Tidrum Nunnery... mountain tops from day hike

These were a few of the amazing peaks surrounding the valley of Dranang Moanastery. We started our descent to Tidrum with awe-inspired hearts...

Tidrum Nunnery... day hike

This building gaurded the trail at the entrance to the gorge from Tidrum. We made it back to the nunnery barely before the sun set below the moutain ridges...

Tidrum Nunnery... mini kora

Pilgrims walking endless circles around this stupa...a mini sized kora... good for a few laps before or after a soak in the springs...

Tidrum Nunnery...our room at the chapel

Our room was off this courtyard, which was closed in by a HUGE bolting door at night. All the scarves were brought by pilgrims to the Kondro-la as respect offerings. During the day, there was a steady stream of pilgrims in the courtyard waiting to pay their respects to the Kondro-la. To the right was the Kandro-la's quarters, to the left the communal room we were in for several previous nights, and forward is our room, behind the curtain. Our room was also the pantry/store room for old butter offerings. Cozy, huh? These are typical Tibetan style beds with the carpets on top.

Tidrum Nunnery...SMOKIN!!

These nuns really get things started...

Tidrum Nunnery... yak bucket

In front of our courtyard and the main chapel... sweet nourishing gruel!!

Tidrum Nunnery... main chapel

Right outside of our courtyard... on the way from our room to the "outhouse"...

Tidrum Nunnery... our hostesses

On the day we left there was some sort of celebration going on. Our courtyard was packed with nuns and visiting monks and others. The Kandro-la helped us figure out how to get from Tidrum to Drigung that afternoon. It turned out to be a bit of a challenge to find our way, but her direction saved the day! This was our good bye shot!

Tidrum Nunnery.. store

We were glad this store was here. We wound up staying several days here, and it was a treat to buy fresh toilet paper and ramen noodles! The noodles turned out to be essential, because while hot water was in good supply, actual food was not. There were actually two restaurants here, but any time we went into either establishment we were totally ignored and it didn't seem like there was going to be ANY cooking happening in these places anytime soon. I don't know what that was all about, and I don't know what everyone else was doing for food. Most people likely brought food with them, previously aware of the lack of cooking in the restaurants. These nuns weren't cookin for nobody! Ramen noodles it was!!

Tidrum Nunnery... our room

Looking up from the hot pools, our room was the upper corner window.

Tidrum..official hotel by the hotsprings

"Official" means that your money goes to the Chinese government rather than the Nunnery itself. The official hotel was full when we first arrived, and lucky for us! We wound up staying with the Kandro-la herself!

Tidrum Nunnery and hotsprings

A view from the parking lot, looking down at the hotsprings facilities.

leaving Tidrum Nunnery

The Kandro-la steered us in the right direction after all, and we were soon to be underway to Drigung Valley. There was snow swirling all around us as we waited for our mini-bus.

Drigung Valley...

This picture sums up what this village is all about... We were let off on the street here, in front of a general store. We decided to grab several packages of ramen noodles, and some bottles of water. We were unsure of how we would get up to the monastery itself, which was perched way up on the mountain side overlooking the village. I knew there was a road right up to the complex, but people kept telling us that walking up was much better, as the road up the hill started a good ways out of town, and the monastery was right above town. I was still hoping for a ride of some sort, but all I saw were motorcycles in this village. We ducked into one of the restaurants for a good lunch, as we had been eating nothing but ramen noodles for about 3 days. A super size pot of sweet milk tea (which I was addicted to at this point!Mmmmm....sweet sugary goodness!), noodle soup with yak meat (thukpa) and Tibetan dumplings with yak meat (momos). Home style and delicious. The owner of this place was particularly kind and friendly. After all that yak (both meat and milk) we were both fortified and ready for the steep hike up to Drigung Til Monastery.

street scene... Drigung Valley

This village was one street that ran about 1.5 miles. Two general stores. Two restaurants. Mostly catering to Chinese laborers. One bus a day from Lhasa, one bus every other day from Tidrum. Quiet and slow moving village. This is a typical scene... Cow. Motorcycle.Pool table. Unopened shop front. Dust.

drying dung Drigung Valley

Yak dung is a hot commodity here in Tibet. It is the main source of fuel for most Tibetans, and is used most especially to heat their homes. You see drying piles of hand flattened pancakes all over. You know they are hand flattened by the hand/finger print designs left behind.

on our way up to Drigung Til Monastery

We walked down the road until we saw a good spot to climb up to the upper road to the monastery complex. In this photo we were cutting over from the main road, through the fields, to the ridge we had to climb to reach the upper road.

