It has been my great desire to visit Tibet and after researching my options, I was deeply saddened when I decided against it. Traveling to Tibet is too expensive and too complicated. Foreigners can travel to Tibet only through a travel agency. This means that you pay for a fully organized trip with a guide: you can only do the things listed in the trip itinerary and I even heard that outside of central Lhasa, you cannot even go for a walk in the evening without your guide. Since everything is organized for you – you do not need to book a hostel, train, bus, taxi, find a place to eat, everything is done by the tourist agency – these tours are rather pricey. To make matters worse, you need to book a flight to Lhasa, which again is quite expensive. You can take a train to Lhasa, which I heard is an exceptional adventure since you will be going through the untamed wilderness of the Gobi and Taklamakan desserts and the Tibetan plateau. However, it is an adventure lasting 3 days.

Posjetiti Tibet bila mi je velika želja i, nakon što sam istražio mogućnosti, jako me rastužilo kad sam odlučio da ipak ne idem. Putovanje u Tibet preskupo je i prekomplicirano. Stranci u Tibet mogu putovati samo preko putničke agencije. To znači da plaćate potpuno organizirano putovanje s vodičem: možete raditi samo ono što je navedeno u programu putovanja, a čuo sam čak i da izvan središta Lhase navečer ne možete ni u šetnju bez vodiča. Budući da je sve organizirano za vas – ne trebate rezervirati hostel, vlak, autobus ni taksi niti tražiti gdje ćete jesti, sve obavlja turistička agencija – ti su aranžmani prilično skupi. Da stvar bude gora, morate rezervirati let za Lhasu, koji je također dosta skup. Do Lhase možete i vlakom, što je, kako sam čuo, izvanredna pustolovina jer prolazite kroz neukroćenu divljinu pustinja Gobi i Taklamakan te Tibetske visoravni. No ta pustolovina traje 3 dana.

I am at the point in my life when splurging a bit more on experiences – and Tibet is one magnificent experience – is no longer an issue, but I still travel modestly. I am staying in dormitories in hostels with squatting toilettes when I can afford a nicer accommodation. I guess you cannot destroy that poor backpacker from my 20s who would lose his mind because they ripped me off in Thailand for 50 euros. However, I still do not make compromises with complications. Traveling to Tibet means planning ahead. I need to book dates way ahead, I need to book a flight way ahead, which means I need to know that I am going to be in that city on this and that date. This might work if Tibet was my first destination, but I have arrived to Beijing in late March, and it is not a good time to visit Tibet. It is still too cold. So, Tibet will have to wait.

U životu sam došao do toga da mi potrošiti malo više na doživljaje – a Tibet je veličanstven doživljaj – više nije problem, ali i dalje putujem skromno. Spavam u zajedničkim sobama u hostelima s čučavcima iako si mogu priuštiti bolji smještaj. Čini se da je nemoguće uništiti onog siromašnog backpackera iz mojih dvadesetih koji bi poludio jer su me na Tajlandu prevarili za 50 eura. Ipak, i dalje ne pristajem na komplikacije. Putovati u Tibet znači planirati unaprijed. Datume moram rezervirati puno ranije, let moram rezervirati puno ranije, što znači da moram znati da ću tog i tog datuma biti u tom gradu. To bi možda išlo da mi je Tibet prvo odredište, ali u Peking sam stigao krajem ožujka, a to nije dobro vrijeme za posjet Tibetu. Još je prehladno. Tako će Tibet morati pričekati.

The next best thing to Tibet is Degen, an ancient city on the Tea Horse Road. The town is Tibetan in culture, geography and ethnic composition. It is on 3500m, in the Yunnan province, very close to the border with Autonomous Region of Tibet. The city has been renamed Shangri-la, according to an imaginary paradise city from the novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton, in order to increase the number of tourists. The novel was written by a Western author and is highly unsuitable for China since Chinese people cannot pronounce Shangri-la. Instead, they call it Xianggelila. I have raged against China’s attitude to “authenticity” in so many other posts so I will not do it again here. I would just like to note that I do not approve of this kind of name change.

Nakon Tibeta, najbolje što postoji je Degen, drevni grad na Putu čaja i konja. Grad je tibetski po kulturi, geografiji i etničkom sastavu. Nalazi se na 3500 m, u pokrajini Yunnan, vrlo blizu granice s Tibetskom autonomnom regijom. Grad je preimenovan u Shangri-la, po izmišljenom rajskom gradu iz romana Izgubljeni horizont Jamesa Hiltona, kako bi privukao više turista. Roman je napisao zapadni autor i ime je krajnje neprikladno za Kinu jer Kinezi ne mogu izgovoriti Shangri-la. Umjesto toga zovu ga Xianggelila. O odnosu Kine prema „autentičnosti” bjesnio sam u toliko drugih objava da to ovdje neću ponavljati. Samo bih napomenuo da ne odobravam ovakvu promjenu imena.

It is a small town so I have planned only two nights in Shangri-la. I have arrived there in the early afternoon so after leaving my bags in the hostel, which was conveniently located right next to the historical town, I have set my sights to exploring the city. But first I needed to meet obligations to my stomach. Since I had nothing to eat since breakfast, I was very hungry but I was not in too explorational mood to try some weird yak dish – I have already tried yak meat once and must admit, I was not overly impressed – I went for a simple pork stir fry with rice. When the food came and I saw those red things all over my dish I was thinking: “Fuck, I forgot to say no spicy”. Luckily, it was spicy but edible. The taste was good, but with their spicy food I lose taste after a few bites. I have satisfied my desire for exotic food by trying yak yogurt with some strange powder. I have no idea what this was but it was delicious. Yak is, after all, nothing but a long-haired cow.

