Little Tibet

Distance covered - 4214km

I woke up early and made my way towards XiaHe by bus; since I was in a hurry I took a taxi towards the new bus station which is 20km away from the city centre. Tickets were still aplenty as I took the 8.20am bus to XiaHe. 

Stalking lamas 

Visitor with prayer wheel

The trip was uneventful, as the bus sped by villages and hamlets surrounded by plantations (peanuts maybe?) and farms. The highway was smooth and apart from a few stops for refuelling and toilet breaks, I reach XiaHe by noon. 

XiaHe struck me as a town very different from the rest of China. Why so? Known as Little Tibet since it is one of most populated Tibetan settlement outside Tibet, this town is full of buildings of Tibetan architecture, and its street full of Tibetan folks. I was lost after disembarking the bus, so I walked around the main street, hijacking free wi-fi, in order to get myself orientated and search for a nearby hostel.

I got a small room in a nearby Tara Guesthouse, rested for a while and started wandering into the LaBrang Monastery, which is just opposite to it. The tourist office (shabby and dysfunctional) does organise tours twice a day, and a bunch of us (me, myself and a group of foreigners) hopped onto the 3.15pm tour, which started at 3.45pm due to technical error.

Labrang Monastery is one of the biggest monastery for the yellow sect of Tibetan Buddhist, hence it's so hustle and bustle with swarms of pilgrims visiting it daily. Our tour was led by one of the young novices (who's into making extra pocket money from our fees, and to practice their English). Fortunately, for the foreigners, I managed to step up as an assistant translator whenever my guide got stuck while explaining. 

Tibetan kinswomen

The main hall in this monastery is the Manjusri hall, which is reputed to be grand with yak-butter sculptures and enormous Buddha statues, as the hall reverberates with mantra chanting by the lamas. However, there was a blackout on that day, hence everyone decided to take a break for the day. The hall was dark with a few oil lamps, hence we had to sightsee in the dark, yet with our flashlight we could still catch some glimpse of this main hall.

The plaza outside the monastery

I think we're not alone here

The flagpole for the ceremony

Yak butter Buddhist Sculptures

Buildings in the monastery

Monastery building

The library was closed on that day due to an event; the bright side, this event was so grand that there was a major procession with flocks of Tibetan folks gathering at the plaza, chanting and praying. I felt very fortunate to be able to witness such an event!

After almost an hour, it was time to wander around the monastery, climbing up the Gongtan Chorten (Golden Stupa) next to the river bank for a view of the monastery. Rows of prayer wheels surround the monastery, and there will be flocks of zealous pilgrims and followers turning them as they walk around the monastery.

The procession begins

March of the lamas

Carrying out the big flag

Grim looking lamas

Yellow sect lamas

Grandmaster appears

Nice drums

Dance of the drum bearers

"Dude, you look awesome." "Yeah, I know."

Completing the ceremony

The end

Prayer wheels 

I took a short nap and was awakened by the sudden drop in the temperature. It was freezing cold and the heater was not functioning because it's not technically winter yet! Shivering like mad in the dark, I walked opposite to a local Tibetan restaurant for a light dinner - yak meat momos and yak butter tea (definitely not my cup of tea!), then sprinted back to the hostel to rest.

Tibetan lady with prayer wheel

I figured that I had caught a cold since I was mildly feverish and shivering. With no warm clothing, I wore 2 layers of tee-shirts and a jacket, in cargo pants, and wrapped myself within the duvet and collapsed due to the exhaustion.

Yak meat dumplings

Yak butter tea

I decided to change my plan; instead of staying longer in the morning to visit the nearby Sangke grasslands (autumn with the grass wilting, there's nothing much to see in the cold), I decided to catch an earlier bus back to LanZhou and make way to TianShui, my next station.