Raphael Kessler

Home | Travel Photos | Around Britain | Random | FAQs | Links | Contact Details| Search


Travel Photos
- Africa
- Asia
Bangladesh
Cambodia
China
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Iran
Laos
Macau
Malaysia
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nepal
Pakistan
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Tibet
Turkey
Vietnam
- Middle East
- North America
- Central America
- South America
- Pacific
- Europe
Tibet

 

Tibet is now a part of the People's Republic of China. In China they refer to it as a peaceful liberation, although for the majority of Tibetans before this date they lived like serfs, after the so called liberation their lot did not improve and they were occupied by a foreign power. Furthermore it was not peaceful, Tibetans died in droves as well as being tortured, humiliated and subjugated to incredible indignities.

Surprisingly, despite the efforts of the Red Guard and the Cultural Revolutionaries, a remarkable amount of the Tibetan culture remains intact, although many monasteries and temples were destroyed during the cultural revolution, many were saved simply due to their remoteness and inaccessibility.

For the purposes of this page, I have ignored the border of Tibet as defined by the current province boundaries, but have included areas in what is now Mainland China.

 

One of my first experiences of the Tibetans was in the town known to the Chinese as Xiahe, but called Labrang by the indigenous Tibetan community. In the town there is an open sewer that divides the Chinese part of town from the Tibetan. Life in the Tibetan part of town seemed quite tranquil, with monks lying around taking in the sunny weather (photo 1), strolling around town  (photo 2) and doing the circuit of payer wheels, spinning each one as the went  (photo 3), (the prayer wheels contain papers with "Om Mane Padme Om" which means "hail to the jewel in the lotus" and each spin of the wheel sends millions of prayers to heaven which makes it an extremely efficient way of praying).

  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Labrang Monk taking in the weather
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Labrang Monk
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Labrang Prayer Wheels

The reality was quite different as a monk explained to me when we were in the security of his private quarters (photo 1) where we had some lunch and a very slow conversation using a dictionary and sign language. He explained to me that he lives a life under threat and feels as though he had a Chinese gun to his head. He was trying to learn English and could also play the guitar, which bizarrely had eight strings. 

(c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Monk playing guitar

Whilst wandering around the monastery area, I was lucky to stumble across a monks examination (photo 1). This is a peculiar rite where the monk who is trying to get to the next level of monking (whatever that is) walks up and down in front of hundreds of other monks whilst reciting Sutras (Buddhist writings). When he gets anything wrong all the other monks laugh at him and he is judged how well he performed by how often the others laughed. There were lots of monks around of all different ages, the young ones generally seemed to be scurrying about in a rush to get somewhere (photo 2).

  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Monk's examination
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Novice monks

In Langmusi is a smaller town so has fewer monks  (photo 1). The good thing though is that there are almost no Chinese people there, so the people live a reasonable Tibetan life. Whilst I was there I went to see a Sky Burial. The person being buried this time was a twenty four year old girl who had apparently died of a bad head. After having prayers etc. done around the corpse for a couple of weeks the body is taken to the burial site where several guys drinking beers and wielding axes chop her body into little pieces  (photo 1). The skull is crushed and the bits are scattered around the site  (photo 3), so that the holy buzzards can eat her and take her to heaven. It was not as macabre to watch as it probably sounds. There was very little blood and all the guys at work were in good spirits. There are several religious sites around Langmusi including a holy cave which had a collection of big prayer arrows outside  (photo 4).

  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Langmusi Red Monk
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Langmusi men at work chopping up a girl
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Langmusi - The remains of the sky burial
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Langmusi - Prayer arrows

Lhasa the capital of Tibet has some splendid buildings including the thirteen storey Potala Palace (photos 1 & 2), where the Dalai Lama used to live and the Jokhang  (photo 3) the Naval of the World in Tibetan Buddhist cosmology. Many of the old buildings have been destroyed by the Chinese and replaced with aesthetically unappealing modern constructions.