To je mali grad, pa sam za Shangri-lu planirao samo dvije noći. Stigao sam rano poslijepodne, pa sam, nakon što sam ostavio torbe u hostelu, koji je bio zgodno smješten odmah uz povijesnu jezgru, krenuo u razgledavanje grada. Ali prvo sam morao ispuniti obveze prema želucu. Kako od doručka nisam ništa jeo, bio sam jako gladan, ali nisam bio previše istraživački raspoložen da probam neko čudno jelo od jaka – meso jaka već sam jednom probao i, moram priznati, nije me pretjerano oduševilo – pa sam uzeo jednostavnu prženu svinjetinu s rižom. Kad je hrana stigla i kad sam vidio one crvene stvari po cijelom jelu, pomislio sam: „Jebote, zaboravio sam reći da ne bude ljuto”. Srećom, bilo je ljuto, ali jestivo. Okus je bio dobar, ali kod njihove ljute hrane nakon nekoliko zalogaja više ne osjećam okus. Želju za egzotičnom hranom zadovoljio sam jogurtom od jakova mlijeka s nekim čudnim prahom. Nemam pojma što je to bilo, ali bilo je izvrsno. Jak je, na kraju krajeva, samo dugodlaka krava.

As many other historical towns in China, Shangri-la’s centre is an open shopping mall. The ancient town is a maze of narrow streets lined with restaurants and stores selling everything from traditional clothes, artisan crafts and paintings, fruit, yak meat and other yak products. I was on a mission to find something special – Tibetan singing bowl. It is a unique bowl that looks like a bowl for crushing spices: in fact, everyone that has seen my Tibetan singing bowl wanted to use it to crash spices. I already have one, which I bought when I was in Nepal looooong time ago, but I had to buy one for a friend in charge of keeping the plants in my apartment alive while I am traveling. Even though there are many shops selling artisanal products, it took some time to find the store specializing in Tibetan singing bowls. Stores either have none or have a whole collection of Tibetan singing bowls. At my third Tibetan singing bowl store, I was finally ready to buy it – you need to walk around to see what the prices are. It was around 50 euros, very nicely painted and it screams. There was one singing bowl that I liked more because the inside was engraved, but it produced lower tone and my friend likes it as loud as possible. It comes with a wooden spatula, which looks like something you can crush spices with. To make it sing, you need to take it into your hand, but only at the palm, you cannot touch it with your fingers, and then start slowly and in the same rhythm circling around the edges of the bowl with the wooden spatula. The metal will start vibrating, which produces noise. If you do it right, it can be very loud. This is why you cannot hold it with your fingers, because holding the sides of the bowl will stop it from vibrating. No vibration, no sound.

Kao i u mnogim drugim povijesnim gradovima u Kini, središte Shangri-le je trgovački centar na otvorenom. Stari grad je labirint uskih ulica punih restorana i trgovina koje prodaju sve, od tradicionalne odjeće, rukotvorina i slika do voća, mesa jaka i drugih proizvoda od jaka. Bio sam na misiji da pronađem nešto posebno – tibetansku pjevajuću zdjelu. To je jedinstvena zdjela koja izgleda kao mužar za začine: zapravo, svi koji su vidjeli moju tibetansku pjevajuću zdjelu htjeli su u njoj tući začine. Jednu već imam, kupio sam je kad sam bio u Nepalu jaaaako davno, ali morao sam kupiti jednu za prijatelja koji je zadužen za to da biljke u mom stanu prežive dok ja putujem. Iako ima mnogo trgovina s rukotvorinama, trebalo mi je neko vrijeme da pronađem trgovinu specijaliziranu za tibetanske pjevajuće zdjele. Trgovine ili nemaju nijednu ili imaju cijelu kolekciju tibetanskih pjevajućih zdjela. U trećoj trgovini s tibetanskim pjevajućim zdjelama napokon sam bio spreman za kupnju – treba malo prošetati da vidiš kakve su cijene. Koštala je oko 50 eura, jako je lijepo oslikana i vrišti. Bila je jedna pjevajuća zdjela koja mi se više svidjela jer je iznutra bila gravirana, ali davala je dublji ton, a moj prijatelj voli da je što glasnije. Uz nju dolazi drveni batić, koji izgleda kao nešto čime možeš tući začine. Da bi zapjevala, moraš je uzeti u ruku, ali samo na dlan, ne smiješ je dirati prstima, a zatim drvenim batićem polako i u istom ritmu kružiti po rubu zdjele. Metal počne vibrirati i to stvara zvuk. Ako to radiš kako treba, može biti jako glasno. Zato je ne smiješ držati prstima, jer držanje za stijenke zdjele zaustavlja vibracije. Nema vibracije, nema zvuka.

After getting back to my hostel, I ran into a Chinese guy who immediately asked me: “Do you like hiking? You look like you like hiking.” Yes, I replied enthusiastically. He informed me that he and his friend are going hiking tomorrow for the whole day and asked me if I wanted to join. He showed me two photos of the hike – high mountains with snow and lake – and that was more than enough for me to say yes. I wanted to hike this high in the mountains so badly but could not find anything. My plan was to rent an electric scooter and drive around the countryside. This sounded so much more appealing. The guy did not speak very good English so I could not get too much information about this hike, but I did learn that we need to pack all the food and water because there are no stores along the path. OMG, this sounds like a proper European hiking experience.

