Puteri Harbour Marina

Johor, Malaysia

Hi All,

  I have time to catch up with our blog because there’s not so much else to do here.  Hopefully the local bike shop will have the new axle for Randal’s bike soon.  Considering our bikes were just recently overhauled in George Town, they are having lots of wheel issues keeping us from riding.  Not much else to do here other than ride so we really need our bikes.  I’m still missing Tibet!  Writing up our blog, I go back and read about the sites we saw and learn about them after the fact.  I think I’m also catching up on the sleep we lost from the time we got onto the train until we left the Tibet desert area.  The nights were so hard on us that we were both awake several time taking diamox, ibruprofen, and showers to moisten my dried miserable sinuses.  My nose would be totally too stuffed to breathe through my nose and my throat so dry that it hurt to breathe through my mouth so it was a struggle to get enough oxygen and that’s what gave me headaches.   But I would do it all again if we could.  Easy to forget the bad feelings.

Tibet # 8 Sera Monastery

“Sera Monastery was founded by Jamchen Choje Shakya Yesh who was a disciple of Tsongkhapa in 1419. Sera Monastery has an assembly hall, three colleges and thirty three houses. The monastery’s construction covers an area of 114964 square meters. It is the second biggest monastery of Tibet. The monastery has been appointed as the state-level unit of protection of historical relics by the state council of P.R.C. in 1982” from the entry ticket.

It does look a little bit like walking along a university campus: in many respects that’s what it is. It’s a university for monks. I believe Lobsang said that here students are divided by the language they speak so they can learn in their own language. We did walk through parts of the monastery, but our main reason for being there was to witness the debates.

The monastery is about 3 miles from the city of Lhasa. I think I read that monks lived in caves in the mountains before the monastery was built.

Prior to 1959 between 8 to 10 thousand monks lived at the Sera Monastery. In 2002 there were about 500 officially allowed to live there. http://www.thlib.org/index.php

B. The Physicality of Tibetan Debates

One of the striking features of Tibetan debates is that they are quite physical. They are marked by emphatic gestures, such as the clapping used by the questioner to punctuate each question. The questioner holds his right hand above his right shoulder—a little over the head—and stretches his left hand forward, its palm turned upward. Then he strikes the palm of the left hand with the palm of his right and immediately crosses his arms before starting the movement all over again for the next question.

Tibetan Monastic Education

By Georges Dreyfus

January 1, 2001Section 4 of 7

Copyright © 2001

By Georges Dreyfus and THL.

http://www.thlib.org/places/monasteries/sera/essays/#essay=/dreyfus/drepung/monasticed/s/b42#ixzz0tF3qNgP1

Questioner about to strike his palm.

I followed this monk and his young student. He was quite theatrical and his student looked so young. Even though they are putting on a show, learning from the debates is quite important because there are examinations at some point. The better a monk does on the exams, the higher he rises in the monastery hierarchy.

Randal, David, Ronnie and I along with lots of other tourists filed into an open courtyard and took our seat around the outside wall. It almost looks like the ground is covered with snow, but it is dirt and stone.

A “yellow hat.”

Some Buddhists followed a “red hat” tradition. The yellow hats are the largest group and I believe all of the Dalai Lamas have been members of the yellow hats.

Teacher standing and student.

So here’s the question….

Does he know the answer?

Maybe not. His arms are so thin.

Yellow hat, maroon robe, prayer beads, and sneakers peaking out underneath.

In 10 or 20 years where will he be?

Outside the monasteries there are usually small stalls with locals selling souvenirs. I am guessing that these women are Tibetan with a different traditional dress because it seemed that people coming from outside Tibet wore traditional western clothing even if they were from other parts of China.

As we were walking through the monastery, Lobsang asked one of the monks to put some of the soot from a butter lamp on our noses. It was supposed to be kind of a blessing and help us rest during the night. Maybe if I hadn’t washed it off it would have worked; but I did,  so it didn’t. Actually, it wasn’t until we were back in our hotel room that I remembered that I still had it on my nose. Randal had wiped his off early on so looking at him didn’t remind me. 