Drigung Til Monastery... view from a rooftop

We made it up in time to find a spot for sunset and to admire how high up we had climbed!

Drigung Til Monastery... funeral offerings

We quickly figured out that this place was almost solely devoted to funerals and funeral rites. There was a constant stream of folks... groups lined up and waiting, in some cases, for their turn...

Drigung Til Monastery... Fish and main chapel

It is evening. The entire courtyard is ringed with onlookers, and about 40 monks are sitting in a semi-circle, surrounding several large piles. One pile appears to be a stack of blankets covered in white scarves... one is a pile of foodstuffs... another a pile of clothing, placed in such a way that it appears like a person squatting on the ground... There is a heavy smell in the air, similar to baking bread, but it is dried juniper and tsampa mixed together being burned as incense in large bowls around the semi-circle. There is a very elderly monk who sits in the center, leading all the monks in chanting. This is obviously some part of the funeral proceedings... we watch from behind quietly...no one seems to notice let alone mind our presence

Drigung Til Monastery... the access trail

Quite steep and a bit slippery in spots, but a very well defined and well used trail. Struggling my way down this trail a few days later, I passed several people, all of whom were at least 20 years older than me... and they were headed UP... with smiles! The trail continues winding it's way down the backside of the finger, coming out on the valley floor below.

Drigung Til Monastery... loading/unloading zone

This is the arrival spot for all vehicle traffic to the monastery. There is alot of recontruction going on here, and you can see the stacks of lumber which have been unloaded here, to be carried up to the new buildings as needed. This complex must have a decent and regular monatary income due to all the funerals, as funerals are THE main activity at this monastery. From before dawn to after sun down there is a steady stream of groups arriving with their deceased loved ones, and other groups going through different segments of the funerarial process. Everything is unloaded at this spot. Offerings, bodies in wooden-slat crates, sacks of rice and flour as partial payment to the monastery, piles of clothing and blankets, mourning pilgrims, etc...... This was the view from our room at the monastery guesthouse...

Drigung Til Monastery...dinner

Actually out here at Drigung this was any and all meals of the day. There was a little restaurant on the 1st floor serving yak-gristle soup with noodles (thukpa), but the cup of noodles turned out to be the more preferred option. I mean, there is only SO much yak gristle I can grind between my teeth before I'm looking for options...

Drigung Til Monastery... some info...

Drigung Til is the head monastery of one of three main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It suffered some damage during the Cultural Revolution, but it is in better shape than most other monastic centers in this region. It was established in 1167, and has always been devoted to the instruction of contemplative meditation. There are currently 270 monks residing here. It clings to a high, steep ridge overlooking the Drigung Valley. A steep thread of a path makes its way up into the complex from the village below. The 180 degree views from the main courtyard are spectacular, and a serene stillness pervades the sight. The main temple/assembly hall is the largest and most treasure filled building here. The monastery kora will lead you to the true reason for the existence of this entire complex. Follow the kora up the side stairs of the main hall, then as it heads up the hill to the main durtro.This is the holiest sky burial site in the Lhasa region. People travel hundreds of miles to bring their deceased relatives here.There is a boundary fence well before the ritual site, and you will see this if you stay on the kora. We got lost on our way up the hill, and found ourselves obviously way off the kora. We kept following the next main path we came to... which led us directly to the site of an active sky-burial... pictures follow.

Drigung Til Monastery...chapel from the side

Off we go on the kora! This is the beautiful main temple or assembly hall, as we head around the side...

Drigung Til Monastery...chapel from hill above

...and up the hill. The hill is very steep, so the kora trail consists of alot of switch-backs, putting us over the top of the main hall. Nice view of the valley below...