Kad sam se vratio u hostel, naletio sam na jednog Kineza koji me odmah pitao: „Voliš li planinariti? Izgledaš kao da voliš planinariti.“ Da, odgovorio sam oduševljeno. Rekao mi je da on i njegov prijatelj sutra idu na cjelodnevno planinarenje i pitao me želim li im se pridružiti. Pokazao mi je dvije fotografije s te ture – visoke planine sa snijegom i jezero – i to mi je bilo više nego dovoljno da kažem da. Jako sam želio planinariti ovako visoko u planinama, ali nisam uspio ništa pronaći. Plan mi je bio unajmiti električni skuter i vozikati se po okolici. Ovo je zvučalo puno privlačnije. Tip nije baš dobro govorio engleski pa nisam uspio saznati previše o tom planinarenju, ali saznao sam da moramo ponijeti svu hranu i vodu jer uz stazu nema trgovina. OMG, ovo zvuči kao pravo europsko planinarsko iskustvo.

Hiking in China is not what you would expect. So far, I have climbed 3 out of 5 Great Mountains, one Sacred Buddhist and Taoist Mountains (there are 4 sacred mountains of Buddhism and Taoism) and all of these hiking “paths” are made of stone or wooden steps. The goal of hiking in China is that your feet never touch earth, it seems. Furthermore, if you are hiking a mountain to get some peace and quiet, you are at the wrong place: all these mountains were stacked with small shops selling overpriced food, drinks and souvenirs. The worst part is that most of these mountains’ top can be reached either by a cable car or road, so the summit is always full of noisy Chinese. I know this is not true, but when you hear Chinese people talk to each other, I feel they are arguing and bickering at least 90% of the time.

Planinarenje u Kini nije ono što biste očekivali. Dosad sam se popeo na 3 od 5 Velikih planina i na jednu od svetih budističkih i taoističkih planina (postoje 4 svete planine budizma i taoizma), a sve te planinarske „staze“ napravljene su od kamenih ili drvenih stepenica. Čini se da je cilj planinarenja u Kini da vam stopala nikad ne dotaknu zemlju. Osim toga, ako planinarite da biste našli malo mira i tišine, na krivom ste mjestu: sve te planine bile su krcate malim trgovinama koje prodaju preskupu hranu, piće i suvenire. Najgore je to što se do vrha većine tih planina može doći žičarom ili cestom, pa je vrh uvijek pun bučnih Kineza. Znam da to nije istina, ali kad čujem Kineze kako međusobno razgovaraju, imam dojam da se barem 90 % vremena svađaju i prepiru.

So, it was time to get back to the shops to buy food for tomorrow. I went back to the same restaurant where I had my lunch and this time my experimenting mood was in full bloom. It was time to try some yak meat. The way many restaurants in China work, you have a big menu on the wall, with photos of the dish with description (in Chinese) and price (in Indo-Arab numerals). My eyes quickly centered on this yak dish that looks like budjola: round, very red meat with small white lines of fat. After 5 minutes of back and forth with the waiter, I learned that this is raw meat and that I can have that in either stir-fried or hot pot version. That was quite a disappointment. Croatian food, and especially from my region – Slavonia – is full of smoked and dried meat so I was looking forward to trying some smoked yak meat. In fact, I have already tried dried yak meat. It is in long, thin slices marinated in hot spices. It is truly a test of how good your teeth are. Think of smoked sausage that you cut to pieces and then leave it outside to dry, make it 5 times harder and you get this dried yak meat. Eating it is culturally enriching but gastronomically not a pleasant experience. But, I am happy to report that this yak stir-fry was so much better than the first yak dish I tried. I have again forgot to say “no spicy”. We are at 3500m so I blame my forgetfulness on low oxygen levels in the air.

Dakle, bilo je vrijeme da se vratim do trgovina i kupim hranu za sutra. Vratio sam se u isti restoran u kojem sam ručao i ovaj put moje eksperimentalno raspoloženje bilo je na vrhuncu. Došlo je vrijeme da probam meso jaka. Mnogi restorani u Kini funkcioniraju tako da na zidu imate veliki jelovnik s fotografijama jela, opisom (na kineskom) i cijenom (arapskim brojkama). Pogled mi se brzo zaustavio na jelu od jaka koje izgleda kao buđola: okruglo, jako crveno meso s tankim bijelim prugama masnoće. Nakon 5 minuta natezanja s konobarom saznao sam da je to sirovo meso i da ga mogu dobiti ili prženo u woku ili u hot pot verziji. To je bilo poprilično razočaranje. Hrvatska kuhinja, a posebno ona iz moje regije – Slavonije – puna je dimljenog i sušenog mesa pa sam se veselio što ću probati dimljeno meso jaka. Zapravo, sušeno meso jaka već sam probao. Dolazi u dugim, tankim trakama mariniranim u ljutim začinima. To je pravi test koliko su vam dobri zubi. Zamislite dimljenu kobasicu koju narežete na komade i ostavite vani da se suši, neka bude 5 puta tvrđa i dobit ćete to sušeno meso jaka. Jesti ga kulturno je obogaćujuće, ali gastronomski nije ugodno iskustvo. Ali sa zadovoljstvom mogu javiti da je ovaj prženi jak bio puno bolji od prvog jela od jaka koje sam probao. Opet sam zaboravio reći „bez ljutog“. Na 3500 m smo pa svoju zaboravnost pripisujem niskoj razini kisika u zraku.

