I forgot to mention in my last post my reason for putting a picture of my lunch for Day 8. Enlarge the picture, notice anything odd? The noodles were quite good, despite the added surprise…
Day 9
Our train arrived in Lanzhou at 8am and we drove for about five hours to Xia’he (remember x is pronounced as sh). We checked into a beautiful hotel, decorated with Tibetan prayer flags and other traditional decorations.
Xia’he is in a mountain valley at the edge of the Tibetan plateau, technically it is in Gansu province, culturally it is Tibet. This city is home to the Labrang Monastery, where thousands of pilgrims flock every year to celebrate. This region is not part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, which was formed in 1965, but was historically administered by local rulers – not the Dalai Lama from Lhasa. Yet the Tibetan government-in-exile claims this region.
The Tibetan population numbers about 4.6 million, and were originally great warriors. During the Qin and Han dynasties these people dominated the region, but stopped their warrior ways when they were introduced to Buddhism from disciples traveling the Silk Road. Tibetans have their own language, letters, and calender; most do not speak Mandarin or any other form of Chinese. Many people still wear the original garb, which consists of brightly colored silk or cloth jackets. Xia’he was cold even in August, the ground is frozen for the majority of the year.
At night we had dinner with a local family. It consisted of, dumplings, yak butter tea, yak milk yogurt, mutton, zanba (a grain), and barley. The meal was finished with a generous helping of local rice spirits, which you see me enjoying.
Day 10 (Sept. 1)
Today I woke up a touch before 4:30am. I took about an hour and a half to walk along the exterior of the monastery, it’s over 2 miles long. This may seem a bit bizarre, but this is a daily ritual for many locals and all of the monks. While walking these people are mumbling prayers and spinning prayer wheels. These elaborate wheels have scrolls inside of them, with a prayer written on it. Every time one is spun clockwise the prayer is sent to heaven to the Buddha. Never spin a prayer wheel counter clockwise. The prayer wheel is also important as it give a largely illiterate population the ability to pray. This was easily one of the top moments of the trip. Aside from being an incredibly peaceful experience, I witnessed some amazing sights. There was an elderly monk on crutches, who could hardly walk, spinning wheel after wheel. He would use his crutches to get to a stretch of wheels and then spin each individual one, using them as support – both spiritually and physically. There was another monk who was on his hands and knees praying, took a handful of rocks and threw them, went to where the rocks landed, got down and prayed. He would only travel as far as he could throw.
After competing the walk I took a nap before heading back to the monastery for a guided tour. A monk took us throughout this beautiful monastery. This is the most important center of the Yellow hat Sect (Gelugpa) outside of Tibet. Due to the Cultural Revolution, it was closed until 1980, and the number of monks dwindled from 4,000 to 1,200 today. In addition to being a place of worship, it is also a college – specializing in philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and astronomy. The Grand Sutra Hall can hold over 4,000 monks – walking through and hearing them chant was eerily impressive.
The monastery has some impressive sights, from yak butter sculptures which are meticulously carved by monks as offering to the Buddha during the winter festivals to young boys who have entered the order. Boys usually enter around the age of six to nine, and are given the choice later to leave. The retention rate has dropped, as many of the monks own computers and cell phones. I would highly recommend anyone traveling in China to make this city a top priority to visit, it is not the average tourist spot.
Day 11
Today was yet another day of travel. We visited two Mosques, one in the Islamic style and one in the traditional Chinese style. We stopped for lunch in Lanzhou (see photos). n tsat for about 2 hours with a few friends and enjoyed a cold* beer on the yellow river.
We took another overnight train to Xi’an. Tomorrow we will see the Terracotta warriors.
*Electricity is very exspensive in China, most beer is served at room temperature; anything remotely cooler than that is considered cold…
“an elderly monk on crutches, who could hardly walk, spinning wheel after wheel. He would use his crutches to get to a stretch of wheels and then spin each individual one, using them as support – both spiritually and physically.”
Beautiful. 🙂
E
[…] first Poya day was a great experience, it differed drastically from my experiences at a Tibetan Monastery. I look forward to celebrating eight more of them during the course of my […]