Nepal and Tibet

We set out for Drepung Monastery, which is not far, about eight kilometres from central Lhasa. It is good to get out into the countryside again! We see a paddock of yaks and farmers working in their crops. But I am particularly amazed at the number of pilgrims walking towards Lhasa and undoubtedly the Jokhang Temple. They wander along for kilometres, spinning their prayer wheels, fingering their beads and muttering their mantras. I have read of devout farmers and herders walking for hundreds of kilometres like this to make a pilgrimage to their holiest temple. I have read also, that on some occasions, it is possible to witness pilgrims prostrating themselves all the way from their home to Lhasa, which could be a journey of several hundred kilometres. I come to the conclusion that, just as China is the land of the bicycle, Tibet, is the land of the pedestrian.

We see Drepung Monastery up ahead. Again, just like the Potala Palace and Sera Monastery, it is perched up much higher than the surrounding countryside. I am beginning to be able to see a great resemblance between the Buddhists and Catholics. In Australia, it is the Catholics who have the prime real estate, with churches on top of hills with great views over the surrounding area. Here it is the same. One thing for sure, I know by the looks of things, we'll be climbing again. Oh well, it is good exercise. After our climb and before we enter the monastery, we see huge prayer wheels. They are worn smooth and shiny from the passing of so many hands and the whispering of so many prayers.

Drepung Monastery is a huge monastery and it once boasted 10 000 monks. The buildings were begun in 1416 and then in 1530, the second Dalai Lama built a palace there, Gamden Palace. This became the home of the Dalai Lamas until the fifth Dalai Lama built the Potala Palace. We take a tour of Gamden Palace and there we see through temples again, with the gilt statues, chalices and the butter candles we have come to expect. The most impressive room for me is the main assembly hall. It is so huge and colourful, it almost takes the breath away. I have a feeling here that this is what the ancient temple of Armon-Re in Karnak in Egypt, would have looked like before the desert sands blasted the colour from its columns. There are about 180 supporting columns all painted red, with many tubular hangings of rich, colourful, silk suspended from the high ceiling. Row upon row of long, seating platforms extends across the hall. These are covered with cushions, as it is here that the monks sit cross-legged to chant each day. They leave behind their heavy red cloaks, with which they cover themselves during prayer. They are folded into a pyramid, ready to be slipped on at the correct time. It must have been spectacular to see this room full of monks, to hear the deep, throaty sound of their chanting and to see them fervently swaying backwards and forwards as they did so.

Alone in the room, is just one monk, praying. He appears to be about twelve years old, a fresh-faced little boy. He is chanting from the scriptures and appears to be studying hard. I have a sneaking suspicion, however, with my first-hand knowledge of boys of that age that he was probably there on detention. Perhaps he was found playing up during morning assembly and has been sent back to the hall as punishment. We pay to take photos in the hall, as we often do in the buildings here. This is one of their main sources of income. The boy monk smiled nicely for the cameras, his meditation skills not yet good enough to blot us out.

This monastery, like most in Tibet, belongs to the Gelugpa sect or the "yellow hats" as they are sometimes called. These monks, when in full ceremonial dress, wear a yellow hat with a thick fluffy crest running from the base of the head up and over to the top just like the crest of a cockatoo. The present Dalai Lama belongs to the Gelugpa sect and so we sometimes see him in one of these unusual hats. In one of the lesser halls, we see a group of old monks sitting, drinking tea. One of them has a yellow hat beside him. In sign language I ask if he will put it on so that I can take a photo. He does so willingly and smiles his gappy smile into the camera. We give him an offering too.

One of the most amazing rooms we see here is the kitchen. This kitchen used to cater for the 10 000 monks. Today there are quite a lot fewer but there is still plenty of work to be done with almost three hundred monks still in residence. The room is large, dark and grimy. It has the biggest stove that I have ever seen. It is a round structure of about several metres in diameter. It is probably about one and a half metres high and has many huge pots and pans stacked around it. Several monks are filling thermoses with boiling water and they are being taken off, to various parts of the monastery, presumably to be used to make the copious cups of butter tea that the Tibetans drink each day. Karma tells us how Tibetans really only eat one meal a day. The rest of the day they take only their tea. He shows us the huge churns, which are long and cylindrical, in which the butter is made from the milk of the yak cow. Many times during the day they add this butter to their tea. Karma says that they sometimes add tsampa as well. This is very filling and so they only need one full meal a day. I must say, I have not yet seen anyone looking really hungry here. Unlike the Asians in some countries, many Tibetans are actually plump.

In the dark regions of the kitchen, towards the back, we spy a huge rat running along the exposed timber of the walls. It has not hit me until now, that these huge, ancient buildings, of which many of the rooms are not now used and where hygiene is not high on the list of priorities, could well be infested with rats. Oh no! And we are staying in a monastery in a few nights time!!

As we make our way back to our bus, many of our group stop to buy trinkets again! My goodness, some of them are keener shoppers even than I! My eye is taken by a little girl, perhaps about ten years old, who is sitting with her back to a wall, in lotus position, legs crossed and palms up. She is chanting and, at first, I think she is chanting the most famous mantra of them all - "Om Mani Padme Hom!" - "Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus!" but on listening closer, she is singing, "Oh money, gimme some!" Full marks to her for her ingenuity (and English)!

This afternoon, we have things to do to prepare for our journey across Tibet back to Nepal. We shall be travelling across some of the most remote regions of the world so there will not be many villages along the way where we could stock up on essentials. We find a supermarket and buy last minute convenience foods to have on our picnic lunches along the way. We go to the post office to send off the few post cards we have written and we take last minute photos. We have stayed in touch with the world via e-mail, as there is a business centre in the hotel, which is very handy.