It is 6:15 the next morning and I am sure that all of my roommates hate me. The rule of staying in a dormitory is that you wake up not when you want to wake up, but when the first alarm clock rings. Ah, what can you do… I needed to be ready to go by 7am and I still had to find my breakfast. The more I eat now, the less food I will have to carry with me. Our guide came to pick us up around 7:15 and after circling around the old town to pick everyone up, we were on our way to the hiking trail, which is around 1h away from Shangri-la.

Sljedeće je jutro, 6:15, i siguran sam da me svi cimeri mrze. Pravilo spavanja u zajedničkoj sobi je da se ne budiš kad ti želiš, nego kad zazvoni prva budilica. Ah, što se može… Morao sam biti spreman za polazak do 7 ujutro, a još sam morao pronaći doručak. Što više sada pojedem, to ću manje hrane morati nositi sa sobom. Vodič je došao po nas oko 7:15 i, nakon što smo kružili starim gradom da pokupimo sve ostale, krenuli smo prema planinarskoj stazi, koja je oko sat vremena udaljena od Shangri-le.

We were a mixed group of 7 people plus our guide. Besides myself, the guy that has invited me to this trip and his friend, the group included a girl in her 20s from Nanjing, who was the only one who spoke English well, an elderly woman who came appropriately dressed for a visit to the shopping mall. After 5 minutes of hiking she told me how handsome I am and after 15 minutes she was talking how me and the girl from Nanjing should get married. She said it in Chinese in the way that I did not need a translation. We also had in the group a chubby but very cheerful girl who had a tendency to celebrate climbing every higher hill on the path by falling on the ground and rolling in dirt for a minute. The last member of the group was a guy in his early 30s who did not speak much and was mostly hanging out at the back of the group. Soon, we were only 6. The guy that invited me to this trip was staying overnight near the lake so he was carrying a lot more luggage than the rest of us – food and water for 2 days plus a tent – so he quickly fell behind the group. I will see him only two more times that day – first time on our first longer stop, when he managed to catch up with us, and on our way back (you go back the same way you came), when he was still climbing towards the lake.

Bili smo šarolika skupina od 7 ljudi plus vodič. Osim mene, tipa koji me pozvao na ovaj izlet i njegova prijatelja, u skupini je bila djevojka u dvadesetima iz Nanjinga, jedina koja je dobro govorila engleski, i starija žena koja je došla prikladno odjevena za odlazak u trgovački centar. Nakon 5 minuta hodanja rekla mi je kako sam zgodan, a nakon 15 minuta već je govorila kako bismo se ja i djevojka iz Nanjinga trebali vjenčati. Rekla je to na kineskom tako da mi prijevod nije trebao. U skupini smo imali i bucmastu, ali vrlo veselu djevojku koja je imala običaj svaki osvojeni viši brežuljak na stazi proslaviti tako da se baci na tlo i minutu se valja po zemlji. Posljednji član skupine bio je tip u ranim tridesetima koji nije puno govorio i uglavnom se držao začelja. Uskoro nas je bilo samo 6. Tip koji me pozvao na izlet ostajao je prespavati kod jezera pa je nosio puno više prtljage od nas ostalih – hranu i vodu za 2 dana plus šator – pa je brzo zaostao za skupinom. Tog dana vidjet ću ga još samo dvaput – prvi put na našem prvom dužem odmoru, kad nas je uspio sustići, i na povratku (vraćaš se istim putem kojim si došao), kad se on još uvijek penjao prema jezeru.

The start to the hike was very promising. We were passing through a low-tree forest with some trees in bright flowers. The weather was cloudy but dry and rather cold and windy. The next section of the trek was a high tree forest covered with green low hanging moss. It looked like a scene from some mythical country. You pass through many high-altitude pastures. We even passed by a lonely yak. My first experience seeing a yak in the wild!

Početak ture bio je vrlo obećavajuć. Prolazili smo kroz šumu niskog drveća, a neka su stabla bila puna jarkih cvjetova. Vrijeme je bilo oblačno, ali suho te prilično hladno i vjetrovito. Sljedeća dionica vodila je kroz šumu visokog drveća prekrivenog zelenom mahovinom koja visi nisko s grana. Izgledalo je kao prizor iz neke mitske zemlje. Prolazi se kroz mnoge visokoplaninske pašnjake. Prošli smo čak i pokraj jednog usamljenog jaka. Prvi put sam vidio jaka u divljini!

After about 2 hours of climbing, we reached a large meadow with tents and enclosures for yaks and goats. This is where we had our lunch. There were other groups with their own guides grouped together under the tent. Some were cooking yak meat, while one group was grilling spam. I was operating under the basic hiking rule – the more you eat the food you brought with you, the easier your bag will be. I did try traditional Tibetan milk tea. Chinese, unlike Indians or British, do not drink their tea with milk, but people in high altitudes of this Tibet-adjacent area do. Tibetan milk-tea tastes very strange, it is quite salty, actually, but you get used to it. We were sitting around a fire stove to warm up and I have just finished eating my Korean pears when I started searching for the trash bin where I can put the pear leftovers and the plastic bag. To my horror, one of the guides just took it from me and threw it in the fire. I tried to protest that you should not be burning plastic, but found little interest in my arguments.

