Last day in Tibet

Today I had a relapse and was forced to stop in bed for the afternoon. After having eaten two pills in the hope that the annoying headache would eventually go away (but to no effect), it was clear that I was not up to the second part of the day.

In the morning, we visited the Drepung Monastery, which is one of the six largest monasteries of the Gelupa sect (one of the 4, I think, sects in the Buddhism). It is located at a foot of a mountain, about 10 km from Lhasa. It was built in 1416 and is one of the largest monasteries in Tibet. Again we saw Buddhist scriptures and countless other relics. It also has three monastic colleges for the study of philosophy and one for the practice of Tantric Buddhism.

I admit I was a bit bored and, by the end of the visit, bored stiff. The Buddhist statues were repeating themselves and our guide felt the need to repeat himself too in his endless explanations. I was literally at the end of my resources and I’m afraid I seemed a bit impatient and willing to see the visit at an end. The scenery was absolutely amazing, though. Even the effort of climbing yet other nasty stairs to get to the monastery was endurable.

In the afternoon we were supposed to visit yet another temple and another medical college. Feeling as I was feeling, I gave it a miss and Alex went alone to those places. According to him, it was nothing too special; interesting to mention maybe that the guide took him to some shops where they tried to make him buy an “old religious painting” for not less than $6500!! Good god, these people have no shame!!

Yesterday I discussed with our guide the funeral customs in Tibet. To my utter astonishment, I found out that, when people die here, their bodies are actually cut to pieces, taken to some special places in the mountains and left there for the vultures to eat!! It may seem incredibly barbarous and cruel but they actually say that the vultures are noble birds; the spots in the mountains are very clean and in the middle of nature. The deceased’s relatives are not allowed to accompany the body to the sacred spots in the mountains, only the friends do that. When the person died of a contagious disease or was killed by a weapon, the body is cremated. The Chinese cremate all bodies. Amazing!

We are off to Hong Kong tomorrow. I am a bit sad of leaving Tibet, I really liked the people here and the landscape is fantastic. On the other hand, I hope our physical strain will be at an end as soon as we get to lower altitudes. I wonder if I would be able to spend 7 years in Tibet! Who knows! Under the present circumstances, farewell would seem more appropriate.