Editorial Comment:

There are a great deal of political issues involved in any discussion of Tibet. I am as ignorant of them as I am of everything else about Tibet (and Nepal too for that matter.) When you read about the monasteries, most were destroyed in 1959 and the numbers of monks and nuns decreased by thousands. Now those that are tourist attraction sites are being rebuilt. Our guide Lobsang was reluctant to speak about the politics other than to tell us not to take photos of the Chinese soldiers. And though we had encountered Chinese soldiers other places in China, in Tibet it felt different, more like occupation troops. Years ago, on my first trip to China we went to Beijing. At the Great Wall I had made the Chinese soldier who followed us up to the top stand next to me for a photo. I certainly wouldn’t have done that to a Chinese soldier in Tibet. Maybe Zhuhai where our boat was built, a special economic zone, is different than the rest of China. We have so many friends there and always feel welcome and free to do as we wish. I guess it is truly only the Tibetans who still live in Tibet who get to say if things are better or not and not anyone else. If literacy goes up and child mortality goes down, that’s an indication. I honestly haven’t paid attention until now, but I will. Sometimes travel forces you to think about hard things too.

Ru

DoraMac

Tibet # 7 Ani tsang kung nunnery and Women of Lhasa  Part 2

http://kekexili.typepad.com/life_on_the_tibetan_plate/2008/02/tibetan-women.html is a pretty interesting website and this specific link talks about Tibetan women and their lives and clothing.

Each morning and evening hundreds of people walk several circuits around the Barkhor market area that surrounds the Jokhang Temple and the nunnery. They carry prayer wheel which is what this lady has in her hands. She has probably done her circuits and is no resting. She is wearing traditional Tibetan dress that you see on many Tibetan women regardless of age. The apron is worn to indicate she is married. Only married women wear them. If a woman becomes a widow or divorced, she no longer wears an apron. Lobsang said that men wear no rings or article of clothing to indicate their marital status. Hmmmm

This woman is carrying a thermos of either hot oil or water, both used as offerings and also a handful of Tibetan money of small denominations to leave as donations. She is walking past the prayer wheels at the nunnery.

David, video camera in hand, waits patiently while this Tibetan granny climbs the stairs to pray.  So many layers of clothing which are probably needed in the winter.

A young woman in cut-offs and tights helps an older woman in traditional dress. You never saw a Tibetan woman’s legs though the Chinese women often wore typical western dress. I wore a skirt that fell about 3 inches below my knee and socks over my ankles and heavy shoes but I noticed people noticing that my skirt didn’t reach to my ankles. Or maybe they were noticing my clunky shoes? O wore a skirt because it needs less washing than pants, is better for squat toilets, and is cooler than long pants.

I love her face and bright blue head wrap.

Lots of hats and aprons. Lobsang said that in the cities women tend not to marry until their mid-20s though nomadic women marry much earlier. I read on one website that Chinese women in Tibet are allowed one child but Tibetan women are allowed two. Nomadic women probably fall under less regulation.

Many women wore long braids with colored ribbon wound through them. The nuns wore big blue aprons while performing chores.

This woman also has ribbon in her braids. Almost all carried some sort of cloth bag worn as we would a backpack.

Everywhere we went I focused on the women more than on the religious aspects of the places we were visiting. So throughout our tour you’ll see lots of photos of Tibetan women.  The costume did change as we traveled across Tibet especially as we encountered much colder weather.

Ru

DoraMac

Puteri Harbour Marina

Johor, Malaysia

Hi All,

  I decided to jump ahead and write about our visit to the Ani tsang kung nunnery in the center of the old part of Lhasa.  It was my favorite of the religious sites we visited.  It was the smallest and the least opulent, but I was just charmed by the entire experience.  I have so many photos from our short visit that I have to send it in 2 parts.  The first email are photos of the nuns.  The second part are photos of the Tibetan women who came to pray and interact with the nuns. 