Nakon otprilike 2 sata penjanja stigli smo do velike livade sa šatorima i ogradama za jakove i koze. Tu smo ručali. Pod šatorom su se okupile i druge skupine sa svojim vodičima. Neki su kuhali meso jaka, a jedna je skupina pekla mesni doručak iz konzerve. Ja sam se držao osnovnog planinarskog pravila – što više pojedeš hrane koju si ponio, to će ti torba biti lakša. Ipak sam probao tradicionalni tibetanski čaj s mlijekom. Kinezi, za razliku od Indijaca ili Britanaca, ne piju čaj s mlijekom, ali ljudi na velikim visinama ovog područja uz Tibet piju. Tibetanski čaj s mlijekom ima vrlo čudan okus, zapravo je prilično slan, ali navikneš se. Sjedili smo oko peći da se ugrijemo i upravo sam pojeo svoje korejske kruške kad sam počeo tražiti kantu za smeće u koju bih bacio ostatke krušaka i plastičnu vrećicu. Na moj užas, jedan od vodiča jednostavno mi ju je uzeo i bacio u vatru. Pokušao sam se pobuniti da se plastika ne smije paliti, ali moji argumenti nisu naišli na veliko zanimanje.

I was the only non-Asian person there so even though I was the only person not speaking Chinese, a lot of conversation was about me. The girl from Nanjing kept me updated. One of the guides asked me if I wanted to try bear meat, as the Nanjing girl translated, clearly confused. Startled by this question, at first, I said yes, I would like to try a little bit. The guide replied something in Chinese and I did not need a translation to know he said “then go and catch a bear”. Hahaha… Is it very funny when you can understand a joke in a language you do not understand, or is it lame?

Bio sam jedina osoba koja nije Azijac, pa iako sam bio jedini koji ne govori kineski, velik dio razgovora vrtio se oko mene. Djevojka iz Nanjinga prenosila mi je što se govori. Jedan od vodiča pitao me želim li probati medvjeđe meso, prevela mi je djevojka iz Nanjinga, očito zbunjena. Zatečen tim pitanjem, isprva sam rekao da, probao bih malo. Vodič je nešto odgovorio na kineskom i nije mi trebao prijevod da znam da je rekao „onda idi i ulovi medvjeda“. Hahaha… Je li jako smiješno kad razumiješ šalu na jeziku koji ne razumiješ ili je to bezveze?

I did learn some interesting information about our guide. He is married so he is saving money now. Hopefully, next year he can find a second wife, he said. I learned that all of the guides are members of the Yizu ethnic minority, which still practices polygamy. China has banned polygamy under Mao’s communist regime in the 1950s, but as a sign of respect for its ethnic minorities, it allowed some of these groups to continue practicing their traditional lifestyle.

Saznao sam i neke zanimljive stvari o našem vodiču. Oženjen je pa sada štedi novac. Nada se da će sljedeće godine naći drugu ženu, rekao je. Saznao sam da su svi vodiči pripadnici etničke manjine Yizu, koja još uvijek prakticira poligamiju. Kina je zabranila poligamiju pod Maovim komunističkim režimom 1950-ih, ali je u znak poštovanja prema svojim etničkim manjinama nekima od tih skupina dopustila da nastave živjeti na tradicionalan način.

Practicing polygamy in the 21st century might sound shocking to us Westerners, but the reality is rather more complicated. In my work with young people (high schoolers and student age population), I would ask them to define alternative family. They would bring examples of polygamy, polyamorous relationships, open marriages and similar. But, and that is a big but, polygamy and polygamous forms of relationships have been the standard form of relationships in most societies. Culturally and historically, monogamy is the alternative family form, occurring primarily in the European world. The most radical form of monogamy is advocated by Christianity. Romans practiced something called consecutive monogamy, meaning you can have only one spouse, but you are allowed to divorce and remarry. Christianity goes one step further, marriage is for life and you can only remarry if your spouse dies. Even more radically, Christianity expects fidelity in marriage. Galen, the famous 2nd century Roman physician and virulent anti-Christian, summed up his disdain for Christians, and he expounded the views of every proper Roman, by describing them as “weird” because:

Poligamija u 21. stoljeću nama zapadnjacima može zvučati šokantno, ali stvarnost je ipak složenija. U radu s mladima (srednjoškolcima i mladima studentske dobi) tražio bih od njih da definiraju alternativnu obitelj. Navodili bi primjere poligamije, poliamornih veza, otvorenih brakova i slično. Ali, i to je veliko ali, poligamija i poligamni oblici veza bili su standardni oblik veza u većini društava. Kulturno i povijesno gledano, monogamija je alternativni oblik obitelji, koji se javlja prvenstveno u europskom svijetu. Najradikalniji oblik monogamije zagovara kršćanstvo. Rimljani su prakticirali nešto što se zove uzastopna monogamija, što znači da možeš imati samo jednog supružnika, ali smiješ se razvesti i ponovno vjenčati. Kršćanstvo ide korak dalje: brak je doživotan i ponovno se možeš vjenčati samo ako ti supružnik umre. Još radikalnije, kršćanstvo očekuje vjernost u braku. Galen, slavni rimski liječnik iz 2. stoljeća i žestoki protivnik kršćana, sažeo je svoj prezir prema kršćanima, a iznosio je stavove svakog pravog Rimljanina, opisavši ih kao „čudne“ zato što:

• They believe in the resurrection of the body – every reasonable and rational human being knows, of course, that it is the soul/spirit that resurrects. The body just turns to dust.
• Vjeruju u uskrsnuće tijela – svako razumno i racionalno ljudsko biće zna, naravno, da uskrsava duša/duh. Tijelo se samo pretvara u prah.
• They do not “play” around – being Roman gave you certain privileges, and they believed it is their right to take slaves, servants and non-Romans for their sexual gratification. Consent was not very high on the Roman agenda and neither was fidelity.
• Ne „igraju“ se sa strane – biti Rimljanin donosilo je određene povlastice i vjerovali su da imaju pravo uzimati robove, sluge i one koji nisu Rimljani za svoje seksualno zadovoljstvo. Pristanak nije bio visoko na rimskom popisu prioriteta, a ni vjernost.

