Yumbu Lhakang, Tibet 2007
We visited Tibet for four (not nearly long enough) days in February 2007. It just happened to be both Chinese New Year and Tibetan New Year and the monasteries and temples were full of pilgrims. The winter season is blissfully light on tourists and yes, it is cold, but look at that glorious blue sky. We don’t get many days like that down on the east coast of China.
Yumbu Lhakang is located in the Yarlung Valley southeast of Lhasa and is supposedly Tibet’s oldest building. Originally built for Nyatri Tsanpo, Tibet’s first king, back in the 2nd century BC, it switched duties from palace to monastery sometime along the way. The white specks you see in the lower right hand side are colored squares of paper decorated with Tibetan prayers. The prayers are thrown into the air and carried by the wind. I like to think of them as traditional Tibetan prayer flags’ little cousins.
See more travel photos at Delicious Baby‘s Photo Friday.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Gorgeous photo! And love hearing about the tradition of throwing prayers into the wind.
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This is REALLY gorgeous and the contrast between the sky and building is splendid.
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i hear that you can only go to tibet that china allows you to see. can you go to places that aren’t china controlled and are more tibet?
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All areas of Tibet are officially controlled by China. Tibet is considered a Chinese autonomous region. The culture, language and ethnicity of the region are traditionally Tibetan, but there has been a large influx of Han Chinese in recent years. To visit Tibet it is necessary to apply for a Tibet Travel Permit. Once you have the permit, you can visit Lhasa and specific other cities and areas within the autonomous region of Tibet. The permit does not allow you to visit all areas, however, and additional areas of neighboring Sichuan province that are traditionally Tibetan are also off limits. The government has on occasion blocked all tourists from entering even Lhasa, as happened last year and just last month. Tibet is currently open to tourists. Of course the politics behind this are way too involved to discuss in the comments section and I generally shy away from the political anyway living here as I do not want my blog blocked! I did talk about this in another post, Lhasa is Burning. For me it was worth the effort to get to Tibet. I’d love to go back!
I’m so jealous, I really want to go to Tibet. Doesn’t look like it’s in the stars for 2009…but soon! Gorgeous photo, and such wonderful traditions.
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Thanks everyone for stopping by! Tibet may be a little difficult to get to, but it was a wonderful trip. I hope to go back some day when I can see more and spend more time.
The land is beautiful, stark, rugged. The people are devoted and humble. I was very moved. It made it a bit more difficult to constantly swallow the propaganda that gets so easily thrown about here. It’s challenging.
Gorgeous photo! That’s a glorious blue sky indeed, so pretty!
And also.. 110% agree with Kim@Galavanting. Really want to visit, but it doesn’t look like its in the stars for 2009… =/
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This kind of reminds me of a lighthouse…beautiful photo!
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It does look like a lighthouse! Never noticed.
The white specs of the prayer notes lend an etheral element to the photo. When the page first downloaded, I wiped my screen because I thought it was dust – how interesting to read the story!
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LOL! When I snapped the photo, the air was full of the papers and I was really hoping to capture the feeling of being among them. By the time I got the picture, most of the papers had fallen or were carried away. It was just stunning against the blue sky, even in real life.