong
-Sheung Wan (shop 322 its hongkong ferry terminal , u can go to sheung wan by MTR)
-Sheung wan (G/F seaview commercial building , 24 connaught road west)
-Tsim Sha Tsui (shop1 5A 1/F china ferry terminal , canton road
-Jordan G/F 3 shanghai street

Have a nice Journey

From Gavin

We were lucky enough time to get permits for Tibet trip in this China Independence Day 1 Oct Day.
We will go to :
Macau on sept 23 – 26
Guang zhou on sept 26 – 27
Tibet on sept 28 – 3
Beijing on Oct 3 – 6
Shanghai,hang zhou , su zhou on Oct 6 – 8
Hong Kong oct 8 – 12
Macau oct 12 – 13
And this is my first multi trip after 1 year ago .

My personal doctor said.. (he is my 24 hours doctor hehehehe , free for consultation J in bad and good time ). Gavin said may be we can get Acute Mountain Sickness(AMS) is a common at high altitudes.Tibet altitude around 3000 m and some place more than 3000 m.
Symptoms tend to be worse at night and include headache, dizziness, lethargy, loss of appetite, nausea, breathlessness and irritability. Difficulty sleeping is another common symptom, and many travelers have trouble sleeping for the first few days after arrival at Lhasa.

But
gavin said The most important thing is that you should never be nervous or worried about your trip. Regard the trip to Tibet like a trip to any other cities. You should always be optimistic. Enjoy the trip …yeahhhhhhhhh........

He suggest to :
*drink enough mineral water more than 3L everyday
*eat fruits or snacks with high caloric content, like chocolate
* Do not eat too much for dinner. ( arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this I am not promise..hahahaha)
*avoid alcohol , soda etc
*After arrive in Tibet rest right after your arrival and do not do anything strenuous on the first day even brisk walking and running are not advised.
* Do not take showers or bathes too frequently especially on your first night in Tibet. This will help you avoid catching severe colds 1 day 1 times its should be enough…

love you G ,thanks for the advice

2 months 1 week 2 days until TIBET

Time running so fast right now its 2 months 1 week 2 days until TIBET

We are so happy because Tibet reopened to foreign tourist on june 25 2008 after Closed for foreigners since middle March 2008.but I think with more restrictions for foreigner to get there.
cant wait till the due date and will meet again with geraldine ,we will go to tibet with me and we go backpacker around 7 days. last night i talked with her on ym , we must disscus the timing go get there. We decided on 25 or 26 Sept until 2 Oct. I have free time from 24 sept until 7 oct , after go to Tibet I will spend my time to Macau and hongkong to visit my relative too and reunion with my classmate.

1st
paper works we must complete OF COURSE Chinese Visa – and I will appy at Jakarta and she will get it on Hongkong .The Chinese Embassy will give 30 days tourist visa and may be i will choose single entry because We will go to Tibet from Guangzhou,and will meet her at Macau on 24 sept morning.

2nd
Book a Tibet tour with a Chinese travel agency , including hotels and all services.
Pay the required trip and the travel agent will send to us a confirmation of all service.
We must give to the travel agent a copy of our passport and we must give the information all all exactly the same as on our passport including full name , gender , date of birth , passport number , nationality And we need to tell the travel agent our occupation because journalists and people that could be involved in political matters could be revoked (they need more complicated procedure to get a permit). and we need to apply for the travel permit at least 10 days prior to our entry date.

3th
After having a permit, its Calls Tibet Entry Permit - It is issued by Tibet Tourism Bureau and is a must for foreigners entering Tibet - a travel agency could arrange everything to us including the air tickets, hotel and other service and they will help us pass the check-in at the airport and the check point reroute with the permit.


and the last I think the documents are the same as we travel to other places of China - need hold a valid passport with valid visa.