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LHASA, MAY 2001 - Lhasa, the spiritual centre of Tibet... The former residence of the Dalai Lama is now a deserted museum and isolated from the old Tibetan part of town, which is the Barkhor area surrounding the heart of Tibetan budhism, the Jokhang temple. During my visit I stayed in a little (Tibetan) guesthouse, just a couple of minutes walking away from the Barkhor. I did many many times the Barkhor kora, everytime was different and other things were discovered each time. But when you wander into the little streets off from the kora, the true Tibetan experience is to be found.

A visit to the nunnery in Lhasa

Worldtravelstories
2006-04-06 21:59:13

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LHASA, MAY 2001 - Lhasa, the spiritual centre of Tibet... The former residence of the Dalai Lama is now a deserted museum and isolated from the old Tibetan part of town, which is the Barkhor area surrounding the heart of Tibetan budhism, the Jokhang temple. During my visit I stayed in a little (Tibetan) guesthouse, just a couple of minutes walking away from the Barkhor. I did many many times the Barkhor kora, everytime was different and other things were discovered each time. But when you wander into the little streets off from the kora, the true Tibetan experience is to be found.

Finding your way into these side alleys is not easy - it's more like a maze and the city map is not a great help, but you don't get lost - just wander around and ask the people you encounter about some (to them at least) well known places.

On one of my wanderings I planned to visit the Ani Tsang Khung Nunnery. In some of the side alleys (I roughly knew which direction to go) I asked a woman who passed along about 'Ani Gompa'. She promptly made clear to follow her and after some more streets there it was : just a yellow buiding with a gate in an ordinary street : the nunnery. As I walked in, I already attracted the attention of some nuns that were working on the roof. I just waited for a while in the center courtyard and watched what was going on. Some of the nuns were sitting on a bench and busy writing, some others were doing the laundry. I also saw pilgrims coming through the gate, going up the stairs into the temple, doing the inside kora, coming out again in the back of the temple and spinning the prayer wheels. I just continued my discovery of the courtyard, as I walked along the houses where the nuns lived. This nunnery seemed like an oasis of peace to me, and moreover everything was so clean, there were flowers and painted walls...

As I walked away some of the older ...