Ganden Monastery

Greg and I took a day trip to Ganden Monastery (about an hour and a half drive outside Lhasa). The public bus left before dawn and we found ourselves stuffed in the aisles with pilgrims headed to pay respects. I lucked out and got a seat on the bus, but Greg sat the entire ride on a bucket in the aisle, next to a villager who chanted prayers the whole way and two very curious monks who could not stop staring at his beard. We had a good time, but this road wasn't very fun at 14,000 feet.


Some monks on our bus to Ganden were very curious about Greg's sunglasses and when I fell asleep they snuck the glasses out of the holster on the outside of my bag and put them on. All in good fun - they wanted me to take a picture of them and then they handed them back.


Sunrise reflects off the Himalayas. View from the kora at Ganden Monastery.


A monk spins prayer wheels after leaving the monastery.


Tibetan printing press at Ganden Monastery. Here a man uses an old stamping technique to make books out of sacred Buddhist texts. We bought a couple of the books and are looking forward to finding someone who can read Tibetan and tell us what it all means!


Pilgrims pray at certain spiritual sites along the kora at Ganden Monastery. Here, they rub a rock, taking the chalk and spreading it on their faces, in their hair and over their children.


Friendly hiking buddy on the kora at Ganden Monastery (for details of the Tibetan KORA, see previous blog posts.)


Greg on the kora at Ganden Monastery


View from the roof of Ganden Monastery


View from the roof of Ganden Monastery