We boarded the bus at 9:30 a.m.
for a ride to a traditional nomadic village outside of Lhasa. Much of the road was
under construction and the ride was very bumpy. After about an hour and a half
we stopped at a public toilet. Our destination was visible in the near
distance. The nomads spend the summer months in the mountains where their yaks
and cattle have pasturage. After the harvest, the animals are brought to the
lowlands to graze on the leavings of those who have harvested the crops. We
were greeted by a barking dog with a red ruff around its neck – for decoration,
according to Nima. We could see stacks of yak dung drying in the sun to be used
as the family’s heating fuel.
Nima led us to the family’s room
that serves as both a living room and dining room. It’s also a bedroom for some
of the family members. Beautiful Buddhist paintings adorned the cabinetry in the
room. We were served a snack of yak-butter tea, sweet tea, yak-cheese dumplings
and boiled new potatoes. After one bite of yak-cheese dumpling, Abby let me eat
the rest of her dumpling. I thought the yak-butter tea was pretty good, but
Abby definitely preferred the sweet tea. I would learn later that I should have
avoided anything involving yak butter or yak cheese.
The most interesting room in the
house was the “religious room,” which had incense burning and contained
glass-fronted statues of the Buddha and Tibetan deities. A thangka painting of
a red-skinned Tara caught my eye. In Tibetan Buddhism, Tara (or Dolma in the
Tibetan language) is the goddess of compassion. Her cult reached Tibet in the
11th century and, judging from the number of Tara images seen in
Lhasa, she has quite a following.
I noticed Hu on the roof and
climbed up to see the view. I had to climb a steep stairs past the hot chimney
of the yak-dung furnace that heated the house. There was a slightly better view
of the mountains from there. The most interesting sight was that of women
winnowing grain by using an electric fan to blow away the chaff. Nima said that
electricity had come to this village of 500 souls relatively recently, and the
villagers were making full use of it.
We walked past five of the
egg-shaped furnaces for burning juniper incense to get to the Nyegon Nunnery, adjacent
to the village. The nuns opened the temple so that we could walk around
(clockwise!) inside. No photos allowed. It was a miniature version of the Jokhang
temple in Lhasa. The nuns’ robes were arranged in rows on the benches where
they would sit during worship. There was a statue of Tara/Dolma inside. Nima explained that nuns have all the same
powers and duties as monks and can perform marriage ceremonies, for example.
We went back to the public toilet
to use the facilities and to have lunch in a shack that was a short walk away.
We had to dodge yak dung and cross a small creek on the way to the lunch spot.
Tiny frogs, not much bigger than spring peepers, caught our eyes in the creek.
A pile of yak dung was drying in the sun. Lunch consisted of stir-fried yak
meat, stir-fried vegetables, rice and bread. Tea was poured from a large
thermos. We played ping pong in a light breeze. Len played with Mary, who was
born in the Independence Sanitarium and Hospital 12 days before I was and went
to Sunday school with Brent. We took
photos of a yak herd and two herders that stopped nearby. 
We returned over the same bumpy
road to the Tibet Museum in Lhasa. Although the museum displays a few
interesting artifacts, its main reason for existence is to present a defensive
rationale for the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Here’s a sample of what was
presented in three languages: “Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since
ancient times. . . . From the beginning of the Yuan dynasty, Tibet officially
became an administrative region [of China.]” The pre-historic and historic
artifacts were just a vehicle for the official message that Tibet has always
been part of China. Never mind that Lhasa feels like an occupied city, with a
Chinese military presence everywhere. There were even four soldiers with
automatic weapons and riot gear marching in a circle in the square outside the
Jokhang temple.
The museum contains a large number
of seals of Tibetan political officials, all of the bestowed by the Central
Government of China, of course. There were some nice displays of traditional
clothing from various regions of Tibet, as well as some displays of pottery and
teapots from modern times. A room on the third floor contained various
representations of the Buddha, as well as Tara. The display characterized the
evolution of Buddha iconography from India to Tibet and China.
Some of us walked to the nearby
Sheraton Fourpoints for dinner. The restaurant only had three menus, which we
took as a hint that we should eat the buffet. It was good, but not great. There
have been a lot of buffets on this trip, and I’m sure there are more to come.
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