Drigung Til Monastery... dancing yak

As I mentioned, we got a bit lost on the way up hill. The kora snaked into several other trails, and we switched off onto the wrong trail. As we came to the top of a ridge, we came upon a good sized trail, and thought it must be the kora. So, we followed it out over the hills, wondering if we might see the sky-burial site this way. We had been told there was a huge fence around the whole area and you could not get very close, but it would be an interesting sight nonetheless. Off in the hills there were lots of yaks, chillin like yaks do. They are uniquely interesting animals, and we were pretty fond of them by now!

Drigung Til Monastery...

We were quickly realizing that what we were looking at was a sky burial in progress. We are on a hill above the site, following a trail which leads right to it. At this point there were numerous vultures circling over head, and dozens of vultures sitting/standing on the hill all around us. To this point we had not seen any sign asking us not to enter at all. In fact we had passed a group of monks along the way who were quite friendly and gave no indication that we were approaching a forbidden zone.

Drigung Til Monastery... VULTURES!!!

These were the largest vultures I have ever seen!! They easily stood 3 feet tall. And they were all over the place. Dozens and dozens. Their wing span was astonishing, and to see them take off in flight was...awesome! Some would make this blood curdling noise of aggression... a weird throaty clicky growly hissy whining noise... like the bad guys from the Dark Crystal and the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park combined. We were totally surrounded by them!!

Drigung Til Monastery... the ritual itself

SKY BURIAL...WHAT IS THAT?? Except for the very wealthy who were buried, or the very holy who were cremated and enterred in a chorten, most bodies were, and still are disposed of by sky burial ( also known as celestial burial). Tibet is a land where soil is at a premium and wood for cremation scarcer still. After death the body is kept for 24 hours in a sitting position while a lama recites prayers from the Tibetan Book of the Dead meant to help the soul on its journey through Bardo, the state between death and rebirth. 3 days after death, the body is blessed and early morning prayers and offerings are made to the monastery. The body is folded up and carried by loved ones to the durtro (burial site). Here, special body breakers known as rogyapas cut off the deceased's hair, chop up the body and pound the bones together with tsampa (roasted barley flour) for vultures to eat. There is little overt sadness at a sky burial as the soul is considered to have already departed-the burial itself considered mere disposal. It is , however, very much a time to reflect on the impermanence of life. Death is seen as a powerful agent of transformation and spiritual progress. People are encouraged to witness the disposal of the body and to confront death openly and without fear.
What you are seeing in this photo: the grey circle toward the middle of the shot was a large,low mound of rocks. There were fragments and pieces of human scattered over these rocks, and the whole pile was crawling...teeming with vultures. The sounds coming out of that area were unreal. We were lucky to get a photo of this site... we had a good reason why this was the closest vantage point from which we could observe. As we approached the area from the trail, we realized we were coming up on the sky burial site. Based on what we had been told about this site from other travelers, we assumed we would reach a point beyond which it wasn't possible to proceed, or at least that there would be a sign telling us when we were entering a forbidden/sensitive zone. There was a massive fence around the rock ring itself, which had a sign in several languages telling you not to enter the fence. We remained on the outside, assuming it was OK to be where we were. We passed by an elderly monk, who gave us a wary eye, but motioned to us that it was OK to follow around to the left of the fence, but to stay out of the fenced area. We agreed and thanked him. We had not meant to make it SO close to the burial site, and we wanted to be as respectful as possible. There weren't many people around, and everyone else that was there was inside the fence. A few ladies sitting, spinning wool in a group on the ground. And of course, the ragyapas, who were just finishing their task at hand. As we walked up, they were scattering the last remnants onto the rock heap. There was one adult monk, and 2 younger helpers. As soon as the older monk noticed us he started yelling,"You! No! This! No!", and throwing his hands at us in a "Shoo!Shoo!" type way. We got his point immediately, and turned around to walk away saying "Sorry!" in Tibetan as we did so. About 10 seconds later Fish was struck in the foot by a large chunk of metal, which turned out to be the head of an ax, and we both had to swerve a bit to avoid being hit by rocks. The head monk had thrown an ax at us, and the two kids were trying to pelt us with rocks!! We were shocked at the outburst of anger directed at us, especially since we were doing as we were told, without hesitation and apologetically. We moved on with a quickness, up the ridge behind the ring of rocks, following a kora around the holy site. The view down into the burial site from this ridge is spectacular. There were several groups of pilgrims on the kora. We stayed away from other people, outof respect for their moment, and only took a few quick photos when no one was looking. The men you see walking away from the burial site in the photo, are the people who threw shit at us. Our interaction with these monks was intimidating, humbling, insulting, educational, and a bit of a reality check for us. We walked around with jangled senses for the rest of the afternoon over this...

