Litang and Homebound

August 2

We arrived back in Chengdu last night and went out for pizza - not a grain of rice in sight! Ordering the pizza was not so easy -- funny really -- since for the first night since the trip we were without translators. But in the end we all pretty much got what we wanted. Today (Thurs) we are sweating it out (the humidity is amazing) in Chengdu repacking for our flights home and doing some last minute shopping.

Time is a bit of a blur but here are a few highlights from the last post (which we can't access so there may be some overlap). We spent two nights in Litang where this weekend there is huge horse festival. You could feel the town residents gearing up for the big event. Litang sits in a huge valley so it is perfect for hosting the gathering. We visited the local monastery that is quite active with young monks dashing about on foot and motorcycles. Eighty families are supporting the construction of a two-story Buddha in one chapel and there are further renovations throughout -- i.e. wet paint as the back of jacket will show. Our guide for the tour is the father of a ripoche living now in New York (apologies, I don't have his name handy). Father, as we came to call him, was a lovely host. After the tour we walked over to his home where his wife and family had prepared a feast -- the tsampa momos (roasted barley meal, yak butter, sugar in a steamed pastry wrap) were a favorite. We then visited his daughter and son's homes for more buttered yak milk tea and treats.

The next day we headed to the ripoche's nunnery and monasteries -- all in remote locations -- do conduct needs assessments. The ripoche's father -- about 73 years old andwhose daily practice includes about 500 prostrations! - traveled with us. Our first stop was the nunnery where the prayer hall is all but finished. The abbess has been their for 15 years slowly rebuilding the nunnery. Next stop was a small monastery deep in the hills. Unfortunately we had to abandon this stop after almost an hour on a narrow, rough dirt road with another hour plus ahead of us. On the way to the larger monastery -- the ripoche's priority -- we stopped at a nomad camp to visit one of Father's relatives. We sat on mats outside their tent drinking yak butter milk tea and munching of bread and fruit.

We asked about nomadic life and how the summer season was going -- which is going very well with the good rains. Even though we have seen many fences across the grasslands -- a factor in changing nomadic life patterns - this nomadic family did not seem to be aware of any pressures to alter their seasonal rhythm. They have their summer camp plus a permanent home where relatives look after crops of barely, potatoes and diakon....

Back in the car and on to the larger monastery. Once we arrived it became apparent why this one was the ripoche's priority monastery. The monastery, atop a steep hill, is unstable and the structures are beginning to bend and fold. They now have permission to build a new monastery on the flatter land beneath the current one. We were as usual treated with loving kindness with tea, a kind of Tibetan cheese cake and steamed bread with sugar and butter and a intimate tour -- some parts of the monastery hold over 600 years of devotion. We took notes and pictures for the ripoche.


We traveled into the dark to reach our next hotel in Yajiang (I believe this is the right spelling). We were fortunate to reach the peak of a high mountain pass (approximately 12K feet) just at sunset. We were up early the next morning to get back to Kanding for some afternoon shopping. There, Appo, the head of the orphanage in Tagong, met us so that TVP could buy more supplies and clothing for the boys. He joined us that night for a Tibetan feast to celebrate our conscious journey through Kham. Most of us commited to raising additional funds (around $2500) for winter clothing for the boys.

The next day -- Aug 1 - the group headed back here to Chengdu without Tamdin who stayed in Kanding to meet with some local NGOs and to check on a midwife training.

We begin our flights back to the US and Canada tonight about midnight. It has been a life-changing experience and some of us are already planning to return next year. We are all grateful for a safe and exciting journey. We are all in good health and ready to share our experiences with all of you in person -- very soon now!

Elizabeth

P.S. My writing buddy, Carol la, is on her way to Lhasa with Tsador -- lucky girl!