The Traveling Duo

Braving the Bitter Cold

Stumbling out of bed at 5:30 am, we set off for a new adventure. Traveling within the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) can be pricey and tough to organize, but every morning just outside Jokhang Temple, pilgrims congregate to board one of the public buses. We decided to join them - our destination, Ganden Monastery. The bus ride was short (1 1/2 hours) but cold, and because daylight doesn’t break here until almost 9:00, it was dark and even colder at our destination.

Our good luck struck again, however, as the night before it had snowed on the hillsides of the local mountains. This made our trip even more spectacular. Daniel and a few of our new friends, decided to hike up the mountain facing the monastery. It was probably about a 300 meter elevation gain, but when you are already at 4600 meters and there is frost on the ground, the hike is tough. About half-way up, I bailed due to frozen feet and a lack of serious interest and decided to go hang out with the donkeys down below. Apparently, I missed out. The view from the top was amazing. You had a 360 degree of the Himalayas and you see mountains hundreds of miles away. Plus, there were giant yaks and prayer flags to provide context that you were definitely no longer at home.

Our second adventure was to walk along the upper kora (a pilgrimage circuit). Sadly by this point, our camera had died, so this post is both to update you all on our lives but also for us to remember the experience. The views along the monastery were breathtaking, but even more memorable is the mark that mankind has made on this path over the last 600 years. As we walked, we came across shrines filled with images of Buddha or yak bones or eternal flames. There were huge stones that have been polished smooth from pilgrims rubbing their hands or backs. We came across a small boulder that had a striking series of circular depressions made when pilgrims ground smaller stones against the rock. And then there were the prayer flags. They were every where - to the highest peak and the lowest point. We walked through a forest of prayer flags and listened as they flapped in the wind. The spirituality of the Tibetan people continues to amaze us.

On the way back to Lhasa, we met a new Tibetan friend. Her English name is Ashley, and she is remarkably fluent in English considering this is her 3rd language and she has only been studying it for 3 years. After about 30 minutes driving through Tibet’s equivalent of marsh land, we made a second stop at another smaller monastery. As Daniel and our new travelling friends slept in the bus, Ashley walked me through the monastery and explained the different rituals and symbolisms. Even though the monastery was much smaller than others we have seen, this monastary felt so much more alive. About 30 monks congregated in the center chanting scripture, playing trumpets, banging drums and other unknown instruments. Pilgrims lined the walls, slowly walking under scriptures and past Buddhist sculptures, offering small amounts of money or yak butter and rubbing the walls. It is times like these when you can’t help but be moved by Tibetan Buddhism and gain a better insight into why so many people devote their entire lives to it.