An amazing walk

Another amazing but exhausting day in Tibet. I got up at 5:45 to take a bus full of chanting, murmuring pilgrims out to Ganden Monastery. This was the first Gelugpa monastery. That’s the sect associated with the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas. The paved road was along the flat valley floor, but we eventually turned off onto a dirt road that switchbacked up a mountain for an hour. We went from 3600 m up to 4500 m.

Ganden was in a spectacular setting, its white and red buildings nestled at the top of its mountain. As soon as we arrived the pilgrims excitedly jumped out and started on the kora. Without them it would merely have been a walk with spectacular views of the valley far below, but with them it was magical, as they stopped to do all sorts of activities: rubbing holy rocks, touching holy yak horns, squeezing through a holy hole, and even performing simulated deaths at a sky burial site. The walk was a highlight of Tibet so far, and was otherworldly with all the prayer flags and mani stones.

Not too young for Nirvana

The monastery was nice, with chapels crammed full of golden statues, but it was similar to Drepung, another Gelugpa monastery. It had suffered extensive damage during the Cultural Revolution, and there are ruins everywhere. Rebuilding is still in progress. After wandering for awhile, I headed towards the bigger mountain behind the monastery. I just wanted to climb up to where some prayer flags were, but when there is a mountain, I have to climb it, and I ended up walking all the way to the top. Some sprightly old ladies raced down singing as I huffed and puffed my way up to the cairns at the summit, probably around 5000 m. The views looking down on the monastery and valley were breathtaking.

When I got back down I was starved, but didn’t have any food. Luckily I was able to buy some Tibetan potato chips, and the pilgrims shared their Tibetan French fries. When I got back to town I had Tibetan Tacos for dinner (Spread cream cheese on tortillas, fill with meat and vegetables, and roll. They taste nothing like tacos, but they sure look like them), and a piece of apple pie. A perfect way to end a perfect day.

Check out the view from the top (avi movie)