Gram still has a headache so it is just Cait and I for dinner and we try the Hard Yak Cafe -- a Chinese/Western buffet. The food is okay and Cait and chat outside at the restaurant sans any light but hey, the weather is great outside.
The next morning we find out that one of us down for the count. Gram has been sick all night throwing up and won't be joining us for the morning sightseeing. Cait and I are concerned and try to get her some amenities -- coke, water, toast, and bananas. We head to breakfast and end up meeting our guide 15 minutes late, explaining about Gram's absence. Our guide, Dundup, is a local Tibetian who speaks Tibetanese, Mandarin and English. His English and Mandarin are both spoken with a sort of indian accent -- and he tells us he learned to speak Mandarin from all of the Chinese immigrants to the area and was sent to a school during their harsh winters to learn English. The school is expensive but his family made sure he had a head start as his guide job is probably one of the more lucrative ones -- many of the local people are extremely poor and getting poorer as the Chinese have moved into the area, taking jobs and inserting the government's influence on their way of life.
We head off to Derpung monastery, built in 1416 and the biggest in Tibet. 600 monks live here with living quarters, a kitchen, and the chapels. They practice Buddhism Shayyamuni, with idols of the Dali Lama, high priests, and guardians. They have statues of the present Buddha of Shakyamuni and Future buddha of Maitrey. Cait and I ask lots of questions about the religion and the deities and well, about the monks. Before the Cultural Revolution, there was 7700 monks at this monastery.
Cait wonders how she can ask Dundup about the 'lifestyles' of the monks. "Do they have sex?" she asks. He seems confused by the question so she rephrases to ask if they can have children. 'Oh, no, no, no..." he says. We giggle and he tells us most of the monks have been chosen by the government, as young as 10, to come live in the monasteries. They share duties, rotating between cooking, cleaning and praying.
It is almost a surreal sight when we see several of them walk by in Teva sandals and then later I see one on a cell phone. Talk about the past and present colliding. The prayer chanting is an amazing sight -- the sounds and smells inside the temples is one of heady incense and the people will come to the temple and offer money and move from altar to altar with these pitchers of yak butter as kind of a prayer.
The monks change the butter, scooping out the oozing butter so the people can pour more in. There are also ways to purchase a candle, sort of like in the Catholic church, and light it and offer a prayer.
As we take pictures outside Derpung, there are several begger children and older adults. This little girl of all of maybe 4 tells us hello, money. And she is fascinated by my camera. So i take a picture of her and show her on the screen what she looks like and she gives me this amazed smile. Then she goes back to asking for money. Cait and I both don't want to draw attention to me getting her some money, so Cait blocks everyone from seeing what I am doing and as soon as I open my bag, she instead see the banana I had threw in there for later. She starts reaching for it and happily forgets about the money -- and walks off showing her mom what she has got. She devours it and is still working on it when they are all scared off the steps of the monastery by the police. I see her running down with her mom, still clutching a piece of that banana.
Around Tibet, you see these long poles of multicolor flags. We ask the meaning of them as they are on the roofs of peoples homes and the monasteries as well as on street poles. People stop and offer prayers at these poles in the market square. Blue means sky, white clouds, red fire, yellow earth and green water. Cait says in the Chinese language the symbol for water also means a blue-green color.
We do lunch at this Tibetan restaurant and Cait and I end up being the only guests. They start bringing out plate after plate and adding it to this lazy susan. Tons of veggies are a part of the offerings and I think I ate my weight in these tomatoes with sugar on them. Our driver and guide eat in the kitchen which is sort of some cultural/class thing. Even when I later buy our guide an ice cream bar, I have to force him to take it because they do not usually accept gifts from their tourees.
Gram joins us for the afternoon tour of the next monastery. It was built in the 7th century and was once considered one of the grandest. But the cultural revolution stripped most of its jewels from the temples and people started hiding things to preserve the history and artifacts. The story goes that the temple is built on a lake, and the high priest threw a gold ring into the lake, where the stone idol appeared from the center. Goats then came and brought dirt to fill in the lake and then the temple was built. The original stone idol was salvaged and preserved during the revolution and they have been working on restoring the temple to its former glory since 1986.
Again here is where we have to remember that most of these monks are still teenagers. They are washing the floors and watering the plants and a water fught ensues with these teenagers splashing and trying to dodge the water hose and using their wraps to try to hid from the water. And in the prayer area, there are some of them sleeping all curled up on the floor mats, using all the robes as blankets.
In the temple, there is a statue of this Tibetan king Songsten Gampo and his three wives -- one Chinese, one Tibetan and one Nepalese. Gram: "He got around." All of us girls -- and even Dundup -- start laughing.
After taking pictures from the rooftop, we head over to the "Eight-corners market." Dundup takes us into a more expensive, higher quality place when frankly we want good quality at low prices. I've already seen lots of scarves, beads and other cool trinkets in the outdoor market that we have passed and plan to go back there in the next couple days.
We wander around and if we buy all together -- we will "get a good discount." I decide on some sky beads that are these beads created with patterns that come from Mt. Everest. And a purple jade pendant that has been craved into a horse. The purple jade only comes from this area -- or so I have been suckered into believing.
Gram decides on a bracelet and a sky bead. And well, Cait -- is very particular and takes a loooong time to make a decision on anything -- finally decides on earrings. She is almost apologetic for how little she can pay and the one shop guy is a little sweet on her so he throws in a cell phone charm with coral and turquoise for free. Score one for Cait!
By now we are all tired and ready for a nap. The sun has become more intense, Gram in not feeling to hot, I'm thirsty and we are waiting for our car. I manage to get us the ice cream through gesturing and pointing. And we settle into the trip back to the hotel.
After a long nap, we decided to go to the Himalayan restaurant -- just Cait and I again. It is an experience as we both are hungry -- but not hungry and neither of us can really eat meat. The menu is full of lamb and yak -- but we do find some vegetable dishes -- I have some great veg dumplings in soup and a local barley soup -- we end up drinking most of our dinner. At Cait's suggestion we try the yak butter tea -- all I can say is that I tried it and well it is like drinking melted, watery warm butter. And the last sip I take is when Cait finds bugs in hers.
We also try the Tibetan desserts -- a sweet one and a cheese one. As Cait puts it, the cheese one smells like fermented cheese -- and texture is like a cold sugar cookie dough shaped into a fancy butter pat.
We head to the gift shop for some supplies and I wanted to get some postcards. There is this hilarious older woman who chats us up and gives us some tips about staying hydrated and keeping our stomach sane. She has this accent, maybe from Italy, but lives in Florida and she says,"In the hotel, I drink and drink and drink -- but them outside I donna want to since the bathrooms..." and then she makes this face.
My head is killing me so we head back to the room for some more R&R. I wish I could shake this sinus thing and it seems to get better as I drink water and also have a coke -- which I never drink in the states and let's just say I was entertaining my cousin in our room with my belching antics.
I watch some Itunes stuff I have been saving -- and by the way I'm completely disappointed at the season ending of Heroes -- and write some postcards -- less than a buck to send from here to the States.
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