  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Lhasa - The Potala Palace
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Lhasa - The Potala Palace
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Lhasa - Inside the Jokhang temple - the navel of the world

I went with some people I met to Namtso lake, a holy lake at 4,700 metres. The lake is surrounded by attractive mountains and is very serene  (photo 1). Some nuns live around the lake and one of them invited us in to her cave  (photo 2) for some tea and cheese. The yak butter tea is certainly an acquired taste and the cheese would be good to resole your shoes. The sentiment was appreciated though and it was interesting to see how she lived, with a tiny bed, a large shrine and meat and cheese hanging around  (photo 2). There are cairns all around Tibet with colourful prayer flags attached that send prayers heavenward when the wind blows them.

  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Namtso - The view across the holy lake
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Namtso - The friendly nun
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Namtso - Prayer cairn and flags

In Samye, is a very important monastery  (photo 1), it is also very old and interesting and as it is difficult to get permits to get there, not really affected by tourists. As with all the monasteries in Tibet there is a strong smell of yak butter as it is used to make candles  (photo 2) amongst other things (it is also used for sculpture, to make tea, as butter, as a lubricant, as a plaster filler and many other things). The monks were generally very sociable and when I showed the abbot the foreword of my guidebook which was written by the Dalai Lama and had his crest he became quite emotional. Although he could not read it or understand it he was very happy to see it  (photo 3). The rest of the monks took turns having a look and many of them blessed themselves with the book. In Samye I also watched monks debating  (photo 4). This is done by a monk facing several opponents and challenging them with theological statements. As he makes the statement he draws his arm back and then then to punctuate the statement he slaps his hand in the faces of the other monks. Quite a strange thing to see.

  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Samye - The monastery
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Samye - Butter candles and Tibetans
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Samye - The abbot checks out the guide book
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Samye - Monks debating
In Tsetang is the oldest building in Tibet, a small tower perched atop a rocky pinnacle  (photo 1) which makes it appear much taller. There were only a couple of people there, both quite aged and taking it easy, one was the custodian and the other was a monk  (photo 2).
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Tsetang tower - The oldest building in Tibet
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Tsetang - The aged monk takes it easy

Gyantse  (photo 1) is another town with an impressive monastery and historical buildings. The children in these towns seemed very good at looking after each other and it was not unusual to see a three or four year old child minding its younger brother or sister  (photos 2 & 3). Around the perimeter of the monastery area are a number of rock paintings and prayer flags  (photo 4).

  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Gyantse - View across the buildings
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Gyantse - Sisters
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Gyantse - Street children
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Gyantse - Rock paintings and prayer flags

In Shigatse I got to see monks rehearsing for an upcoming festival which would involve sword dancing and music  (photos 1 & 2). I don't quite know what the story was but it didn't quite project a peaceful demeanor as the guys waved their swords around.

  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Shigatse - Dancing monks with swords
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Shigatse - Dancing monks with swords

Tibet is sometimes known as the land of snow. The country is very mountainous in parts, with the Himalayas  (photo 1) in the south and much of it is at quite high altitudes. All over the country one sees prayer flags, particularly on the crest of passes and mountains  (photo 2). The mountains are very lovely and as one crosses a pass the view can change quite dramatically. The Kao-La pass (photo 3) is at more than five thousand metres and the mountains still tower above. The most famous of the mountains (in the west at least) is Chomolongma, the mother mountain  (photo 4). Known to most as Everest it towers up 8,846 metres which is bloody high.

  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - The view from the Tibetan plateau across the Himalaya
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Taking a break amongst the prayer flags
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Karo La Pass - Gold on the mountain
  • (c) Copyright - Raphael Kessler 2011 - Tibet - Chomolongma - Everest
 

 

All the images and text on this website are the copyright sole property of Raphael Kessler and cannot be copied or reproduced without his express permission. 
If you want to use any of his intellectual material please contact him via the link above