Nepal and Tibet

The centre of attention for us today, is the Jokhang Temple. Today we are going on a guided tour of this, the holiest temple for Tibetans. We have seen dozens of Buddhist temples before, in China as well as in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia so we feel it will take a lot to impress us. We are pleasantly surprised. This temple is like no other we have seen before. Beautifully rich in colours from floor to ceiling, huge gilt Buddahs, beautifully-crafted wall hangings, hundreds and hundreds of candles, golden chalices and rich-robed monks. The inner sanctum is very dark and it takes a little time for the eyes to adjust to the low light. In cupboards around the walls are parcels of yellow cloth. Inside these parcels are ancient scriptures. Monks sit crossed-legged on cushion-covered raised platforms, chanting as they read the scriptures and swaying back and forth.

We continue to wend our way through the labyrinth of corridors and tiny chapels. We go from one floor to another, often up ladders. The floor tells of the feet of thousands of pilgrims, who have made their way through the temple to offer what they can, to the upkeep of the building and its monks. We see very grubby nomads in dirty chubas, reeking of the smoke which must fill their yak-hair tents at night, creeping reverently around the complex with offerings of ghee, which is used to keep the candles alight. We expected the butter candles to smell as we have read that they use rancid butter but today's pilgrims bring either big plastic containers of clarified butter, which they spoon into the candle holders or thermoses of melted butter, which they pour into containers. The temple has so much butter donated that we see big forty-four gallon drums of it out in a back room of the temple. Some put offerings of money into receptacles near the altars. Others have tsampa, the roasted barley flour, which is the staple food of the Tibetan, to give to the monks. They provide incense as well. We are told that the monks do not have to go out and beg because the pilgrims look after them so well. They do not waste any of the donations because if they have too much of any commodity, they then re-donate it to poorer temples in the country, because relatively fewer pilgrims visit the smaller temples in remote places. We are told to be wary if we see monks begging in the streets as they are not really monks but people dressed as monks trying to "con" the tourists. We are very curious when we see groups of pilgrims bending down low to walk under the cupboards of scriptures. Apparently this is an act of reverence. They certainly make life hard for themselves. Karma tells us of the significance of each icon, each act of reverence and each chapel.

We finally reach the rooftop. From here we have a wonderful view of the pilgrims prostrating and circumambulating as well as of the Potala Palace. The Potala Palace was once the home of many of the Dalai Lamas and is now just a showcase or museum for the Tibetans and for tourists. They say that the Chinese did not destroy the palace during the Cultural Revolution, because they could see that in the future it would be a money-spinner so it remained intact. Although I do not agree with the sentiment, I am very pleased that it remains for us all to enjoy. The camera works overtime again. The blue skies of Tibet make for wonderful pictures. The sky is clear and the sun is hot, much hotter than we imagined it would be considering the altitude. We are warned that Tibetan sun burns fiercely and we can feel it.

We can hear chanting up here on the roof unlike the chanting of the monks. We can hear women's voices as well as the deep resonant sounds of the men. We are told the singing is coming from the tampers. We discover that a tamper is a person who works at tamping down the clay on the roof in a bid to keep it strong. The roof of the Jokhang is made of clay so gangs of young people are employed to keep it in good shape. They use implements, which appear to be blocks attached to long handles, which they use to firmly press down newly applied clay. They have a fully choreographed routine as they chant and tamp, chant and tamp, marching first one way and then turning to march another. They are mainly in Tibetan garb. All of them have hats or scarves and some of them are wearing gloves - a real fashion statement. It is fascinating to watch.

We buy beautiful peaches and bananas from a stall for lunch. They are all we need and they are beautiful. After sending e-mails and writing postcards we settle down for an afternoon nap. Now I never sleep in the daytime, but today I do drop off! So much for this altitude-induced, lack of sleep I would be suffering from!

We are soon up and about again because we are going off to the Sera Monastery this afternoon. This is an inclusion in the tour that I am really looking forward to. Here we are going to witness a debating session between young monks who are students at Sera Monastery and their masters. This session is held each day in one of the monastery courtyards. The drive to Sera takes us up to a high point about five kilometres north of central Lhasa. We can see the temple on a rise up ahead of us. Directly behind this temple, way, way up on a mountain directly behind the main monastery, is a much smaller building where, we are told, monks go to practise meditation.