All Bets on Tibet

Hey y'all. I've been a little bit of a slacker the past few weeks with my blogs because I've been super busy with school *cough cough, finals*, but I'm back now! I decided this week's post on Tibet. After Humans of New York's trip to Tibet and learning about the Tibetan uprising in my geography class, I've wanted to find out more about Tibet, and what better way to learn more about a place and its culture than visit it?

Tibet is probably best known for being the world capital of Buddhism. Ninety-nine percent of Tibetans practice Buddhism and until the uprising in Tibet, it was the home of the head of Buddhism, the Dalai Lama. Buddhism is a relatively large religion (it's the fourth largest in the world), but it's not something you get much exposure to in US. Other than kind of knowing this one Buddhist kid in third grade and seeing some monks in Golden Gate Park, I really have not had much experience with Buddhism. The biggest reason I want to go to Tibet is to learn more about this religion and its beliefs and customs.

Monks at a Tibetan monastery.
Image courtesy of: Wikipedia

As the world capital of Buddhism, Tibet has a ton of historical and important religious sites for Buddhism. The most important and well-known of these structures is Potala Palace. This is the huge red and white temple-looking building that you have probably seen in pictures and documentaries and stuff. It was built in the 600s by the Dalai Lama and was the winter residence of the Dalai Lama until he fled to India. The Potala Palace is pretty much the symbol of Tibetan Buddhism around the world today.

Recognize it?
Image courtesy of: Travel Surround

Another reason I want to go to Tibet (and the reason I want to go pretty much everywhere) is food. Tibetan food is kind of like Indian food with a little bit of a Chinese flare thrown in there. They have tempura, these really good dumpling things called momos, delicious rice pudding, and this tea called salted butter tea that tastes like bread dough, but is OK once you get used to it. Plus, many Tibetan Buddhists are vegetarian, so that makes life a lot easier for me as a vegetarian.

(Did you guys know there's a Tibetan restaurant in Salt Lake? It's called House of Tibet and it's really good and super cheap! I actually ate there for Christmas!)

Momos are basically Tibetan dumplings, but better and less slimy.
Image courtesy of: I Am Kathmandu

One other thing I want to do in Tibet is ride the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. This is a train that from Lhasa (the capital of Tibet) up through China through the Himalayas, and it is supposed to have a gorgeous view. As the Himalayas are home to the tallest mountain in the world, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the highest railway in the world. Even without the Himalayas, I would still want to ride the Railway. Riding trains is one of my favorite things in the world; they're faster than cars, but slow enough that you can take in your surroundings, and you don't get stuck in your seat next to some old lady that falls asleep and drools on you, because you get up and walk around and grab some food. Plus, trains just have a classy, old-school feel to them.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway going through the Himalayas.
Image courtesy of: CRECG

Tibet is fascinating place with delicious food, beautiful railways, and a central role in a major world religion. I dream to one day go to this amazing place.

Portland: Keepin' It Weird

Two days ago, I got back from a trip with my mom to Portland, OR. Portland isn't a huge city; it's probably about the size of Salt Lake, but it certainly has a lot of life. Around the city, you'll find vintage hipster bicycles, random chalk drawings, and the well-known sign reading "Keep Portland Weird." This post I am going to highlight the favorite things I did in Portland and show some pictures from each of them (and they are actually my pictures this time, so don't judge my lackluster iPhone 4 photography skills).

The "Keep Portland Weird" sign in Downtown Portland.

My #1 favorite thing that I did in Portland was definitely eat. But not just regular eating, food truck eating. Portland has these huge parking lots with food trucks parked all the way around the perimeter, so you have like 40 restaurants all on one block, practically. These food trucks have food from all over the world. In one parking lot, I saw Georgian (like the Caucasian country), Polish, Indonesian, Moroccan, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Mexican, Korean, Transylvanian, Scandinavian, Iranian, Greek, German, and Czech food trucks!

View looking down a street of food trucks.    

Coconut bubble tea from one of the Portland food trucks.

Portland has a ton of vegetarians (probably because of all the hipsters), so a lot of the food at the food trucks is vegetarian, or at least has vegetarian options. This made eating ethnic food a lot easier, because often my experience at restaurants consists of order a meat dish meat-free, which is usually pretty much just lettuce with maybe, if you're lucky, some bread.

A Moroccan food truck where I got vegetarian paella.

Portland has a lot of great independent film theaters, and while I was in Portland, I got to watch a couple of movies at different theaters. A lot of people stray away from watching movies while on vacation, because they think they're missing out on seeing the city, and that may be true for a big blockbuster movie like 21 Jumpstreet or Just Go With It, but going to a film festival or indie theater is a great way to become familiarized with the art in the city, and is not all that different than going to an art museum. The theaters there were really neat; one of them had a set up with round tables and plush chairs where you order drinks and dinner while you watch, and the other one even had a babysitting service! 

Another cool thing I did in Portland (and you should do, too, if you ever go around Christmas) was visit Peacock Lane, a neighborhood street with very elaborate Christmas decorations. All of the houses had a ton of Christmas lights, and a lot of them had a "theme," too (like one was themed the Grinch, one Star Wars, etc.) They even had a Elf-themed little hot chocolate hut on the street!

I thought this house was really cute.
It was one of the more simply decorated ones.

One other activity in Portland that I would recommend is the Portland sky tram, which connects the OHSU hospital (which is kind of in the middle of nowhere on this mountain) to downtown Portland. It has an awesome view of Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and Portland. Plus, the OHSU campus is fun to walk around in.

View from the Portland sky tram with Mt. St Helens in the background.

Portland is a fun city with a colorful population and amazing food, activities, and art. If you ever looking for short get-away in the US, try visiting Portland.