Lhasa: land of picnics

As I drink some of my imported Stumptown coffee (thank you Oregon coffee makers) and read a paper on the history of Tibet on my balcony, I am interrupted by the sound of laughing is shrieking through the air. Loud Chinese jokes and laughing can be heard crystal clear. "But where are they?" I ask myself. Then I spot them, a group of middle aged Chinese and Tibetan men and women sitting and lying in the grass drinking from small paper cups and have a fine ole time.

As I have been riding through the city the past week it would seem grass is not treated the same as in the city of Siping in Northeast China where I have been living the last four year. In Siping all grass, which is very little, is accompanied by either a keep off sign, or a fence giving the same message. Yet, here in Lhasa people not only walk on the grass (gasp) but at all times of the day can be spotted, laying, reading, eating or just hanging out laying on the grass! Coming strait from Oregon this would have not been as big of shock, but coming from the NE of China where grass is valued commodity that is to be seen but not actually touched, I still cautiously walk around the lawns and feel all these picnickers are all rebels...

but as I sit in my apartment I realize... I get to walk on the grass too! It's a long road but I'll figure out this Lhasa culture sooner or later. In the meantime I think I might go down and finish some of my reading on the lawn in front of my apartment.