AMAZING – what else can one say, simply glorious.
We were afforded a private tour and free access for photography and video. We started in the main prayer area – SO beautiful!!! Under restoration and being carefully repainted and repaired, we explored the 5 levels around the gorgeous central Buddha.
Then we were escorted to see the records area, the hand made wooden print stencils, the 14th Lama King’s resting place, the storage area for statues representing the 8 Buddhist traditions and the views from the rooftop.
An AMAZING experience!!! A photographer’s dream. Here are just 15 of hundreds and hundreds of photos!!!!
We arrived in Dzamthang Village (may have another name, but is the village attached to Dzamthang Monastery) late in the day.
The annual Buddhist Monks Conference was occurring in the region and there was a heightened police presence and wariness about how our presence might be received. In order to be low profile we spent our first day in the village and climbed a ‘small hill’ behind the village with a picnic lunch. This hill of about 2000m jutted above the village (already at 3,500m!). It was interesting climbing at altitude. The eldest daughter, Shuklah, and a beautiful nun carried our lunch and gear up. We breathlessly managed to just get ourselves up there!!
Again we found that there was no Internet access at all. Lots of Tibetans have iPhones, but no access to anything on-line. Chinese control of the Internet had been obvious since landing in Chengdu – no FaceBook, Twitter, Google, Wikipedia, Linked-In … etc. The absolute control in this region was marked!
The village itself was gorgeous. Yaks, cows, dogs everywhere! The buildings opened to lovely homes and glorious temples. Unfortunately the family was reduced to using the communal drop pit toilet (and of course, so were we!) We later discovered that there was a typical Chinese style bathroom in the house but it leaked and they had been unable to get it repaired for months. No plumber would come. Interestingly the usual ‘Chinese efficiency’ seemed to be selectively applied – their police station and accommodation was the best in town!
Our beautiful host family were very upset by police intimidation and indoctrination processes. We certainly saw people look out of their doors before going out. The Tibetan children were attending the Chinese school (from 8am to 6pm daily, 6 days a week plus at least an hour of homework every day). The kids are getting a very traditional Chinese education, in Chinese. Tibetans are concerned about when the children will learn their own language and culture.
There were Chinese flags everywhere, including on the Monastery and school.
The oldest lady in the house explained some of the challenges they faced. For example villagers were told that they would be paid for extending their houses. Chinese labourers arrived to help and did very shoddy work. Tibetans have had to remove walls, leave houses etc. undertaken in this scheme. Our hosts have had to take down an unsafe wall (this explained the piles of rubble around the boundary of the property). Others were moved into the new homes that were then declared unsafe. We certainly saw piles of stone everywhere and deserted houses all over the place. The Tibetans weren’t reimbursed for work done/paid for as they had been promised.
Another amazing journey – Thuchen to Dzamthang – as we headed approximately westerly, deeper in the TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region).
The road was incredible. Paved generally, but subjected to extremes of weather and broken up in sections. Vivid in my memory are the overhanging rock faces, towering across the road and sheer drops on other side, hair pin turns, random construction vehicles left in convoy by the road, unfinished repairs and rockfalls!!! Add to this the wandering cows and yaks, farmers’ carts, bike riders and long vehicles needing both sides of the road to negotiate the tight bends. That anyone navigates it safely is amazing, that they manage it at the speed they do, incredible!!
Roadside workers undergo hazardous work, there is no speed reduction, drivers travel at the same speed as usual with their hand planted on the horn. Rocks are placed to cordon off new work, so unannounced one can round a bend and need to travel on the opposite side of the road to avoid rocks!
All mean that traffic both ways belts down the middle of the road. Lots of beeping and swerving!!!!!!! Skilful scary driving!! Miraculously speeds up to 80km per hour are achieved – it is an act of faith that on coming drivers are alert!
We later learned that cutting into the rock faces to make the road safe was a major challenge, because each interruption to the natural landscape opened up the probability of dangerous rock slides. Leaving rock faces untouched (and overhanging the road) was safer than cutting into them.
Spectacular scenery again – amazing alpine trees, huge mountains, massive rivers in each valley, clusters of villages – some poorer, most similar to Thuchen.
We crossed a spectacular ridge (from one valley road to another) on the usual high altitude concrete road. We saw yak farmers (in canvas tents), yaks herds grazing and green mountain tops (trees thinned out completely at the top).
Wow! Wow! Wow! This monastery sat at the top of a huge mountain and was splendid! Stunning views (all the way up!!), beautiful colours … speechless!!
Sitting on the mountain top, 1800m above the town (already at 4,500m altitude). Needless to say it was a spectacular drive up!! We zigzagged up through incredible hairpin turns, keeping our eyes closed against the thought that someone might be coming down as we climbed. Couldn’t worry about the down traffic too much, or one would miss the glorious view – thin white ribbons of road below, dense foliage, and the town slowly becoming more miniature with each twist.
We saw yaks grazing in sunny pastures and Tibetans farming and living on steep slopes.
Near the glorious monastery were incredible homes, perched on the hillside. They must have simply stunning views!!! The Chinese have ordered the occupants out – saying there were ‘too many people’.
This million dollar real estate was vacated by Tibetans on demand. Wonder who is moving in?
Thuchen, Guanyin in Chinese, is spectacular!!!!! We stayed in a lovely guest house; delicious spicy meals and great beds!! There was only cold water in our ‘private’ bathroom, but it was only for one night (and was in fact luxury compared to what was ahead!)
Some of us went an hour and a half by car and then swapped to the back of motor bikes to travel high up into the mountains to see the planned RIME meditation retreat site. Simply stunning – the drive up and the valley itself … The bike ride was pretty full on (understatement!) but amazing!!
We found that we were easily puffed with any exertion at that altitude. 4,500-5,500 m up – was a challenge!
That evening we strolled out, cameras in hand to explore the town. To our amusement, we were the tourist attraction and entertainment for the night! The photos we took of people caused huge gales of laughter and in some cases, hysteria! They were certainly beautiful, friendly people and absolutely fascinated by us. So much so that we had to give up any sense of personal space as some curious souls came right in close for an extended stare!
One topic of conversation between the locals in the restaurant was how to manage the fly population. Being Buddhist, they had no intentions of killing the flies. Would love to be able to send them some traps to collect and then release the unwanted critters outside. Pest strips on the doors would be a good idea too!
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