Ru

DoraMac

Tibet # 7 Ani tsang kung nunnery and Women of Lhasa  Part 1

I was totally intrigued by the clothing of the Tibetan women and the beauty and character of their faces. And I was totally charmed by the Ani tsang kung nunnery. It was bright and lively and the nuns radiated intelligence, humor, friendliness and happiness. I had to be almost dragged away. Somehow, I thought there would be time to revisit but we didn’t. I’m quite sorry about that. We walked from our hotel to the nunnery located in the center of Old Lhasa. We turned into a small alleyway which opened into the courtyard of the nunnery.

The entry ticket spells the name of the nunnery Tsamkhung.

“Tsamkhung, located in the southeast of Jokhang temple is the only nunnery established in the old city of Lhasa. During the 7^th century, Tibetan King Songtsan Gampa had been meditate in a natural cave at this site reciting prayers to pacify the dangers from the flood of Lhasa River. Thus the nunnery was named Tsamkhung which means the meditation cave. During the 12^th century, Doctor Gewahum took meditation at this site. In the 15^th century, Kujor Tokden, a Tsongkhapa’s close disciple started to establish the nunnery here. During the beginning of the 20^th century, the venerable Lama Pabongka and Tampa Dhoedrak the ninetieth throne holder of Ganden Monastery enlarged the nunnery to the present site. It is one of the nunneries in Tibet that has gained certain prestige within and outside Tibet Autonomous Region.” Info from the entry ticket.

It was incredibly colorful in the clear morning light. There were several building in the compound which included housing for the nuns, a small tea restaurant, a small shop (where I wish I’d bought at least something) this kitchen and the main building housing the prayer rooms and initial “meditation cave.”

This room looked to be a small kitchen area.

I like the golden ladles hung over the picture of a table of food. At the nunnery we were allowed to take photos almost everywhere and there was no charge. At the Summer and Winter Palaces and monasteries either photos were forbidden or you had to pay to take them. From what I’ve read, Tibetan nuns aren’t treated as equals with the Tibetan monks and are often prohibited from higher levels of learning. Many of the nuns are now trying to change that and finding ways to higher levels of study.

A nun tends the profusion of flowers that enlivened the nunnery.

Inside the nunnery was dark and small and had many of the same Buddhist images we saw in the monasteries.

Here a woman looks to be adding a “butter offering” to one of the butter lamps in the prayer room.

Chanting nuns

This photo is a bit fuzzy but I like it because it captures the nuns’ curiosity and friendliness in their faces. Though allowed to take photos, we were advised against using a flash and the area where the nuns were sitting was actually quite dark with most of the light coming from the doorway. At the monasteries the monks just really seemed to ignore us so the warmth of the nuns was a lovely change.  Also, we didn’t have to pay to take photos as we do in the monasteries.

Suddenly the chanting stopped and clashing symbols and horns and discordant music filled the small room.

A nun collects the small offerings left near the original “meditation cave.”

A nun’s story.

The room has so little. The covering over the door is to help keep out winter drafts.

A nun sweeps herself off.

The nuns often live in the simplest conditions. Hopefully this outside water tub isn’t the only source for washing.

Burning herbs in the large white stone oven at the nunnery.

I want to know these women!

I feel almost totally ignorant about the lives of Tibetan nuns though I have been doing some reading since we returned to the boat.  It certainly makes me want to learn more and I will when I visit my local library in the fall.  I’m especially glad to be learning about Ani, the nun in Last Seen In Lhasa. 

