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Published: August 7th 2007
No-one seemed to know if the daily direct bus to Xiahe would be running, so we took the less risky option of first going to Hezuo, where reputedly there were several onward connections. We'd both noticed the scent of vomit in the air and, several minutes later when we'd both started to feel dampness in our trousers, investigations revealed that someone must have been sick in both our seats but had cleaned it up just enough to i) make the seats visually indistinguishable from clean ones, and ii) make it hard to tell where the smell was coming from.
At Hezuo we mysteriously had to go to another bus station, despite the fact that there were several buses present in the one we'd arrived at with Xiahe on their destination cards. The 10 minute journey across town (in what can best be described as a motorbike with a trailer) was most uncomfortable, due to bumping up and down on the edge of the trailer thanks to numerous potholes that the driver wasn't taking too many pains to avoid, and a sudden hailstorm that chose its moment with care.
Xiahe consists of 1 major street, running through the enormous Labrang
monastery in the centre of town. The monastery looks more like a city and is surrounded by a wall punctuated at various points by streets, gates, etc. Most of the southern part of the wall consists of cloisters housing a vast number of prayer wheels - the north is more sparsely populated in that regard but the whole forms a circumambulation of impressive size.
We took a tour of Labrang that was overly long but provided some much-needed explanations of the monastery's function and history. It contains 6 colleges, dedicated to such subjects as Tibetan medicine and esoteric Buddhism, as well as many adobe-style houses for resident and visiting monks, plus of course a number of temples (80 before the Cultural Revolution but now only 18). The head lama of Labrang, an incarnation of the Buddha of Wisdom, also happens to be the 3rd most important in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy after the Dalai and Panchen Lamas.
As we entered the main prayer hall, a large group of monks was chanting in the candlelit gloom. When the prayers had come to an end, some of the monks (still in the characteristic yellow hats of the Gelugpa sect) literally
ran from the hall, whooping in delight. I wasn't convinced by our guide's explanation that they were behaving like this because they were excited at the prospect of returning to their studies.
The guide had mentioned that there were 2,500 prayer wheels in the monastery so naturally we decided to gain some merit by turning a few of them as we did one circuit of the walls. It was a mesmeric experience, turning wheel after wheel while trying to keep count. It was also tiring for right arms unused to such exercise. Sometimes you could use the momentum from a well-oiled wheel that a pilgrim 10 yards ahead of you had spun. Other times you had to start from stationary because either there was no-one close in front of you or the bearing was stiff.
Some speedy pilgrims raced by, barely touching the wheels with their gloved right hands, whereas more zealous ones were completing their circumambulation via prostration - a tiring, time-consuming, and dusty process requiring mittens and kneepads, and undergone only by the most devout (you're allowed to rest after every 300 prostrations). We didn't get close to the 2,500 figure, but there were several compounds
we didn't enter.
Given Buddhism's emphasis on suppression of desire, I maybe shouldn't have been surprised to find the most expensive ever Dove bar here (8.50 yuan).
Dull but possibly useful info Getting there: There is apparently a direct bus to Xiahe from Langmusi at 2:30PM every day, but it seems to run randomly. Alternatively, take the bus from Langmusi to Hezuo at midday,costing 28 yuan and taking about 3 hours 15 minutes (this bus is available for boarding at 11:30AM and you would be advised to get on ASAP, as otherwise it will fill up with schoolkids, though they get off at the next stop). You may then need to go to the "other" bus station in Hezuo via moto, costing 10 yuan and taking about 10 minutes. Then take a bus to Xiahe (several through the day - last one perhaps at 4PM), costing 12 yuan and taking about 1 hour.
Stayed at: Don't know the name. Walking from the bus station into town, you'll see a large China Telecom on the left hand side of the road. Just after that and on the right hand side of the road (on a corner) is the hotel.
Cost 140 yuan for a twin (though this is an expensive town - the rooms at the Overseas Tibetan House were 200 yuan, though they said they could give us a "little" discount). Hot water available 8-12 in the evening and 8-10 in the morning. Would stay here again.
Notes: i. The English language tour of the monastery in the morning is at 10:15AM and costs 40 yuan. Ours took nearly 2.5 hours. There is also one in the afternoon at 3:15PM.
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regin
non-member comment
very good
your butter carving very very good