Nomads Wander But Are Not Lost

I trek for solitude, enjoying the mountains and the feeling of exploration. Yet when I remember the journey between Ganden and Samye monasteries in the high mountains of Tibet it is the people that come to mind.

There were the two cowboy types that invited me to ride their yak (no thank-you!) and the other two who found me setting up camp near the top of a pass one evening (which is not a very good idea). They insisted that it was only a short walk to the next village (for you, friend, but not for me).


The most memorable was a nomad family I met on the second day. I saw two big brown tents on the hillside and wandered up to ask the proper direction. There was an extended family around a fire of yak dung who greeted me with shouts of Tashi Dele! and the ever present butter tea.

The Dalai Lama had sent word to his people that westerners should be welcomed and the message had spread even to those far from the cities. I certainly felt welcome watching the children run around and the grandmother tend the fire.

The man and woman who were the parents of the kids had a long wooden trough filled with water. Each sat at one end as they washed a woolen cloth with the ends tied together making a loop. They squeezed it in the water then passed it along, the loop going in circles in the trough. It was such an image of domestic cooperation that I often remember that couple when I do my own laundry.


Later I followed a small stream to what I knew was the last pass on the trail. As I came around a bend I was confronted by a spectacular wall of stone, rising out of the mountainside. The pathway up it was easy enough and I shared the space on top with several other tourists - the only other westerners I had seen on the journey.

The more I looked at the countryside the more remarkable the geology appeared. The wall across the pass, for there is not a better way to describe it, was certainly a natural feature. It appeared to be basalt. Basalt is a rock type formed deep in the earth that is not often seen in the relatively young Himalayas. The two sides of the pass were of two other, different, kinds of stone which was also unusual.

The mountains of Tibet and Nepal were formed by the collision of the land mass of India, which had been part of Africa, with Asia. I wonder if this spot where we were sitting was the division between the two land masses, thrust to a high altitude by the forces that built the world's greatest mountain range. I have no idea if it was, but it did mark a division in my travels, for from here on it was downhill and back into "civilization".

Like I said, downhill.


You can read about my journey to Tibet, and see wonderful old photos of the people and land at my website TravelinTibet.com: Tibetan temples monasteries and adventures.

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