Puteri Harbour Marina

Johor, Malaysia

  Randal and I visited lots of monasteries in Tibet and Nepal.  Each was interesting in its own way.  I think my favorite was actually the Tsamkhung Nunnery in the center of Lhasa because the nuns were so sweet and open and active; much more so than most of the monks we saw.  Because we stayed mostly around Lhasa, that’s why we saw so many monasteries which I guess were located near the big city.  And I’m writing about things in the order that we did them so it will be a bit before you get to see me patting the yak or the photos of us at Mount Everest. 

Ru

DoraMac

Tibet # 6 Ganden Monastery

Randal and I visited several monasteries. To me, they were all pretty similar on the inside with similar images of Buddhist characters and Lamas. I hardly know how to write about it because I really know too little and everything would probably need follow up corrections. Ganden was our first monastery and the drive along the river and up into the mountain was wonderful. I’ve sent some of those photos earlier. Again, in hind sight it would have been nice to have spent more time just sitting somewhere on the mountain and reading or maybe painting or attempting the hike to the very top of the mountain.

“Ganden Monastery, a holy land which Buddha once predicted, is the central monastery of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. It was built in 1409 under the supervision of Zongkapa (Tsongkhapa.) Major constructions in the monastery, which cover an area of 150,000 square meters, include the Tsokchen Hall, Yangbachen Hall, Zhacang’s Buddhist College, dozens of Kangtsens. Garden also includes a statue of Sakyamuni, the gold throne, Chitokang (the bed chamber of Zongkapa,) and the cave where Zongkapa cultivated himself according to his religious doctrine. A large number of pilgrims are attracted by many naturally formed manifestations of Buddha, the lush shrubbery and the beautiful sceneries surrounding Ganden Monastery. In 1961, Ganden Monastery became a national cultural relic protection unit.” Info from the back of the entry ticket to Ganden Monastery.

Have your eyes glazed over? It’s a lot to take in. On the back of the ticket I’d written this information.

About 30 miles from Lhasa.

Located on top of Wangbur Mountain at an altitude of 12, 467 feet above sea level.

One of the great three university monasteries.

Connected to the Yellow Hat Sect, the largest sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

At one time housed up to 6,000 monks. Now there are about 300.

1959 bombed and ransacked by the Chinese.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganden_monastery gives what I think might be fairly accurate information and tells the sad tale of the destruction of the monastery though it has been rebuilt since that time.

Looking back down the valley from the monastery.

If we’d had all day it would have been nice to hike part way.

I believe this is called a stupa and they were visible at all of the monasteries and even at small clusters of houses through the Tibet countryside.

We weren’t sure if this is water or milk, but it’s an offering, not an attack. People had offerings of money and butter for the candles which is used instead of wax.

The Main Prayer Hall where the Monks pray. The robes are there to wear when it’s cold.

There were some pretty colorful visitors with long braids and wraps and prayer beads.

Money is inserted as offerings.

There’s my folded up small bill in the center that gave the Sox a few good days……

This mural tells a story of Buddhist history and the image of the “Yellow Hats.”

Gods, Buddhas, Lamas, Abbots…. Possibly Tsongkhapa the founder of the Yellow Hats.

Butter candles and sunlight often were the only light sources.

My pilgrim ladies again…I was more intrigued by them than by the monks or the religious symbols.

The buildings painted red are buildings that house the more religious aspects of the monastery.

Those dedicated enough hiked the path to the top of the mountain where you can see prayer flags. Not far from the red roof on the left you can see some tiny people walking up the mountain.

Lobsang pointed out a plant and Randal misunderstood and touched it. It was a nettle plant and it took days for the sting to go away. Tibetans boil the nettle plant to make tea.

On our drive home we passed a bridge covered with prayer flags

The flags stretched from the top of the mountain across the road over to the bridge on the river.

A tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River runs through Lhasa. Near Lhasa it’s called the Lhasa River but changes its name as it passes through other parts of Tibet. It is a holy location.