Drigung Til Monastery... the path away

Drigung Til Monastery... yaks and peaks

Plenty of yaks in the "forbidden zone"... of course, yaks are welcome just about everywhere... And no, that is not trash you see there, but prayer flags and remnants of old prayer flags.

Drigung Til Monastery... the way out...

Just over this rise was the boundary fence. We were almost out of the "no tourists" zone. Actually, I found out later, the rule is "no foreigners at all." I wonder if this goes for the Chinese as well?? Had we stayed on the actual kora, we would have come to a warning sign well before the burial site, but we came in the back way. I learned later that the Chinese actually fine tourists they catch in the forbidden zone... it is a real No No. And, even though those monks assaulted us... and hurt our feelings... we were lucky to have stumbled into that experience!

Drigung Til Monastery... back on the kora

Finally we were out of the hotzone! We felt a bizarre mixture of emotions about this occurence. On the one hand, it was quite interesting to see how another culture handles the subject of death, and to really experience the reality of those beliefs. Sky Burial is a gruesome, but somehow satisfying concept. On the other hand, I felt sorry and sad for intruding on a sensitive moment of folks lives. I hoped that I had not truly offended anyone, and that our presence had been, at worst, an annoyance. I was embarrased by being scolded by the monk, but I was also angry at him for throwing the axe at us and yelling so meanly. Anyway, happy to be back in bounds, we walked the rest of the kora back down into the main courtyard, escorted by a beautiful old Tibetan pilgrim woman who we had made friends with along the way. Her sweetness helped soothe our jangled nerves and sensibilities quite a bit!!

Drigung Til Monastery...

amazing views everywhere you look...

Drigung Til Monastery guesthouse!!

What a spot!! RIght ON the main courtyard and greeting /unloading zone. Great views, not only of the comings and goings at the monastery, but also into the village below. We even had electricity here at night. The one bare bulb hanging from the ceiling served not only as illumination, but as our sole source of heat as well! Good thing we had a stash of candles too! Amazing how much heat you can feel coming off a candle when you need to!!

Drigung Til Monastery... enjoying the evening

Trying to chill out after the traumatic events of the day!!

Drigung Til Monastery...

Solid foundation wall, with river and valley floor below

Drigung Til Monastery... from the village below

You are looking at a hike we had just completed. Down the steep mountain face from the monastery to the village so we could catch a bus back to Lhasa. There was not much vehicle traffic to and from the monastery itself, so hike down we did, gear and all. After all, what had we come to Tibet to do? The way this monastery is perched on the mountain, and the whole setting of it was absolutely unique and breathtaking! A very special place of immense energy.

On the bus back to Lhasa from Drigung Til Monastery

Chillin at the New Mandala

This was our favorite place to eat in Lhasa. The best Indian food team holler has ever had. Their mushroom masala was like nothing else, ever. I had it practically every day I was in Lhasa. This is where we met our friend Dyki, where she works as a waitress. Also, the people watching out the windows was pretty sweet. Not only in the street below, but also a good view of Barkhor square.

Flava Flav... Tibetty style yo!

Too the guy in the hat... dude...you are awesome! We saw him around several times throughout our stay in Lhasa. And, I mean...what the hell?!? How is this guy NOT awesome? And NO, he is not a cop. He is just straight rollin through the hood... talking to himself and gettin his stroll on. YEAH BOYYYYYYYYY!!

Lhasa pilgrim

Drepung Monastery.. on our way up

We hopped off the city bus ( was it good old 301 or 302?) and were lucky enough to see this truck load of monks headed up the hillside to Drepung. We were waved in, and with no delay we chugged up up up the hill to the entrance of the monastery. Nice guys!!

Drepung Monastery.. let the kora begin!

Lovers shot!!

Drepung Monastery... wheels with a view!