TibetanVisions: Yaks, Tarot Cards and Butter Tea

For spectacular and diverse scenery there are few trails in the world that compare with the Ganden to Samye journey, located in Tibet to the south-east of Lhasa. The area around Ganden and Lhasa is arid high desert. Soon after the first ridge the countryside turns to a more moist tundra - moss and grass divided into 1 and 2 foot sections by hundreds of deeply worn yak paths. On the long descent the trail winds through lush, wet forest beside a fast moving stream, only to emerge into desert again in the Samye region.

Ganden to Samye is supposed to be a three day trek. It took me five, blame it on the altitude if you wish, but I saw no reason to hurry through such a once-in-a-lifetime journey. There are obstacles also, one being a stream at the foot of the first ridge. It was only about ten feet across, but with images of becoming soaked from a fall into the icy water I stopped to remove my shoes.

I was a little embarrassed when a pretty goat herder woman nimbly stepped over the stream on the slippery rocks, scooped up my shoes and socks, and glided back. I waded, holding onto the rocks for balance. As I climbed the bank on the other side I saw the herdswoman - and my shoes - were some distance up the hill where she and her sister had built a small fire. They greeted me with giggles and a cup of butter tea --- it seemed they did not expect a foreigner to know how to properly cross a stream.

We sat quietly, hand gestures and my few words of Tibetan passing for conversation. The principal tool of herders in Tibet is a wool sling about a yard (meter) long, with a woven pocket in the center. With this they can send a rock 50 yards or more with amazing accuracy. Just a reminder of this is usually enough for the goats - occasionally one woman or the other would snap her sling, making a sharp crack, and the goats would quickly move back together.

I finally moved onwards with gestures of silence about the Dalai Lama pictures I gave them, and walked around the hillside to the only lake on the route. There I pitched my tent and watched the evening arrive.

Tashi Dele! I had only gone inside for a short time when a young man hailed me. He herded yaks in the neighborhood and wanted to greet his visitor.

We were exchanging a few words when he spotted my Tarot cards. He looked through them with great interest, seeming to know what they meant, although he had certainly never seen the Tarot before. When he came to the Hierophant I called it "Dalai Lama" with a gesture that said "almost". He nodded as if that was what he had already surmised. As he was leaving I jokingly extracted a promise that he would keep the yaks away from my tent and then quickly fell asleep.

It was first light when came again: Tashi Dele! Tashi Dele! This time it was an older man, likely the father, and he went straight for the Tarot. He studied each card, adsorbing the pictures. I pointed out the Empress as "Tara" but it had little effect - he knew what they were, probably understood them better than I did.

More of my journeys in the Himalayas can be found in other posts on this same blog Tibetan Visions, and still more at the website TravelinTibet: Spiritual journeys in Tibet.

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