Tashi Dalik

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Where to begin? Tibet is everything you can imagine and more.

Lhasa, Tibet's capital acts as a magnet for people from across Tibet and makes it the ideal place to just sit and people watch. Those in the know can identify which parts of Tibet people are from by their clothes, jewlery and head dresses. I have been particularly taken with the Khampa men who are the rugged Tibetan equivalent of cowboys and walk about with bright red or blue thread plaited through their hair, large daggers and heavy yak cloth shawls. They form part of the crowd of pilgrims that have come to the Jakhong temple, which must be walked around in a clockwise direction. For the most devout walking is not enough and with every step they prostrate themselves on the floor. Some have journeyed for many months in this manner and you can see the cuts on their noses and chins where they have misjudged the distance between their face and the floor.

Surrounding Jakhong temple, the spiritual home of Tibetan Buddism is the Barkhor which is a bazaar, selling prayer wheels, prayer flags and all manner of bright coloured trinkets. Monks and Nuns just about out number the guards with their AK47's who impose on every corner.

While having pictures of the current Dalai Lama (number 14 ) can land you in prision, the Potala palace, home of Dalai Lamas' fills the horizon acting as the elephant in the room. It currently acts more like a mausaleum in that it is home to the stuppas (coffins) of past Dalai Lamas. Our guide seems particularly proud of these stuppas and repeats a number of times that sky buriels (chopping up the dead and feeding them to vultures) water buriels (chopping up the dead and throwing them in the river) and tree buriels (don't think I fully understood this but basically inserting dead bodies into hollow trees) are just for the common people, Lamas it seems are given special treatment.

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Photos

Yamdrok lake
Perhaps the bluest lake I have ever seen

a big fur coat helps in this weather
Tibetens believe that Yamdrok lake is holy so you cannot swim in it and boats are not allowed

The Potala palace
The Home of the Dalai Lamas

stuffed in the Tibet Musuem
We have discovered that taxedermy is not commonly practiced in Tibet

Jokhang temple
Pilgrims come and prostrate themselves in front of the temple

Comments

[Chris and Nikki]

This is an awesome picture!

[Ron Newman]

Wow a new hat
Hiya Abs, how are you both doing in the relaxation of the world? hehe Me as always keeping busy on 2012 and cannot wait to drop by and see you when you are back in UK Family soon off to Mauritius on 19 feb our anniversary on 22 feb yep 25 yrs a milestone and thanks for the cards you are sending Take Care