On auspicious days people hang prayer flags for special occasions and for requesting all of those things people tend to ask for in their prayers. Each color, Red, white, green, yellow and blue represents a different meaning in the Tibet culture. http://www.tibetanprayerflag.com/history.html tells a bit about the flags.

I don’t think I have felt more ignorant writing up our blog. I spent all of my time looking rather than listening or learning. And each God, Buddha, Lama or Abbot seemed to have three names depending on whether it was the Indian or Tibetan. I couldn’t keep any of it straight. But it was all quite interesting. Randal wasn’t quite so intrigued by it all as I was. But I was looking at it for all of you too so that kept me more interested perhaps.

Puteri Harbour Marina

Johor, Malaysia

Hi All,

  Some of you may have missed our emails from China and Tibet.  Our notebook computer didn’t have my Outlook email address book and my web address book apparently is out of date.  Sorry.  You can read them at www.mydoramac.com and find out about our time in China, the train trip from Guangzhou, China to Lhasa, Tibet and our early adventures in Lhasa.  Now things are back to “our normal” and I have my big computer making email easier.  It was great to have the notebook though the keyboard is small making it too easy to hit the wrong keys.  Sometimes that made everything GO AWAY!  We did have Internet access in our room at the Mandala Hotel in Lhasa and in the hallway of our hotel in Kathmandu and the small restaurant just next door where we ate most of our meals.  Along the way we used other access when it was available.  It was hard to check up on the Sox at times….they were doing great.  Now I follow the games daily and they lose.  Hmmmm. 

  I wish I could click my heels and be back in Tibet to ride horses, go trekking and do some painting.  I never even took out my paint brush once. 

Randal and I bought many books while in Kathmandu which has what seems like 3 or 4 book shops on every street in the Thamel area where our hotel was located.  It’s the “tourist” area of Kathmandu packed with small shops, eating places, and book stores.  I am currently reading Last Seen In Lhasa by Claire Scobie. She is a journalist who has made several trips to Tibet and during one made friends with Ani, a Tibetan nun.  This book talks about their meeting and friendship and seems to capture the image of Lhasa that we saw. 

Now it’s catch up time.  Catch up email, laundry, boat cleaning, following the Red Sox, reading and hopefully painting. 

Ru

DoraMac

Tibet # 5 Norbulingka (Summer Palace)

“ Norbulingka means Jewel Park in Tibetan. It is the summer palace of the successive Dalailamas. Now it is listed as World Cultural Heritage, State class protected unit of culture relics and appointed four class tourist site. It is a shady place with very rich plants and very important place where every year Tibetan traditional opera and folk song and dancing are performing.

The palace inside is great and luxurious, all the murals are very delicate, among them some of the mural unique to Tibet. Norbulingka is an huge ancient royal garden with natural scenery and cultural landscape.” This information is written on the back of the entry ticket for Norbulingka

Norbulingka is a huge park where the 7^th Dalai Lama built his summer home in the 1750s. The New Summer Palace, completed in 1956 was built by the 14^th (current) Dalai Lama. The main meeting room contains a huge throne and according to AA Keyguide China, the only photo of the Dalai Lama on public display in Lhasa. Also, the clock at the top of the stairs is stopped at 9 o’clock, the time the DL fled to India on March 19, 1959. As we walked through the grounds our guide Lobsang explained much about the DL and Buddhism. But I was busy taking photos so didn’t listen hard enough. It is really difficult to take photos and listen at the same time. Also, prior to our trip to Tibet and Nepal, I didn’t even know where they were. I also, really didn’t know anything about Buddhism. Now I know a little bit about everything. According to a BBC news story (see below) much of the Summer Palace was destroyed by Chinese artillery: I’m not sure what building were part of the original construction and what was rebuilt after the destruction. Honestly, what was confusing to me was how modern the religion is and following the events around all of the different DL.

Lobsang and the map of Norbulingka.

We just walked through the small zoo (really needs lots of upgrading!) and the palace of the 7^th DL and the 14^th DL. We couldn’t go into the small building that is the library and houses hundreds of scrolls.

