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October 2003 - August 2004

Tibet, part III

Brett Voegele
2005-11-19 14:02:35

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to the lunar calendar. However, it was determined that fixed dates on a western calendar were better, so starting this year it will always begin on August 18th. Next, an entrance fee was charged, with no goodwill shown for festivals. Once inside it was obvious that certain vendors had preferential treatment - most likely by prices being set too high for others. There was a stage for lhamo, but on either side, and throughout the compound, there were beer gardens with women in short skirts/shorts - pretty disrespectful. There were so many vendors blaring music or making sales pitches over microphones that it destroyed any atmosphere, and I once again felt sorry for the loss of tradition.

Now, as bad as the lhamo was at the Norbulingka, I found another venue in the park behind the Potala Palace, the Lukhang. There were only Tibetans present, and it seemed much more genuine - more the way I imagined it would/should be.

General

When I wasn't attending festivals I was still teaching at various places, and I also had some private lessons. I was able to do some hikes near Lhasa to visit smaller monasteries, and to climb up some of the surrounding peaks. It's invigorating to be able to do a nice 10-hour hike right from your hotel, get up to almost 17,000 feet, and admire the views down to Lhasa. I also headed out to Drepung Monastery several times to visit a monk friend, and to wander the surrounding hills dotted with small retreats. During a few of those visits there were women working on the roofs of some monastic buildings. They would crush rocks, mix them with water, and apply that to the roof. They'd then stand in a line - each holding a thumb-diameter branch with a heavy circular stone attached to the bottom. They'd slowly walk back and forth across the roof while singing songs, keeping rhythm by pounding the stone on the roof, and thus compacting the new roofing material. ...