Sewcrazylorri: prayer flags

When I guest edited the Odyssey blog for our time in Tibet, I needed to always stay positive and leave opinions out. My draft was then edited for brevity (confession, I do go on and on) as well as political correctness. A lot of the photos I would have put in didn't make the cut, either. Watch for them to show up at a later date.

Getting permission to enter Tibet is always an iffy science. Our Chinese guide, Daniel, had a copy of our permits which should have been sufficient to get us past the checkpoint outside Golmud. We would then go to the actual border with Tibet where we would pick up our Tibetan guide as well as the actual permit. Instead, the police checkpoint was manned by a very scary fellow with his gun at the ready and finger on trigger. No going through without the original permit. No arguing. In all our travels in China, this was the only time we encountered this. Every other checkpoint, what needed to be checked was but there were friendly smiles and the occasional question in English..

So, a day wasted and our Tibetan guide, Tsewang, made a hurried 16 hour train trip to meet us the next morning. The funny side of this was that we were then further delayed by construction and had no choice but to do a late night bush camp. Lovely spot, but that was when we began to realize how much of a city boy Daniel was. Thankfully, Tsewang knew how to pitch tent and obtain blankets from the nearby village.

The next day, at the official border crossing there was a "discrepancy" in one of the passports which resulted in a five hour delay while someone with more authority could be found to make a decision. Everybody was friendly and curious, we just couldn't proceed. We've gotten really good at waiting and not fretting. But this did mean setting up camp just as it was getting dark at a lot higher altitude that what had been hoped for. Second night of feeling lousy with altitude sickness and we broke down and started taking Diamox.

What I will remember most is the conversations we had with Daniel and Tsewang either together or separately. It's given me a picture of how truly complex the situation is. China says that Tibet has always been part of their sphere of influence (Tibetans would disagree strongly). There are huge economic advantages to Tibet in terms of infrastructure, education and employment (Tibetans would say their resources of water and minerals are being exploited and the Chinese get all the good jobs). China would say what's the big deal about Buddhism. Tibetans would say "everything".

What I will remember about Tibet. Spectacular mountain vistas and the animals that inhabit them. The running joke about Gregories (our name for the gerbil sized rodents). The rural people going about their job of making a living pretty much the way they did a hundred years ago. Lhasa being so much what I did not expect it to be (so much more). Tsewang's way of mixing religion, history and politics into a sense of what it is like to be Tibetan.

And how could I forget Everest base camp? For me, there certainly was a mystique to the idea of walking the last two or three km to the base camp. The reality is that that walk was almost easy. We had been preparing for weeks to acclimatize to the altitude. The paperwork had all been done. The hard work was navigating the road to get there (while imagining the first explorers who had to figure out the path). Interesting detail, the surveyor on the Mallory expedition was a Canadian! Honestly, we only had a few brief glimpses of Mt. Qomolangma but there were days before and after when other mountains came out to play and when Mother Nature gave us some pretty spectacular skies (including a lightening storm at almost 5000 meters). That said, I carried prayer flags, attached them to the others and sent a wish for safe journeys to all. Prayer flags which are particular to Tibetan Buddhism and were hand printed in Lhasa.

It's early August and we've been on the road for almost four months. There are eighteen squares completed, so I'm a little ahead of my goal of one a week.

Here's the finished wine dyed square for Georgia. Some mountains in the background (although compared to what we encountered later, they weren't that high) and a bit of a bottled water label so I have the Georgian script. Our guide, Zaza also autographed the edge. He gave wishes for a safe journey and to come and visit again.

There is an empty square next for Azerbaijan. It was a quick trip across and my most positive memory was our bush camp at the mud craters outside Baku. I've some great pictures that I will print on fabric when I get home and then embroider a flame design. Interesting, the designs we call Paisley in the west are called flame in Azerbaijan. I have a lovely woolen scarf with the designs to inspire me.

This square is for the deserts of Turkmenistan. Mysterious and unknowing like our time there. The fabric was purchased at a mall in Ashgabat when we had a few brief minutes away from our minder. I discovered a fabric store fill of glitzy material for ladies dresses but there were also some bolts of linen fabric. My first experience negotiating amount and cost when the shopkeeper spoke no English and I of course speak nothing else. Hand gestures and pen and paper straightened out her understanding that I wanted 25 meters.

First of two squares from Uzbekistan. In Kiva, we visited a carpet making workshop and I was fascinated with the skeins of hand dyed silk hanging by the looms. With the help of our guide, I negotiated to buy some thread ends to use for embroidery - six different colours five meters each for a total of five USD. Waste thread for them and a totally unique souvenir for me. The square, exactly the correct size, was one of several small embroideries sitting begging to come home. The background is silk boiled in tea for the off white colour. The blue threads are indigo and the yellow was a flower. Uzbekistan is the second largest producer of silk, almost all of it is exported to Russia for parachutes. A small amount is used for hand made embroideries and carpets.

