Chapter 18 The murals of the second section of the Potala Palace

Last night I tried to rinse my mouth before going to bed, and only after making sure my lips were still red did I barely fall asleep. Maybe it's a psychological effect. After getting up in the morning and before boarding the flight to Chengdu, I always feel my lips are numb. After eating something on the plane, I found that there was no foaming at the mouth, so I gradually felt relieved. When you arrive at Chengdu Airport, go to the transfer counter to check in. I handed the "Approval Letter for Taiwan Compatriots Entering Tibet" to the service staff. "Are you a compatriot from Taiwan?" He glanced at me.

"Hmm." I nodded. "The purpose of going to Tibet?" "That's a good question." "Ok?" "It's okay." I said, "Travel in Tibet." Maybe because it's winter and I'm alone, So he looked at me suspiciously. Get your boarding phone ready and board the flight from Chengdu to Lhasa. Most of the people on board are Tibetans. Three hours later, the plane arrived at Lhasa Gonggar Airport. I kept in mind the instructions of tour guide Rao Xueman, and as soon as I got off the plane, I slowed down and slowed down. Pedestrians hurried past me, even a three-year-old child walked faster than me,

And he turned around and laughed at me. I was like Armstrong who had just landed on the moon, spacewalking through the airport. From getting off the plane to walking out of the airport, if the time for claiming luggage is not included, I walked the short distance for nearly 20 minutes. As soon as he walked out of the airport, his eyes were attracted by the blue sky. It was a pure and clean blue, without any impurities or even variegated colors. I used to think that the blue sky was an illusory existence, but now I have the illusion that it is very close to me. It seems that you can touch it with an extended hand.

A long-haired woman in her 20s walked towards her, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and her facial features were gorgeous. She walked up to me with a white khata in her hand, I bent down and lowered my head, She hung the khata on the back of my neck. "Tashi Delek," she said. "tie……" "Tashi Dele," she said, "It means good luck in Tibetan, and it is used for greetings and blessings." "Thank you." I said. "Why did it take so long to come out?" she asked. "Because-for-I-want-slow-slow-adapt-adapt-high-original - weather - weather - ah. "I said word by word, slowly.

She glanced at me and said, "You look like the characters in my writing." "Ok?" "My name is Cang Yue, and I'm a writer of fantasy novels. Ghosts and ghosts often appear in my novels." "Those ghosts usually talk like that," she said. In order to avoid getting altitude sickness, it is tolerable to be laughed at by the beauty. Cang Yue led me to the car, and after walking for half a minute, I was already more than 10 steps behind. I had 30 meters to go when she got in the car, put on her seat belt, and backed out. I finally got into the car and put on my seat belt in seven dismantling motions.

"Next time I want to portray a novel character with hemorrhoids." Cang Yue said, "The way you walk inspires me." "The best--is-this-like." I still said word by word. "Stop talking like that," she said. Already have altitude sickness. " It takes about an hour's drive from the airport to downtown Lhasa. We hardly talked along the way, only she gave a brief introduction when we passed the Nietang Buddha. The Nietang Giant Buddha is on the mountain wall beside the road. It is a painted relief stone Buddha statue. According to legend, it was built by Basiba, the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty.

The Hadas thrown by the Tibetans are hung near the Buddha statue, which is quite spectacular from a distance. The car walked along the Lhasa River, a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River, surrounded by mountains. The roads and occasional Tibetan houses should be on both sides of the valley. Tibet really deserves to be a plateau, and there are mountains as far as the eye can see, and the mountains and mountains are connected. People can only live on both sides of the valley cut out of the mountain. "Tibet is beautiful in summer, with red flowers and green grass; but now that the flowers have faded, the grass is also gray."

When approaching downtown Lhasa, Cang Yue finally took the initiative to ask, "Why do you come to Tibet in winter?" "I heard that Tibet is very dry in winter?" "Yeah." She nodded. "Because of the dryness, the sky is completely cloudless, just pure blue," I said. Her gaze is slightly upward, and I believe she will find that there is no trace of variegation in the sky, just like me. It is blue in one go. "I didn't expect the sky in Tibet to be so clear, pure and blue in winter." She said, "But you haven't answered my question yet."

"If there are very few people in the night market, it will be a bit less tasteful to go shopping." I said, "But if there are too many tourists in Tibet, the deep beauty of Tibet will not be heard." "can not hear?" "The beauty of Tibet is not only seen with the eyes, but also "heard" with the "heart"." I said, "So I decided to come in winter and listen to the voice of Tibet." After I finished speaking, she was silent for a while.She didn't speak until the car entered the urban area of ​​Lhasa: "I lost my love this summer, and I once had the idea of ​​committing suicide. My friends persuaded me to come to Tibet.

Tibet is really beautiful, and I gradually forgot the pain of losing love.But when winter comes, I seem to Think of the agony of lovelorn love. " "Life is still worth loving." I said. "Just seeing you walking at the airport reminds me of an old saying." "Which sentence?" "Ants are still alive." After finishing speaking, she finally smiled. When the car arrived at the hotel, I got out of the car and walked like an ant struggling to survive. "Tibetans have a saying: fools don't get altitude sickness." Cang Yue said, "So don't worry, you won't have altitude sickness."

