This country continues to move and amaze. After a 90 minute bus ride into the country, we arrived at Nyen village, a centuries-old rural community of 67 families (about 400 people). The village is tucked between mountains, snuggled against the base of one of them. Access was controlled by a soldier who stopped our little bus when we turned off the main road. It appears they don't want just anyone stopping in to mingle with the semi-nomadic locals.
We were welcomed by our host who showed us around his farmyard before inviting us into his home.
The yak-cow hybrid above is smaller and much more docile than a yak. As it's getting warmer and the surrounding mountains are starting to turn green, the yaks have been moved into the hills to graze. They are a multi-purpose asset for the villagers, proving milk, meat, cheese, yogurt, butter, wool, fuel and fertilizer. They are also used for carrying and plowing.
There are two dogs native to Tibet, lhasa apso and Tibetan mastiff. The farmer had a mastiff puppy that was beside itself with excitement when we arrived.
Our host served us yak butter tea, Tibetan sweet tea and a dense, pretzel-like fried dough bread. I'd been hoping I'd encounter butter tea while we are here as it is such an integral part of traditional Tibetan life. I doubt I'll make it at home (butter, salt, some tea leaves, water), but it wasn't bad at all. I'd been expecting something rather repulsive, as recollections of early western visitors to Tibet seemed quite put off by the endless cups they were offered in hospitality and obliged to consume.
Our host grows wheat, mustard seed, black beans and barley on his plot of land. It is subsistence farming; crops are not sold in a market or shipped to the city. Crop options are limited due to the altitude. The growing season is 6-7 months per year.
We were invited to tour our host's compound. The spacious kitchen, in a separate building, was furnished with cushioned benches, a refrigerator, a stove fueled by dried yak dung (no trees grow at this altitude, so wood is scarce and expensive) and a large table. Another large room lined with cushioned benches held a tv. Rooms are multi-purpose; family can sleep anywhere, except in the prayer room.
We were also invited to visit the prayer room, which was a great honor. Usually the room is reserved for family members and, after a death in the family, visiting monks or nuns. The room was beautiful, filled floor to ceiling with Buddhist imagery, thangkas, paintings, and a small prayer wheel turning, propelled by the rising heat of a small furnace below it.
The village is also honored to be home to a nunnery. Walking through the village to it, we passed yak dung drying on the walls and rocks to be used for fuel. It is ubiquitous in the village, an efficient and zero cost form of recycling.
The Nyegon Nunnery had only a handful of resident nuns, but has accommodations for many more around the large courtyard in front of the temple. Inside the temple (no photography) two nuns sat quietly reading aloud from Buddhist texts while a third tended to the shrines. They'd occasionally stop to chat with each other, smiling. (Probably talking about us!) At one point they interrupted our guide (they must know English) and a conversation ensued. They were sweet and friendly and obligingly answered questions we asked through our guide.
Stupa (above) and prayer wheels (below)
Then, on to our picnic lunch in a pavilion. The weather was delightful today, full sun, breezy. A great place to hang out for an hour.
Elaine, Leslie, Karen and Mary Beth
Our next destination was Norbulingka, or "Treasure Garden", which is the traditional summer residence of the Dali Lamas.
The grounds were a large public park with mature trees, full of picnicking families with colorful domed tents. It was Children's Day in Tibet, and many of the small children were dressed in wonderful traditional costumes, fresh from their school ceremonies.
Several of the Dalai Lamas built residences here, the first by the 7th Dalai Lama in the mid 18th century. We visited two of the residences. While seeing the throne room of the seventh Dalai Lama, a small child of 3 or 4 came in and immediately threw himself onto the floor to perform a series of ritual prostations. It was remarkable, because no one else, including his mother, was doing this. A few minutes later he walked up to me and said, hello! I said, hello. He ran to the head of our group to tell his mother. I could understand only the word hello, repeated many times, but our guide said he was looked at our group of 13 and saying, Mama, so many hellos! We were all smitten.
The residence (above) of the 14th, and current, Dalai Lama, was completed only a couple of years before he left Tibet in 1959. In his palace, we saw his living quarters (study area, prayer room, bedroom, even his bathroom!) and his throne room and reception areas where he met with religious or lay visitors. Everything remains as he left it. Even his bowl for tea sits near the arm of his throne.
Although he is considered evil by the Chinese government and no one may display an image of him, the reverence of the Tibetan people for him is immense. The single publicly displayed image is on the wall of his summer residence in the throne room. It was moving to see the people, young and elderly, slowly filing past his furniture and artifacts, chanting prayers, prostrating and pausing to leave offerings.
Norbulingka offers some of the best people watching anywhere!
The summer palaces survived the cultural revolution because the Tibetans surrounded and protected the site. I hope it survives forever.