Here is the second square from Uzbekistan. Our last day, as part of our wild taxi ride into Fergana, we stopped at a silk factory. Only one in the country using completely traditional methods. We saw the raw silk cocoons being washed and boiled the spun into thread. My enthusiastic questions earned me a bit of the thread, although my fingers were also itching to scoop up the handful of raw waste fiber. Sigh. Then we were walked through the process of creating ikat fabric as well as seeing carpet making being taught. Interesting to compare the speed of the "experts" in Kiva and Bokara we had watched with the students here. Another "not all sheep are created equal" story. Uzbek sheep's wool is more suited for clothing so Uzbek carpets are actually made of imported Iranian wool dyed with natural dyes. Stronger and coarser. And, yes, enthusiastic questions earned a bit of Iranian wool. The final stop, the showroom/market had us all contributing to the local economy. The background to this square is more Turkmenistan desert fabric. The flowers are ikat and the stem is the Iranian carpet wool. The raw silk fiber was used to stitch things together and there is enough in the tassel that I can let you feel what the fiber is like.

Next are two squares for Kyrgyzstan. Mid way through our journey, we had a fancy dress party. Names had been picked and Tina found a fairy costume for me. Indeed all sorts of good stuff was to be had at the Karakol market The first square is from bits and pieces of the costume.

Later, we stopped for a felt making demonstration that I had been eagerly looking forward to for weeks. Apparently, I was the first Odyssey tripper to WANT to take the sample. The sample got finished at our Son Kol camp then cut up with Alicia taking the bit with Dave's fighting marmots. The embroidery is an aurochs design, meaning prosperity (health and happiness rather than money) which our guide, Begiam, explained.

Two squares for China come next. Our first town, Kashgar (Kashi), had a small local market near our hotel and I found the fabric shops. Gorgeous glitzes and brocades and embellishment bits. This square is a bit of embellishment cut up and rearranged around a green tea bottle label. I'm definitely starting to get creative about supplies for squares.

The colours of important signs everywhere in China were red and yellow so I used some of the left over fabric from my fairy costume and yellow silk thread (originally from China but brought from home). Our guide, Daniel, helped with the character. I had initially asked for "welcome", which was a long sentence, so this is "jao" or friendship.

And two squares for Tibet. All along, people have been interested in the crazy things I've been doing with this quilt and I've invited anybody to contribute "stuff". Earlier, I had been asked if I would be offended if the group made a birthday square for me (was the rule of the quilt that I had to do all the work, perhaps), to which I had said I'd be delighted. Not sure who found the fabric, although my guess is Tina who has the ability to source out anything. Everybody had signed it and it was presented at our lunch stop on the way to Lhasa. I added a few details and the prayer flags.

For Tibet, I wanted prayer flags (they are an integral part of Tibetan Buddhism and all the other ones are just copying) and mountains. This second square has mountains, created from shoe polish cloths found in our hotels (honestly) with o bit of bangdian (the name for the Tibetan apron worn by all married ladies). I managed in Lhasa to find a shop selling the actual Tibetan wool hand spun, dyed and woven rather than the cotton or polyester mass produced ones for everyday wear. They are woven in three narrow panels (traveling nomads would use a narrow loom) and stitched together with the stripes deliberately mismatched for design. The shapes of the mountains echo the designs of many of the hangings in the monasteries and temples we visited. Our guide, Tsewang said it was "just a design" but it was present even in the very oldest hangings. All the beads were from the market on the kora around the Jokang monastery. Tibetans, particularly rural tribespeople, were also buying turquoise and coral as well as amber for bracelets and necklaces. The men adorned their hair as well.

Nepal. Some years ago, I bought a small notebook of handmade Nepali paper at Ten Thousand Villages in Edmonton. It was in my mind that it would be great to find one in Nepal. This square has a piece of paper from the journal I bought (with the explanation of how sturdy it is and that it was used for all important documents). I succumbed to a fair amount of retail therapy in Kathmandu, so the background in from one of the shopping bags. The leaves are also Nepali paper, cut from an envelope I purchased in Pokara, and the crocheted silk and wool flowers are the purple water hyacinths we saw on the lake as well as in Chitwan National Park. It's interesting to reflect on the fact that before this trip I thought my Nepal square would be mountains but in actual fact my memories of Nepal are of lush greenery, waterfalls and humidity. Moral of the story: never assume.

Stay tuned for the next installment.