"It's better that way." "Xueman will be here tomorrow, if you have any questions, you can find her. I'm leaving, goodbye." After the car restarted, she heard her say again: "I will also listen to the voice of Tibet with my heart." I carried my luggage and went to the counter to check in.The Tibetan style painting in the lobby of the hotel has a unique flavor. After entering the room, unloading the luggage, and simply washing the face, the sky gradually darkened. Leaving the hotel and walking on the streets, Lhasa is small but still looks like a city, not as desolate as imagined. I got into a Tibetan teahouse and ordered a bowl of Tibetan beef noodles. The appearance of the noodles is similar to ordinary noodles, but it is made of highland barley powder, and the taste is thicker and tougher. The beef is plow beef and very chewy.The soup is also very sweet. After eating the noodles, I walked slowly back to the hotel. The winter night without taking a bath seemed extraordinarily happy. So far, the body seems to have no symptoms of altitude sickness, which is really gratifying. After watching TV for a while, I felt sleepy, so I fell asleep. Halfway through my sleep, I was woken up by the ringing of the phone. It was the call from the counter. "Hello, the hotel is going to have a power outage, do you need candles?" I looked at my watch, it was 12:30!What would a sleeping person need candles for? "Okay." I sighed, "can light up my wounded heart." I was lying on the bed, and after a short "boom", the electricity stopped. Then there was a knock at the door, and I got out of bed and groped my way in the dark to the door. As soon as he opened the door, his heart almost jumped out of his mouth. "Om Mani Padme Hum." I blurted out the six-character mantra. The Tibetan girl at the counter was taken aback, then laughed. "Sir." She said with a smile, "I am a human being, not a ghost." In the completely dark world, someone suddenly held a candle, and the flame reflected on his face. Normal people would be taken aback. Cang Yue should be called to live here. This will definitely provide her with inspiration for writing fantasy novels. I put the candle by the TV and was about to go back to sleep when a serious problem occurred to me. The temperature in Lhasa in the middle of the night is below zero. If there is no electricity, there will be no heating. Then... Quickly put on a sweater, then took out a quilt from the closet, covered it with two layers of quilts before daring to fall asleep. The sunrise on the plateau is very late, and it is only slightly brighter after eight o'clock. I didn't go out until after nine o'clock when the sky looked like a flat morning. The taxis in Lhasa are very humane, as long as they are in the urban area, they are 10 RMB. I hailed a taxi and got off at the foot of the Potala Palace. The Potala Palace is built on the Potala Mountain at an altitude of more than 3,700 meters, and the main building is more than 110 meters high. The palace with the highest altitude in the world is built on the hillside and is majestic. Before I came to Tibet, I had already seen the Potala Palace on TV, books or postcards. But standing at the foot of the mountain and looking up at the Potala Palace, I was still shocked by its momentum. The main building of red, white and yellow stones is even more magnificent against the pure blue sky. The Potala Palace strictly limits the number of tourists per day, so if you do not book tickets in advance during the tourist season, I'm afraid you have to queue for more than 24 hours to have the opportunity to visit inside. Although due to the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, it is much more convenient to enter Tibet, so the number of tourists has increased significantly. But there are still very few tourists entering Tibet in winter. So I didn't have to queue at all, just bought a ticket and boarded the Potala Palace. Climbing up the high and steep stone steps, the thin air on the plateau made this journey even more strenuous. Before entering the palace gate, you will be attracted by the brightly colored painted Buddha statues on the wall. I took out my digital camera to take pictures, because it is not allowed to take pictures after entering the palace gate. With a pious and humble heart, I take my steps lightly and appreciate every inch of beauty carefully. I entered from the Red Palace, which is four floors high and has various Buddha statue halls; There are also spiritual towers that store the dharma bodies of Dalai Lamas in the past. The spiritual towers are all wrapped in pure gold and inlaid with precious jade. From the fifth Dalai Lama to the thirteenth Dalai Lama, but the stupa of the sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso is missing. The White House is seven floors high, and it is the place where the Dalai Lamas lived and held political and religious activities. I went down the corridor behind the White House. The Potala Palace is really a sacred and solemn palace. In addition to a large number of cultural relics and treasures, There are also various thangkas and Buddha statues sculpted from various materials. There are colorful and exquisite murals everywhere in the palace, some of which are more than 1300 years old. But it still looks lifelike. The toilets in the Potala Palace are also amazing. It is said to be a toilet, but it is actually just a rectangular hole with the hole hanging in the air. You can overlook the cliffs hundreds of meters below. If someone goes to the toilet, the people down the mountain should be able to understand Li Bai's poem: The artistic conception of "flying down three thousand feet, it is suspected that the Milky Way falls nine days". Leaving the Potala Palace, I went to Barkhor Street, the circular street around the Jokhang Temple. This street, which has a history of more than 1300 years, is lined with ancient Tibetan buildings. White walls with black frames and colorful curtains. There are a wide variety of thangkas, accessories, and magical instruments in the shop, which make people linger and forget to return. I bought some Tibetan trinkets, which I can give away when I return to Taiwan. After returning to the hotel, not long after lying down to rest, the phone rang. "I'm Xueman." She said, "Come to Maggie Ami for dinner tonight." "Where's Maggie Ami?" "Just ask anyone and you'll know." "You're human too," I said, "I'll just ask you now." "Go to Barkhor Street and ask and you will know!" The phone hung up. It was getting dark, and I was lying on the bed looking at the digital camera pictures I took today. While admiring the grandeur of the Potala Palace, he suddenly straightened up. Because I saw a mural of a Buddha statue with two apertures. I remember that I was indoors at that time, and there was no sunlight. How could there be a halo of light? And the rest of the photos are fine. Could it be...?