Emotions run high at The Sera
Today was a day of not taking photos, I imagined travelling here and taking memory cards full of images especially as I am keen to explore travel photography world, however visiting, interacting with the people of these temples only really makes me not want to take photos. Let me explain:
Our first visit today was at the Drepung monastery which is one of the six largest monasteries and is located at the base of the West Valley Mountain about 10km from Lhasa. On the way up our guide stopped while no one was around and gave us a brief history, 99% of Tibetans feel the same but most will not say or fear of reprimand. Further discussions later in the week revealed that he usually has to be careful of who he is talking to and often tailors the tours. We are all keen on history and a few of our group knew a lot about the "Liberation", over the course of the trip he really opened up to us on many topics and as i will discuss later on gets visibly upset. The more he told, the more he could tell the effect it was having on us and I am sure that this is what he would've wanted, to share this land but also the hurt so that we (or now, sitting here writing this) share it to more people. This trip was beginning to effect us all.
The monastery itself was again, another sight to behold and we followed worshippers around room by room. Photography was available here inside in certain rooms and the monastery asks for a donation in each room (usually around 20Y or £2) but it feels somehow wrong to me, a feeling that didn't go away when a German tour group came through pointing cameras at everything and using flashes close up to the art work and exquisitely painted Buddhas, one guy even walked round filming the whole time…. How much did he really take in I wonder, if anything at all? These are religious artefacts of thousands of years old and while they are beautiful, much like art in a museum it should be left to view with the eyes, mind and heart and not through a viewfinder with a flash going off 1ft away!! I also noted a lot of those German tourists didn't pay either. Personally I took a few outside photos and one photo inside of a monk by a window with his mobile phone, I immediately paid him, thanked him, felt guilty for taking the photo so donated some money to the Buddha in the room also. I just wouldn't even consider taking photos of the holy monuments and figures just out of sheer respect for the history, the worshippers in the monastery and for preservation..... but hey that's just me!
On a funny note, I wanted, rather needed to use the bathroom, found one and remember when i said those trains were the worst toilets imaginable….. well these beat them hands down. Between two sections, ladies and mens ran a gutter of well, everything, you split your legs and crouched over the top, of course avoiding touching any wall or surface (leave that to your imagination). I ran in, ran into a stall (which neatly covers head height when kneeling) and straight into a little dude doing his business, I don't know who was more shocked, him seeing a Western face or me seeing some dude butt naked……. still, have to laugh.
Next up (above picture): The Sera Monastery, one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet, located 1.25 miles (2.01 km) north of Lhasa. The Sera Monastery, as a complex of structures with the Great Assembly Hall and three colleges, was founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chojey of Sakya Yeshe of Zel Gungtang (1355–1435), a disciple of Tsongkhapa. During the 1959 revolt in Lhasa, Sera monastery suffered severe damage, with its colleges destroyed and hundreds of monks killed.
We almost didn't get in as heavy handed Chinese Government Officials took exception to us and our guide and told him we were not allowed entrance, despite having a permit and tickets. Our guide, visibly upset took them on and got us in, he was never quite the same after that for the rest of the day.
On a Saturday the families take their children to be blessed (by a dot on the nose) wishing safe dreams, the queue was hundreds deep and our guide led us in into a temple, past the queuing Tibetans of all ages and generations. It's fair to say that we felt incredibly rude pushing in to the temple while these people had been queuing for hours but rather than hostility we found a sea of curious faces and encouragement, the parents would tell their children to look at us, wave, say hello, greet us, they would part and let us past, tell others in front we were coming through, push us forward and while we did they would pat our backs, stroke our arms, beam at us with big smiles, encourage us forward. Inside was more of the same, we shuffled past all the Buddhas, through the narrow corridors (3-4ft wide) all the while the same thing happened, pats on the back, "hello's", proud people pointing out at their history. We reached the monks blessing the children where they beamed big smiles at us and greeted us, then through a door out into a room with three walls covered with standing Buddha statues (maybe around ten of them all at least 11 ft high) looking down with smiling faces and I lost it. Emotional wreck, a trend that would happen several times to all of us over the next few days.