“In the worst single incident, four days ago, the Chinese army fired about 800 artillery shells into the Dalai Lama’s Summer Palace, razing the ancient building to the ground.” (March 28^th, 1959) http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_2788000/2788343.stm

Home of one of the earlier DL. Maybe the 7^th, maybe the 13^th. I just don’t remember.

Lobsang and Randal in front of the Palace of the 14^th DL.

Drive up to the Palace

A small lake near the “library.”

The building houses hundreds of scrolls but we weren’t allowed to go inside. Also, must buildings prohibited photos. We found that to be the case many places, or, alternatively, you had to pay a small fee to take photos. Sometimes I paid; sometimes I didn’t.  I would have liked to have gone into this little “library.” 

Rebuilding.

Walking along through the park.

It would have been nice to stay at the park longer and many people apparently do that; take a picnic and spend the day. It was interesting to visit the Palace of the 14^th Dalai Lama though not being allowed to take photos was really disappointing. The other buildings were very dark so hard to see the decorations. Also, many of the building burn yak butter or other oil lamps and the smoke made it hard for Randal and me to breathe. Anyone who goes should bring a flashlight if it would be allowed. It couldn’t hurt more than the residue from the smoke.

We left the Summer Palace to go to the Tibet Museum, but it was closed…so we went another day.

July 6, 2010

Puteri Harbour Marina

Johor, Malaysia

Hi All,

  We’re back on DoraMac and Randal is happy as a clam.  He has his own bed, TV remote, a guaranteed hot shower and ice cold Tiger Beer.  I still feel the pull of the Himalayas which surprises me being such an ocean person.  But the open space was as immense as an ocean and the geology was just amazing. (Wish I had paid more attention when I had the chance to learn it freshman year at UMass.)  And Tibet and Nepal truly were more exotic than most places I’ve been.  The weather was perfect, too, even when we were really, really cold at Everest. (It was just for a short time and again it was the altitude that was more problematic.)   If I were 20 years younger I’d want to go back and do some real trekking.  But this probably our only trip ever to Tibet and Nepal.  I’ll just have to find some desert in lower altitudes…like the Middle East where hopefully we will be next year at this time.

  I want to share the web site of our Tibet tour buddies, Frenchman David Agnolon and Swede Ronnie Lindberg.  They have both taken 6 month sabbaticals from their work as aeronautical engineers in The Netherlands to visit all 7 continents.  They have wonderful photos and interesting stories to share.  http://www.project-7.se/ is their website. 

Our trip ended on the 4th when we flew Silk Air from Kathmandu to Singapore where we rested overnight.  On the 5th Randal collected boat supplies he had ordered at the beginning of our trip and I made a too short visit to Kinukushya book store. Mid-afternoon we took the Causeway bus from Singapore back to Malaysia.  Once on the boat we left all of our stuff where it dropped and I spent all afternoon napping and slept soundly all night too!  Today it’s loads of laundry and taking the photos from our travel computer and saving them to my big computer.  Tonight we’ll go to the Tuesday night market and start stocking up on fruit and veggies again.  While we were away cruising friends Bill and Judy Rouse (of Houston, Texas) on the sailboat BeBe kept an eye on DoraMac.  That was very reassuring!  What isn’t reassuring are the number of Red Sox players on the Disabled List!  Good Grief!

So that’s it.

Ru

Doramac

David, Ronnie, Ru and Randal at the Sera Monastery

  The evening after we visited the Monastery Randal and I were eating dinner at our favorite Lhasa noodle place across from our hotel when Tanya, a woman we’d met on the Monastery tour walked in.  We invited her to join us and she asked “where our sons were!”  We told her that they were only ours for the Tibet tour.  Tanya, an Australian,  taught school around the world and was on vacation from her teaching job in Vietnam.  It is definitely amazing the folks one meets.