After about 45 minutes, we continued our hike. We kept climbing higher and higher and were now in the parts covered with snow. Snow might look pretty, but it is a nightmare for hikers, especially if they are wearing semi-open summer hiking shoes. The trail becomes wet and slippery and the trail, molded by steps of thousands of hikers before us turns into a stream.

Nakon otprilike 45 minuta nastavili smo planinariti. Penjali smo se sve više i više i sada smo bili u dijelovima prekrivenima snijegom. Snijeg možda izgleda lijepo, ali za planinare je noćna mora, pogotovo ako nose poluotvorene ljetne planinarske cipele. Staza postaje mokra i skliska, a staza koju su oblikovali koraci tisuća planinara prije nas pretvara se u potok.

The mountain becomes even steeper and greyer – we have left the forest and green vegetation behind and not it is just us, snow, ice and rocks. Oxygen is also becoming a luxury. We are around 4500m now but I was not too worried about altitude sickness. I have been high in the mountains for the past few days and have previously climbed above 5200m. I know the drill, the faster you climb up and down, less likely it is to develop altitude sickness. Also, eat and drink, even if you are not hungry or thirsty, it helps. Just in case, my Chinese friends gave me a glucose drink specially made to combat altitude sickness.

Planina postaje još strmija i sivija – šumu i zeleno raslinje ostavili smo iza sebe i sada smo tu samo mi, snijeg, led i stijene. I kisik postaje luksuz. Sada smo na oko 4500 m, ali visinska bolest nije me previše brinula. Zadnjih nekoliko dana boravim visoko u planinama, a ranije sam se već penjao iznad 5200 m. Znam kako to ide: što se brže popneš i spustiš, to je manja vjerojatnost da ćeš dobiti visinsku bolest. Također, jedi i pij, čak i ako nisi gladan ni žedan, to pomaže. Za svaki slučaj, moji kineski prijatelji dali su mi napitak s glukozom posebno napravljen za borbu protiv visinske bolesti.

As the trail gets more difficult, the views get more stunning. But a new trouble arises – very strong winds. My hands are feeling the cold, especially since I am taking my gloves off to take photos every two minutes. And then we made it, you know you have reached your destination when a magical view of the lake opens below!

Kako staza postaje teža, pogledi postaju sve veličanstveniji. Ali javlja se nova nevolja – vrlo jak vjetar. Ruke mi osjećaju hladnoću, pogotovo zato što svake dvije minute skidam rukavice da bih fotografirao. A onda smo uspjeli: znaš da si stigao na odredište kad se ispod tebe otvori čaroban pogled na jezero!

▶ Watch the videoPogledaj video

After everyone has taken their photos, we were ready to get back, and not a minute too soon. I barely had control of my fingers and the pain started being quite intensive. This is not a circular trail so we are going back the same way we came, which is not ideal, but still the scenery was amazing. The weather changed every half an hour and it reached peak sunshine just as we were about to enter a large open meadow, where a herd of yaks has migrated. I saw my first yak calf! It is so tiny and adorable, laying on the grass and sunbathing.

Nakon što su se svi nafotografirali, bili smo spremni za povratak, i to ni minutu prerano. Jedva sam kontrolirao prste, a bol je postajala prilično jaka. Ovo nije kružna staza pa se vraćamo istim putem kojim smo došli, što nije idealno, ali krajolik je i dalje bio nevjerojatan. Vrijeme se mijenjalo svakih pola sata, a sunce je najjače zasjalo baš kad smo trebali ući na veliku otvorenu livadu na koju se preselilo krdo jakova. Vidio sam svoje prvo tele jaka! Tako je sićušno i preslatko, leži na travi i sunča se.

The entry into the hilltop temple of Shangri-la is free, but you need to sign up through WeChat (they limit the number of people that can enter). Maybe it was all the beautiful scenery I have witness during the day, maybe it was the tiredness, but the views of the temples were underwhelming. There were still quite a lot of people there, which makes exploring rather unpleasant, so I finished my tour in 30 minutes and went straight to bed.

Ulaz u hram na brdu u Shangri-li je besplatan, ali morate se prijaviti preko WeChata (ograničavaju broj ljudi koji mogu ući). Možda je to bilo zbog svih prekrasnih krajolika koje sam vidio tijekom dana, možda zbog umora, ali pogled na hramove nije me se dojmio. Tamo je još uvijek bilo dosta ljudi, zbog čega je razgledavanje prilično neugodno, pa sam obilazak završio za 30 minuta i otišao ravno u krevet.

