I don't know...

I'm on a train to Lanzhou from Tibet. I stole in a restaurant for the first class passengers, and just had a cup noodle. I will be on this train for 30 hours, and transfer to another one to go to Urumqi in the north west part of China (Almost Kazakhstan!!). Tibetan steppe goes forever from the window. I thankfully could learn millions of things in Tibet too. Especially in the holy city Lhasa, where I spent more than half of my staying in Tibet, was the unforgettable memory now. Tibetans live in a historical space with sophisticated manners and clothing. Every single moment of their lives were clearly infiltrated by their own history and religion, Tibetan Buddhism. Of course, not everyone is a Tibetan Buddhist though...They pray in their own manner in the evening. I don't know how to call it in English, but we say it gotai-tochi in Japanese. The Kanji for the Japanese word means "through a whole body to the ground", and my dictionary says "a prostration in which both hands, legs and head are pressed to the ground, and expresses his heart of repentance through his body". They move on the road toward the Mosque in the center of Lhasa with gotai-tochi style walking.

At the schools I visited, kids honestly pray for their god to express thank for foods. Tibetan Buddhists have their own political leader called the Dalai Lama as you know, and some other people like officials are also chosen according to their own way. They have their believes on the nature too. Lives in the water are believed that they have poison (Badness), so Tibetans don't eat fish. On the other hand, yakus (cows) are respected in Tibet.

Many many things and moments are so sophisticated, and these spiritual values, which don't exist in globalized countries anymore, attract people from all over the world.(Tibetan students told me that they little bit dislike the unmodernized city.)

Only thing I didn't like in Tibet was that there were always Chinese armies in anywhere. It's impossible that you finish your day by not seeing guns and solders in Lhasa. They were in anywhere in Lhasa such as on the road, roof, and around the Mosque. The reason is for safeness, but only a thing needed in order for Tibet to be safe is that Chinese armies leave from here. This is only it. However, it's true too that Tibetan's lives are much more profitable than before because of the solders and foreigners like me. We can reach this city because of the rail which laid on the highest attitude in the world. In the sense, I'm still not sure if my visiting in this city was good for them or not. Other foreigners talked about the "Free Tibet" without understanding that they are part of unwanted people for Tibetan traditional. I wondered what I should do in this city is really only shopping and sightseeing, but this is actually what I did just like other foreigners do. This fact still make me powerless and sad... I don't dislike China, but I just want all people in the world to live in own custom, history, and culture, language, happiness, believe. No one is allowed to invade such values.

"I don't know what a really best approach for them"

This is what I wrote on my note right before getting on this train. But I want to believe that my visiting in Tibet was good for the future of both Tibet and Chuji.


"I will be back"


Go for it!! Chuji,