September 9th Drepung Monastery

We left our hotel at 10 AM and walked to the nearest taxi point, where we caught a cab to the Drepung Monastery, the largest in Tibet, that once housed 10,000 monks. It dates from 1416 AD and the second, third, and fourth Dalai Lamas ruled central Tibet from Drepung, and are buried there. The fifth Dalai Lama ruled from there for a while, but then built the Potala Palace and that became the center of government. The huge complex includes central prayer assembly halls, housing for the monks, and more than a dozen chapels filled with statues of the Buddha in various forms, religious paintings, ancient scriptures, and distinctive buildings.

We saw many pilgrims again and were intrigued by the clothes they have on. When David was putting some juniper twigs, the incense they use, in one of the stoves a monk was watching him. The monk was traveling with other older people and we were going in and out of the different chapels at the same time. At the highest chapel I stood in the doorway to take a picture and realized the monk was behind me. I smiled and motioned to him to go ahead and held up my camera. He smiled and got out his camera so I took my picture and descended the steep stairs and he did the same. At the bottom I asked the guide if we could take a picture of them and we would be happy to be in a picture with them for their camera. So you will see us with our fellow pilgrims for Drepung Monastery. Walking back there was another pilgrim lady that had been along with us as well and we asked the guide if we could take her picture as she was sitting there taking a rest. She agreed and when we asked if we should compensate her for taking the photo she smiled and said no. The monastery charges $3.50 to take pictures in each chapel. There are so many chapels that you have to decide what you will photograph. We both photographed during the monk prayer chanting and I even managed to get a small video clip. We heard and saw the monks being summoned to prayer by the drum on the roof of the main assembly hall.

We had lunch at Snowland restaurant which was good. We had sautéed spinach which was our first green vegetable since we have been here. We then headed back to the hotel for our customary nap while the guide went off to get our travel permit to go beyond the Lhasa city area. He picked us up later in the afternoon to go to the free folk museum at the Brahmaputra Grand Hotel. A wonderful collection of antiques and old photographs! I especially enjoyed the room with all the different prayer wheels. After that we went to a local supermarket to look for lemons and ginger to make a tea and look for dried ginger for motion sickness, and peanut butter. Did find the lemons and ginger but not the other items. We have noticed that we are not always comprehending our guide and he isn't understanding what we are saying. We have a strong sense that he has not dealt much with western tourists and is more familiar with Chinese tourists.