Chapter 717: Beauty Lost, Coffin Carrying Expedition (1)
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
A few hours later, Su Yun landed at Lhasa Gonggar Airport with Xu Jiajia. When Su Yun and Xu Jiajia alighted from the plane, they realized that the higher-ups of the airport had long received the news and had been waiting here for a long time.
“Hero Su Yun, welcome to Lhasa Gonggar Airport!”
Su Yun did not expect the commotion in the airport to be so huge. All the higher-ups personally waited at the exit. Fortunately, the flight crew specially let Su Yun and Xu Jiajia get off the plane first. The passengers behind were still waiting on the plane, so there was no congestion.
The higher-ups enthusiastically invited Su Yun and Xu Jiajia to the office for a chat, but Su Yun rejected him. From Su Yun’s point of view, time was very tight. Potala Palace was very likely the end of this trip. They had already wasted a lot of time on the way, so he did not want to socialize meaninglessly at the airport again.
After being rejected by Su Yun, the higher-ups had no choice but to send Su Yun and Xu Jiajia out of the airport enthusiastically. They quickly got into the car that they had already booked and headed straight for Mt. Maburi.
The Potala Palace is a palace-style building complex originally built by the Tibetan dynasty of Zampsongzan Gampo to marry Princess Wencheng. Now, this place has become the residence of the Winter Palace for generations of lamas. It was also the ruling center of the entire Tibetan region.
As the altitude of the Potala Palace was above 3,700 meters, Xu Jiajia quickly felt the altitude reaction.
Fortunately, these cars, specially used to pick up tourists, were equipped with portable oxygen tanks. The driver was already used to this phenomenon. He handed one to Xu Jiajia and said to Su Yun curiously through the rearview mirror, “Young man, you don’t look like a local. Is this your first time here?”
Su Yun nodded gently as he looked at the scenery outside the window. However, this also made the driver even more curious.
“It’s not common for people like you to not have any discomfort the first time you come. Your physical fitness is not bad. Did you specifically train for this before coming?”
Facing the enthusiastic driver, Su Yun only smiled and responded simply. As this place was remote, the information could not be said to be very developed. Therefore, even if he could see Su Yun’s face for a moment, it was very difficult to match it.
Only those who had experienced this kind of altitude sickness would know how painful it was. Xu Jiajia was already weak. Because of the lack of oxygen, there was a painful expression on her face.
Upon seeing this scene, Su Yun could not bear to see it.
“Jiajia, why don’t you wait for me downstairs? I’ll go up by myself?”
Without waiting for Su Yun to say anything, Xu Jiajia shook her head firmly and said in a weak tone, “This place is also one of my dreams! Since I’m already here, of course I had to accompany you up to take a look. I’m just a little lacking in oxygen, but with the oxygen bottle, it will relieve a lot. Don’t worry about me.”
Su Yun nodded gently and silently held Xu Jiajia’s hand. As the main road to Potala Palace was the mountain path, the two of them felt like they were sitting on a ship when they sat in the car. Coupled with the influence of this high altitude reaction, Xu Jiajia’s expression turned even worse. In the end, she even leaned weakly against the back seat and looked out of the window weakly. There were already one or two empty oxygen tanks beside her.
However, Su Yun was clearly unaffected. Be it the altitude reaction or the swaying car, it did not make him feel any discomfort. This also made the driver very shocked for a while. He spoke frankly and confidently along the way.
“Not to mention you guys, I vomited a few times the first time I ran on this mountain path. I’ve never seen someone as unresponsive as you.”
Along the way, the driver chatted as they passed through the mountain road. The blue sky and white clouds seemed to be within reach. All the noise seemed to have been thrown down the mountain.
In the distance, he could still see mountain peaks covered in snow. This place was like a crystal, giving off a dreamy and unreal feeling.
Along the way, they could see many cars covered in mud. There were some young people sitting in the cars. All of them had their heads drooped. They had all been tortured by the altitude sickness.
These people were tourists who had come from thousands of miles away to take a look, but it was obvious that they had underestimated the threshold of this place. Everyone was holding two oxygen tanks in their hands. It seemed that they could only rely on these things to barely extend their lives. There were also many people carrying bags and walking on this mountain path. Clearly, these people had come here more than once, so the altitude reaction could not affect them much.
Almost all of these people had red faces. This extremely representative highland red also determined their special physique. In addition to this group, there are a few rare groups that form Tibet’s unique culture, known as ascetics.
These ascetic monks were wearing tattered clothes and barefooted. They walked on the mountain path all year round.
Living in the wind and sleeping in the open was the best way for them to cleanse their minds. The meaning of asceticism was also to get rid of the entanglement of their bodies and allow their minds to enter a peaceful place.
Although these ascetic monks were dressed in tattered clothes and were dirty, they were respected wherever they went. Other than wild vegetables and fruits, their food was only to beg for alms from various places.
Therefore, in the backpacks carried by these monks, there was often food that had been placed for a long time. Even though many of the food had already molded, they still treated it as a delicacy.