I could write today's events 200 times and would never be able to describe the feeling, emotion, warmth, joy and experience of that temple. I think it will take me a very long time to get over it. Not sure if it was spiritual or just the warmth of total strangers but it was too much…….I have since tried to explain it to people but I cannot. A mixture of human kindness, spiritualism and, well, honesty i don't know, it was one of the most incredible moments I can remember and one where I doubt I would experience anywhere else in the world. It still hits me writing this.
Mountains, Yaks and British invasions!
Today we left the city and headed for the hills. The five hour drive to our next hotel "the Yeti Hotel" in Gyantse. The twisty roads took us up to the top of the world, on a drive that was anything but boring. Switchbacks from the base all the way up and nothing but blue skies and views as far as the eye can see, It was great to be out of the city.
Outside of the city the countryside is swamped with prayer flags, hundreds, sometimes thousands of them, it is if you do a search of Tibet one of the symbols of this country, the prayer flag consists of a rectangle of cloth and comes in five colours, these colours symbolise the five elements of nature. Usually around or nearby these flags there will be painted ladders on rocks and small mounds of rocks built up by passing pilgrimages to these sites.
" Legend ascribes the origin of the prayer flag to the Shakyamuni Buddha, whose prayers were written on battle flags used by the devas against their adversaries, the asuras.[3] The legend may have given the Indian bhikku a reason for carrying the heavenly banner as a way of signifying his commitment to ahimsa.[4] This knowledge was carried into Tibet by 800 CE, and the actual flags were introduced no later than 1040 CE, where they were further modified" - Wikipedia
On this trip we passed and stopped at various sites each more impressive than the previous, the way they flutter in the wind, pass over roads, bridges, on top of mountains, it is yet another beautiful sight to see in this country.
Yamdrok Lake is one of the four holy lakes and everyone from the villagers to the Dalai Lama itself makes pilgrimages there and walk (clockwise of course) around it. It is the bluest of blues you will ever see anywhere and is (Fun Fact) at 4,441m alt. the highest lake in the world. Yamdrok Lake is a significant landmark to the Tibetans and sadly it's water level is declining and as with a lot of these stories it is because the Chinese Government have decided to use it. You can see where the water line was compared to where it lies now as you drive around it, it has been turned into a source for Hydro Electricity. Once again, we all feel incredibly fortunate to be here witnessing this while worried for its future, it begs the question if the bus loads of Chinese Tourists that stand in front of the lake posing for selfies are being told this……..
Once we arrive in Gyantse we head to the Baiju Temple, erected in 1418 and consists a giant stupa which you can walk up and view the surrounding country from (while paying attention to the 108 cells on the way up which include statues and holy images in). The monastery is still in use but again is on the decline. At the top of the stupa you can see a wall that guards the Dzong Fortress, the fortress is inaccessible (except for a small museum at the bottom) and surrounded by guards, it was the heart of a British invasion in 1903-1904 and led to the death of 200 Tibetans and plundering of nearby monasteries. In 1967 the Chinese dynamited it in the Cultural "revolution".
So far the hotels have not been great, we have, granted travelled in "off season" however, lights are not on, heating never switched on, no food provided in one, breakfasts have been awful with stale bread, terrible staff, oh it goes on. We have not until this point been able to stay in Tibetan owned hotels until now: "The Yeti Hotel", what a difference. Kind, hospitable and warm, almost everyone on trip advisor is regretful that they only stay one night! In the evening we had drinks in the bar and a meal (Yaks Steak for me!) and in the morning, expecting the usual buffet we were greeted with beautiful toast, bread and muesli, bacon, freshly scrambled eggs….. it had been by far the nicest hotel experience we had seen and really really needed. We aren't stupid, we are in a far flung country, hotel "standards" are not going to be what we are used to however what we had been experiencing was so far below acceptable it became almost laughable. But these are the perils of travel and really, as long as we had a bed and a roof it's not a massive deal, just if you go, don't ever expect "comfort" (haha).
The Following day we were due to visit the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse sadly this required a permit, of which it took all afternoon to get. The poor guide had to go stand in queue and wait for it to go through 8 different checks before it got stamped (no surprises by who) so we didn't get to do anything this day apart from wander Shigatse (second largest city in Tibet) and visit its incredible market while attracting a fair few looks of wonder, stares and hangers on as we purchased and bartered on items. Bit of a disappointing day, but to be fair we probably needed a rest to soak all we had seen in anyway.