The entry into the hilltop temple of Shangri-la is free, but you need to sign up through WeChat (they limit the number of people that can enter). Maybe it was all the beautiful scenery I have witness during the day, maybe it was the tiredness, but the views of the temples were underwhelming. There were still quite a lot of people there, which makes exploring rather unpleasant, so I finished my tour in 30 minutes and went straight to bed.

Ulaz u hram na brdu u Shangri-li je besplatan, ali morate se prijaviti preko WeChata (ograničavaju broj ljudi koji mogu ući). Možda je to bilo zbog svih prekrasnih krajolika koje sam vidio tijekom dana, možda zbog umora, ali pogled na hramove nije me se dojmio. Tamo je još uvijek bilo dosta ljudi, zbog čega je razgledavanje prilično neugodno, pa sam obilazak završio za 30 minuta i otišao ravno u krevet.

I decided to skip shower. Bathrooms are shared, it is cold outside and the shower is right above the toilette. Does not look very inviting, does it?

Odlučio sam preskočiti tuširanje. Kupaonice su zajedničke, vani je hladno, a tuš je točno iznad zahoda. Ne izgleda baš primamljivo, zar ne?

Shangri-la is very rugged and takes all the Chinese particularities to a whole new level. Squatting toilettes are standard in most budget accommodation and I am quite used to them by now. My aim is impeccable. Hahahaha… But this is the first time I was expected to shower and take a dump at the same time. Also, matrasses in China are very thin, but in other places, at least there was a matrass. In my hostel, I felt I was sleeping on a yoga mat. It was very painful. Luckily, I found some very thick, warm blankets so I placed them below me to make the bed feel softer. Finally, I could not stop laughing when I saw women taking photos around the old town in traditional dresses. This is common occurrence in China. In fact, many of the stores selling traditional clothing also rent the clothes (I have seen some of them also offering make-up and hairstyle services). Chinese cities are full of these women taking photos in traditional clothing. Sometimes they hold a stuff bunny to make it more artistic, authentic or whatever. In Shangri-la, they were holding a live lamb or goat.

Shangri-la je vrlo surova i sve kineske posebnosti podiže na potpuno novu razinu. Čučavci su standard u većini jeftinog smještaja i dosad sam se već prilično navikao na njih. Ciljam besprijekorno. Hahahaha… Ali ovo je prvi put da se od mene očekivalo da se tuširam i obavljam veliku nuždu u isto vrijeme. Također, madraci su u Kini jako tanki, ali na drugim mjestima barem je bilo madraca. U mom hostelu imao sam osjećaj da spavam na prostirci za jogu. Bilo je jako bolno. Srećom, pronašao sam nekoliko vrlo debelih, toplih deka pa sam ih stavio pod sebe da krevet bude mekši. Na kraju, nisam se mogao prestati smijati kad sam vidio žene kako se po starom gradu fotografiraju u tradicionalnim haljinama. To je u Kini uobičajena pojava. Zapravo, mnoge trgovine koje prodaju tradicionalnu odjeću tu odjeću i iznajmljuju (vidio sam da neke nude i usluge šminkanja i frizure). Kineski gradovi puni su tih žena koje se fotografiraju u tradicionalnoj odjeći. Ponekad drže plišanog zeca da bi bilo umjetničkije, autentičnije ili što već. U Shangri-li su držale živo janje ili kozu.

Next day I woke up at 6:15 and by 6:30 I was ready to go to the famous Songzhen Monastery. It is the main Tibetan Buddhist monastery, which looks like mini-Lhasa. I got conflicting information about what time it opens – some sites said 7:30, others 8:00. I got there at 7:00 and went for a walk around the nearby lake, which offers magnificent views of the temples. It was early and cold and to make matters worse, the rain started to drizzle. At the entry to the monastery complex, I saw two guys starting an open fire to warm up. They asked for my ticket, I said I don’t have it and asked them where I can buy it. But they told me to just go in. I do not consider entering without paying a success. If there is a price for everyone, I should pay as well. However, I suspect there is no counter to buy the tickets. Instead, you had to sign up online again, which is a hassle, because everything will be in Chinese, and the two guys were more preoccupied with staying warm than with guiding me through this process of registering for the ticket.

Sljedeći dan probudio sam se u 6:15 i do 6:30 bio sam spreman za odlazak u slavni samostan Songzhen. To je glavni tibetanski budistički samostan, koji izgleda kao mala Lhasa. Dobio sam proturječne informacije o tome kad se otvara – neke su stranice navodile 7:30, druge 8:00. Stigao sam u 7:00 i otišao u šetnju oko obližnjeg jezera, s kojeg se pruža veličanstven pogled na hramove. Bilo je rano i hladno, a da stvar bude gora, počela je sipiti kiša. Na ulazu u samostanski kompleks vidio sam dvojicu tipova kako pale vatru na otvorenom da se ugriju. Tražili su mi kartu, rekao sam da je nemam i pitao ih gdje je mogu kupiti. Ali rekli su mi da samo uđem. Ući bez plaćanja ne smatram uspjehom. Ako postoji cijena za sve, trebao bih platiti i ja. Međutim, sumnjam da uopće postoji blagajna za kupnju karata. Umjesto toga, opet se treba prijaviti preko interneta, što je gnjavaža jer će sve biti na kineskom, a ta dvojica bila su više zaokupljena time da im bude toplo nego time da me vode kroz postupak registracije za kartu.

