C & C globetrotting around the world…

From Dunhuang we started heading back East. We had wanted to go to Tibet, but it’s pretty complicated since you need a special permit (if you get it) and need to book a tour (expensive). Since we still wanted to come in contact with the Tibetan culture, we decided to visit some Tibetan villages in China, but at the border with Tibet. We took the train East from Dunhuang to Lanzhou (12 hours) and then a bus to Xiahe (South). The first part of the 4 hour bus drive we saw lots of mosques (at least 3 visible at all times), terraced hills slowly getting higher and losing the terracing. The predominance of the Muslim (Hui) population also slowly gave increasingly way to the Tibetan and even the road signs were in 3 writing: Chinese characters, Pinyin and Tibetan. Although the towns are developing, it’s still a very agricultural-based area.

Arrived in Xiahe, we were surprised by how developed the town is. We expected a smaller Tibetan village, but instead there are banks, supermarkets, 5 storey buildings and a few cranes. The town lies at 2920m altitude and its 70,000 people population is composed of 50% Tibetan, 40% Han and 10% Hui. Walking around town, we saw something that looked like feta cheese. Since we haven’t had cheese in a while, we bought a chunk. We didn’t want to wait until we got back to the guesthouse, so Cecilia told Christoph to bite into it. It was butter, not cheese! He was pretty grossed out and will probably remind her of it for a while. Despite the altitude, we didn’t have altitude sickness, but were a bit more tired than usually, so went to bed early on the first day. After having accumulated some energy, we did what we came to Xiahe for: “Walk like a Tibetan” (can’t help but thinking of the song). Labrang Monastery is surrounded by a 3km kora (Tibetan pilgrim path) lined with 1174 prayer wheels that pilgrims spin when they walk the kora. We also walked passed the meditation cells on the hillside, which look kind of funny. We found that the Tibetans are a lot more friendly than the Chinese, smiling more, shaking hands and also laughing whole-heartedly. For dinner we went to the Nomad Restaurant where we had Tibetan food: local schnapps, butter tea, yak meat momos (dumplings), and Tsampa (a barley with cheese & water bread).

After walking the kora around the monastery, the next day we visited the Labrang Monastery with its 2000 monks from Tibet, Mongolia and the area around Xiahe. The monastery built 1709, is one of the 6 major monasteries of the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism and also the place where the current Dalai Lama studied. The tour guide (a monk) we had was amazing, giving us a lot of information about Tibetan Buddhism helping us understand their temples and culture a lot better. The Labrang Monastery has many different colleges (tratsang in Tibetan) where monks study various subjects, including philosophy 13yrs, medicine 15yrs, astrology, tantras). Children can join the monastery as early as age 7 or 9 and then for the first few years they have to memorize the scriptures before taking a test to enter the college. Depending on the test grade, a specific college is then assigned. During their time in the monastery, monks usually get supported by their families and donations from pilgrims. In Xiahe the monks seemed to be pretty well off since most of them had cell phones and other gadgets. It was pretty unusual seeing monks in their crimson cloaks with Nike shoes and texting… The lamas and masters on the other hand wear yellow cloaks to show their status. Unlike other Buddhist monks, monks here can eat meat due to the cold, but lamas & masters are still vegetarian. This special status, the masters and lamas have, is also evident after death: their relics are “buried” in golden stupas in the temples, while monks and normal people usually get a sky burial.

The sky burial, where the white cloth is removed from the body while the master of ceremonies slices the body on the stone slab seems a very interesting albeit very perturbing sight. The flesh is cut into large chunks, the bones and brains smashed and mixed with barley flour. The smell of flesh draws the vultures and once the master retreats, they carry the pieces towards the sky. They believe that it performs a spiritual as well as practical functions. According to Buddhist beliefs, the body is merely a vehicle to carry you through this life, so once the body dies, the spirit leaves it and the body is no longer of use. Giving the body as food to the vultures is considered a final act of generosity to the living world. Vultures are themselves revered and believed to be a manifestation of the flesh-eating god Dakinis. This form of burial also provides ecologically sound way of disposing of bodies in a region where wood is scarce and the soil is often frozen solid. We have not seen this ancient Buddhist-Tibetan tradition, but have walked past a sky burial site. The sick people or those who took medicines get incinerated and then the ashes are brought to the sky burial place to avoid making the vultures sick.

The set-up of Tibetan monasteries is quite different from what one expects of normal monasteries. There are the various colleges and the monks live in little courtyards. Each monastery has at least one white stupa (choerten in Tibetan) which is located outside and holds holy scriptures, around which the pilgrims can walk when doing the kora (pilgrim path). Inside the temples, the candles are made of yak butter and we also saw a Hall with sculptures made of yak butter, which has a very particular smell, but the sculptures are very nice and colourful. They are made by the monks using natural colouring agents and kept for a year. Another interesting feature of Tibetan monasteries is that the Buddha statues have blue hair (not black or golden like other Buddhas). Our guide was a philosophy student himself and an excellent guide.

After the monastery tour and lunch, we decided to walk the outer kora up on the hill. On the way through the Tibetan village part of town, we passed another smaller monastery where we saw monks in red and white robes with long braided hair before heading up the hill. On the hill, we passed a sky burial site with all the prayer flags and lots of small papers with stuff written on them flying in the wind. From the top we were able to get a good feeling of the design of the monastery with its small courtyards where the monks live and even saw some playing basketball.