Food and Drink in Tibet (2) by Tina

June20

We have got the main foot of Tibet in the former. Typical food in the holy land could be regarded as the most terrific attraction during your Tibet tour. Now, I would like to lead you to enjoy its typical features.

Food in Tibet

Typical Self-Catering
There will be a time when you will need to be self-sufficient, whether you are staying overnight at a monastery or are caught between towns on an overland trip. Unless you have a stove, your main savior will be instant noodles. After a long trip to Mt Kailash and back you will know the relative tastes of every kind of packet of instant noodles sold in Tibet. Your body will also likely be deeply addicted to MSG. Even the faintest smell of noodles will leave you gagging. It is a good idea to stock up on instant coffee, hot chocolate and soups as flasks of boiling water are offered in every hotel and restaurant. Vegetables such as onion, carrots and bok choy can save even the cheapest pack of noodles from culinary oblivion, as can a packet of mixed spices brought from home.

Nonalcoholic Drinks
The local beverage that every traveler ends up trying at least once is yak-butter tea. Modern Tibetans use an electric blender to mix their yak butter tea. The more palatable alternative to yak-butter tea is sweet, milky tea, or cha ngamo. It is similar to the tea drunk in neighbouring Pakistan. Chinese green tea, soft drinks in Jianlibao, a honey-orange drink is existing difference. However, tourists should be aware that it is often made with contaminated water, and there is always some risk in drinking it.

Alcoholic Drinks
The Tibetan brew is known as chang, a fermented barley beer. It has a rich, fruity taste and ranges from disgusting to pretty good. Connoisseurs serve it out of a jerry can. Those trekking in the Everest region should try the local variety, which is served in a big pot. Hot water is poured into the fermenting barley and the liquid is drunk through a wooden straw - it is very good. Sharing chang is a good way to get to know local people, if drunk in small quantities. Supermarkets in Lhasa stock server types of Chinese red wine, including Shangri-La, produced in Tibetan areas of northeast Yunnan using methods handed down by French missionaries at the beginning of 19th century.

If you have enough interests, just have a careful taste about the local drinks!

Post in : Travel in China , China Excursions , Tibet China Excursion ,

Mysterious Languages on Silk Road by Rose

June19

As we all know, Silk Road provided a cultural and commercial link between half of mankind, joining East and West and provided a constantly moving pathway for goods and ideas, peoples and entertainment. Between Changan and the Mediterranean, it passed through many diverse peoples and lands, which today include at least 13 countries, each with its own official language. Was there a universal lingua franca? Or did traders and cameleers employ interpreters, or resort to sign languages?

Silk Road

Language Truth on Silk Road
For talking about various guessing, the reality of language on Silk Road is clearly merchants and caravaneers have employed both sign language and the use of an interpreter, whenever and wherever necessary. And while there was no universal language employed between the Mediterranean and the Yellow River Valley, certain languages were more useful and more widely spoken than others.

Nation Languages during Silk Road Period
Earlier in the ancient times, China is unchanging political entity along the route of Silk Road. Chinese generally the Putonghua or common speech of Beijing and North China is known as Mandarin in the West. Other languages spoken along the easternmost stretch of the Silk Road include Mongol and Tibetan, neither of which would have been possible exception of Mongol during the Yuan Dynasty. At the earliest ancient times, the Greek and later Latin were the lingua franca of the Mediterranean world and the Levant. During the time of Alexander the Great, and under the Graeco-Bactrian Kingdoms in south and central Asia, no doubt Greek functioned as a language trade - with Greek letters used on coinage minted in Bactra and other distant outposts of the Greek world.

Tongues on Silk Road
Finally, mention should be made of more recent additions to the languages of the Silk Road - Tongues. It would be little heard or not at all, when the traditional Silk Road was at its peak, but which now serves as useful international languages the length of the Silk Road modern equivalent. The first is the Russian and second is English.

Silk Road is just like a culture world where all the human beings civilization promoted step by step. It is a treasure decoration all the national process!

Post in : Travel in China , China Excursions , Silk Road China Excursions ,

Where to Amuse in Lhasa by Sarah

June13

For the tourists explore Lhasa attractions, they would get easily love the customs and local religions. It is an ideal paradise where tourists could find unique happiness. However, besides this, where to amuse in Lhasa?

Bars in Lhasa

Delicate Bars in Lhasa
Here the very familiar bar will be the Makye Amye. The past is tastier than the present at this watering hole overlooking the Barkhor. If the stories are to be believed, this was once a drinking haunt of the licentious sixth Dalai Lama, who met the famed Tibetan beauty Makye Amye here and composed a famous poem about her. Tour groups and Chinese tourists are drawn to the views of the Barkhor from the window tables and fine rooftop terrace, but the food is just so-so. Another will be the Dunya. The upstairs bar at this popular restaurant is favorite of both local expats and tour groups. There are discount hour in the Friday. For the tourists who want to save money, it is an ideal place to have a try!

Poetic Teahouses and Cafes
With authentic espresso coffee and smoothies, sofas that you could lose yourself in, free wi-fi and melt-in-your-mouth desserts, this American-style coffeehouse is caffeine nirvana for Starbucks addicts and latte lovers. It is in the courtyard of the Shangbala Hotel, off Zangyiyuan Lu. There are several Tibetan teahouses around town where you could grab a cheap cup of cha ngamo. Most of them are grungy Tibetan-only places, blasted by high-decibel kung fu videos, but there are a few exceptions. If you want to have a tranquil environment, the Ani Sangkhung Nunnery Teahouse is a good idea. For the tourists who are interested in the mysteries, Turquoise dragon Teahouse could satisfy your desire. It is a Tibetan-style place with a fine balcony overlooking Beijing Donglu.

Entertainment in Lhasa
It is regret that there is little in the way of cultural entertainment in Lhasa. Restaurants like the Shangrila in the courtyard of the Kirey Hotel have free song-and-dance performances for diners. For authentic performances of Tibetan opera and dancing you will probably have to wait for one of Lhasa festivals. If you are interested in dancing, you could ask the local people for the dancing halls around the town where offer a mildly nationalistic mix of disco, traditional Tibetan line dancing, lots of beer and a bit of Chinese karaoke thrown in for good measure.

Post in : Travel in China , China Excursions , Tibet China Excursion ,
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