Village life

There are no cars in this village. The only motorized vehicle was the few motorcycles. The flag pole is an important element of every Tibetan compound. Prayer flags are strung on them. Prayers and mantras are written on the flags and as the wind blows, the wind horse takes their prayers to heaven. It is a fascinating concept.

Inside the village

 A hairy cow, up close.

 A Tibetan woman, working on a dung pile. They dry the animal dung and use it for fuel.

 A baby, a calf, how cute. Can we keep him?

A glimpse at village life, how simple, how content!

The ancient village of Bajiao

 I've read about it, a village that dates back 2,000 years. I didn't realise till I arrived that it was still lived in. All the time I thought it was abandoned because it was built with rammed earth. The ancient walls of rammed earth still stand.

 This was not the welcoming committee, he collects the entrance fee. I forgot how much it was, very nominal.

 I pay for the three of us. Our driver, a Chinese Hui (Muslim) which we found in Xiahe, waited for us outside the 'city' walls.

 The old man invited me to climb up the dirt walls and view the village from above.

The guide book mentioned that this place is picturesque but until that morning I had no clue how to get there. We left our hotel that morning, thinking we'll visit Labrang monastery when this chap in a private car hustled me. I said, 'Bajiao', he said 200 yuan and he will take us there. He took us to see the Ganjian grassland and another holy mountain. He was a really pleasant young man whose family, until recently, was making handcrafted daggers, forging them by hand. It was a dying industry and they gave it up. Now his folks own a business in town selling fabric and notions, everything needed to make and trim the Tibetan chubas.

Life of a nomad herdsman

 Horses

 Sheep

Hairy cows, a cross between regular cows and the yak.
The life of a nomad herdsman is lonely. The grasslands are immense and the herdsmen uses horses or motorcycles to look after the animals. The songs of the grasslands are sad and full of longing. They love parties, festivals or other religious celebration, anything and any reason to dress for the occasion, get together and be in town.

Serena wins at Wimbledon

Religious paraphernelia

 Receptacles for butter lamps. Every one is to donate yak butter to the temple to be used for burning to the deities.

Every year new prayer flags are strung up again. Prayer flags have mantras printed on them. They are yellow, white, blue, green and red in color, each color symbolises something.

Behind doors

She just finished pulling some noodles. It's scenes like this that makes traveling all that distance worth while. We travelers are such voyeurs. The Dalai Lama said that we in the West have so much but yet are always dissatisfied. The Bhutanese measures the happiness quotient. My former doctor asked me once what my happiness index was? I said, 80 percent. He was surprised that it was that high.

Portrait of the faithful

There's a certain rhythm to their lives. At sunrise they all head for the monastery and in the evening they head home. These are simple folk and so endearing. Labrang is the next best thing to Lhasa. Some of them will never see Lhasa in their lifetime.

Break time

Walking the kora all the day long is tiring business. It's time for a break, she fingers the prayer beads on her left hand. Some holds a little prayer wheel with their right hand but not her.

Up close

This drum is massive and I did turn it, it was not that difficult considering its size. Beautiful Buddhist symbols were painted on the drums and there were mantra written in Tibetan. They are just so beautiful, words can't describe them. And to be there up close was such a blessing, the culmination of hard work.

My turn at spinning the prayer sheel

These are by far the most beautiful prayer wheels I've seen. They are the only prayer wheels I've seen. I've seen others in pictures and on video which are mostly metal of hammered copper. These are of wood and beautifully and intricately painted. They were easy to turn too. A few of them at both ends of the row were immense, huge drums. I've so blessed at being able to see a culture so close.

Prayer wheels

A prayer wheel is an empty drum that holds a lot of mantras and prayers and with each turn the prayers are sent to heaven. The drums could be metal and in this case, wood and are usually intricately decorated. These are beautiful prayer wheels. The faithful, in their kora around the perimeter of the monastery file past these row of prayer wheels would turn them and keep them turning. It's a beautiful sight to behold. I think it is a wonderful concept.