The streets were almost completely empty while I was climbing to the main temple and the main square. Truly a magnificent sight. I went inside and took the side-rooms to climb to the viewpoint on the top of the temple. There was a monk there drumming – the same process is done by Catholic priests every morning with the church bells. If you live close to the Catholic church, you will know what I am talking about. After taking some photos, I went back down and entered the main prayer room. It is unlike anything I have ever seen. Taking photos was not allowed and I had to employ all of my restraint to obey the rule. I could have taken many photos undetected for sure. I was the only one in the temple, besides some monks that were too busy meditating. Since photos are not allowed, I will try to describe it. First of all, there is the sensory overload. The inside is very colorful, smoke of incense arising from many areas. The smell is intensive but manageable. I always hated thymian, an incense used by Catholics, but this was a much less intensive smell. The hall is full of Tibetan thangka paintings and large statues of Buddha and other saints and deities. On the opposite side of the entrance is a line of magnificent statues. Unlike in Catholic churches, sitting places are not horizontally placed, looking at the statues, but in vertical lines, so two rows of benches are facing each other.

Ulice su bile gotovo potpuno prazne dok sam se penjao prema glavnom hramu i glavnom trgu. Uistinu veličanstven prizor. Ušao sam unutra i kroz bočne prostorije popeo se do vidikovca na vrhu hrama. Tamo je jedan redovnik bubnjao – isto to svako jutro rade katolički svećenici s crkvenim zvonima. Ako živite blizu katoličke crkve, znat ćete o čemu govorim. Nakon što sam napravio nekoliko fotografija, spustio sam se i ušao u glavnu molitvenu dvoranu. Ne nalikuje ničemu što sam ikada vidio. Fotografiranje nije bilo dopušteno i morao sam upotrijebiti svu svoju suzdržanost da poštujem to pravilo. Sigurno sam mogao napraviti puno fotografija a da me nitko ne primijeti. Bio sam jedini u hramu, osim nekoliko redovnika koji su bili previše zauzeti meditacijom. Budući da fotografije nisu dopuštene, pokušat ću ga opisati. Prije svega, tu je preopterećenje osjetila. Unutrašnjost je vrlo šarena, dim tamjana diže se s mnogih mjesta. Miris je jak, ali podnošljiv. Oduvijek sam mrzio tamjan kakav koriste katolici, ali ovo je bio puno blaži miris. Dvorana je puna tibetanskih thangka slika i velikih kipova Buddhe te drugih svetaca i božanstava. Nasuprot ulazu nalazi se niz veličanstvenih kipova. Za razliku od katoličkih crkava, mjesta za sjedenje nisu postavljena vodoravno, s pogledom na kipove, nego u okomitim linijama, tako da su dva reda klupa okrenuta jedan prema drugome.

The photos of decoration were taken in the side rooms before I entered the main prayer hall. I did not see a sign that taking photos was forbidden in this area, but maybe I missed it. Anyways, these photos will enable you to imagine the colorful spectacle inside the main prayer room. While you are enjoying the sights, there is a constant humming noise in the background of the monks meditating. It is a combination of singing and reciting, with different monks playing different roles: while some were reciting, the others were producing very low bass tones.

Fotografije ukrasa snimljene su u bočnim prostorijama prije nego što sam ušao u glavnu molitvenu dvoranu. Nisam vidio znak da je fotografiranje u tom dijelu zabranjeno, ali možda mi je promaknuo. U svakom slučaju, te će vam fotografije pomoći da zamislite šareni spektakl u glavnoj molitvenoj dvorani. Dok uživate u prizorima, u pozadini se neprestano čuje brujanje redovnika koji meditiraju. To je kombinacija pjevanja i recitiranja, a različiti redovnici imaju različite uloge: dok su jedni recitirali, drugi su proizvodili vrlo duboke basovske tonove.

All of the temples have prayer rooms with similar format. Some were smaller, some were larger, but the basic principle of how they were built was the same. If you think I got a sudden burst of religiosity, you would be wrong. All these temples are also shops and you can see money lined up all over the prayer areas. In one temple, I have seen a monk collecting this money, but not all of it, of course. You have to leave some money laying around so others know they should put more money there. I am sure that every cardinal who participated in recent election of the Pope would find his behavior very admirable.

Svi hramovi imaju molitvene dvorane sličnog oblika. Neke su bile manje, neke veće, ali osnovno načelo gradnje bilo je isto. Ako mislite da me odjednom obuzela pobožnost, varate se. Svi ti hramovi ujedno su i trgovine, a novac možete vidjeti poredan po svim molitvenim prostorima. U jednom hramu vidio sam redovnika kako skuplja taj novac, ali ne sav, naravno. Nešto novca moraš ostaviti da leži uokolo kako bi drugi znali da tamo trebaju staviti još. Siguran sam da bi svaki kardinal koji je sudjelovao u nedavnom izboru pape njegovo ponašanje smatrao vrijednim divljenja.

As all prayer rooms and inside of the temples were no photo zones, I will finish this post with photos of the temples from outside. They are too big so it is not easy to take a good photo of them.

Budući da su sve molitvene dvorane i unutrašnjost hramova bile zone bez fotografiranja, ovu ću objavu završiti fotografijama hramova izvana. Preveliki su pa ih nije lako dobro fotografirati.

This is where my journey to the Tibet-adjacent area ends. It is time to pick up my bags and go straight to the train station. The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain awaits…

Ovdje završava moje putovanje po području uz Tibet. Vrijeme je da pokupim torbe i krenem ravno na željeznički kolodvor. Čeka me Snježna planina Žadnog zmaja…

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