Gyantse to Xeger

The Khumbum Stupa.

Palkor Chode Monastery.

Street scenes in Gyantse.

The fort on the hill at the end of the road.

Local family's living room.

Typical Tibetan architecture. 

Boiling a kettle with solar energy.

Farming and tilling with cows,

yaks and

horses.

At the entrance to the Everest National Park and the highest point on our trip.

The huts for nomadic people (not this nomad).

Sunday, May 13^th.

Today was an amazing day, one of the best, and especially nice because it was unexpected.

After breakfast we visited Palkor Chode Monastery and the Khumbum Stupa. Both are on the same property and have been here since the 15^th century. Gyantse village is a little off the beaten path and has been less affected by the Chinese presence. Both the monastery and the stupa have not changed much since the 15^th century. As I said stated numerous times, we have not been allowed to take photos inside the temples or monasteries, which has been a disappointment. However, here we were allowed. We were charged a total of 40 Yuan for the three temples inside the monastery, which was a bargain and totally worth it. Most other temples and monasteries have been updated, repainted, repaired and modernized, but here they remain largely unchanged. The paintings on the walls are faded and look ancient and the buddhas inside are mostly made from a reddish clay and are not painted in the gaudy colours of all the other monasteries. We took our time wandering through the complex and soaking up the atmosphere in this historic and incredible place. It was by far the best I have been in this year. I liked this monastery so much and want to put up pictures of the inside, I have dedicated the next post to it exclusively.

After we completed that, we climbed breathlessly to the top of the five flights of the stupa to gain an overview of the area, including the complex and the wall around it, the town, and the fort in the distance. The fort by the way, is largely empty and seldom open for tourists. It just sits atop the hill looking very imposing. There was a battle here between the Tibetans and the British and the British killed over 700 people in a few minutes.

I bought a couple of souvenirs here that were blessed by the monks, so hopefully I will continue to have good karma.

Before we left I had a very interesting toilet experience here. I paid 2 yuan (about 30 cents) and walked into a very filthy smelly room. There were three squatters with short walls between and no doors. Two were occupied by men squatting and grunting while I stood and peed into the third. An experience I hope not to repeat.

Then we had a walkabout through the small town of Gyantse. This is a typical Tibetan town with all the beautiful woodwork on the doors and windows. We saw cows tied to the fronts of houses, flapjacks of dung drying in the sun for use as fuel and many people going about their lives. One woman invited us into her house to have a look around. It was an affluent family, and the house contained a living/cooking and eating room, a bedroom, a prayer room and a small sitting room, all on the second floor. The main floor is reserved for storage, parking of motorcycles and animals. The toilet is on the second floor and is a long drop toilet to the first floor. As I was looking around I saw the obligatory poster of the Chinese presidents and a calendar with the current one on it. I crossed a little X across his face with my finger and the lady of the house gave me a big smile.

Then, unfortunately, we had to leave and board the van for a long day of driving. I could have stayed there all day. I loved it. I’ve decided that if Doug Ford wins the upcoming Ontario election, I am moving here.

We spent most of the rest of the day driving through the mostly flat Nangchu Valley. In this valley they do a lot of farming. We were here in early spring and all we saw was dirt field but farmers were out preparing the soil for the upcoming monsoon. The monsoon here is much less severe than India, but they get enough rain to grow wheat and barley. We also saw a lot of greenhouses where they grow their vegetables. We saw farmers ploughing with horses, cows or yaks. They ride a board with tillers that is pulled by the animals.

We stopped in a small town for lunch. Again we ate Indian. Today was Yannick’s birthday and BK had tried to get a cake for him but had been unsuccessful, so we just sang to him. The restaurant was really interesting because it was full of monks and a few local people. Apparently many monks are vegetarian but not all. Some eat meat three or four times a month and come to the restaurant to get a meat meal.

Late in the day we crossed two mountains passes. The first was Chola at 4618. It was not very picturesque but there were people selling souvenirs and people bought a few things. The second pass was Gyatsola and at 5248 metres it is the highest point on our trip. (Base camp is actually 50 metres lower). This pass was beautiful with snowy mountains, prayer flags and a large arch proclaiming the entrance to Everest National Park. It was really hard to breathe here if you walked too fast. There were also about a dozen small houses or huts that nomadic people use when they gather here to trade and buy from each other.

After taking a bunch of photos we drove back down about a 1000 metres into the next valley. On the way we should have seen our first glimpse of Mt Everest but alas it was covered in cloud, after we had had a beautiful sky and warm day. We arrived at our hotel in Xeger about 8:00, had a half hour to rest and then most of the group met up for dinner at 9:00. I gave it a pass, as I was still full from my big lunch and I hate eating so late. I settled in my room and typed and the got ready for bed.