Some things meet your expectations, like buff momo. It's just as good as I hoped, so I have had a lot of it. Some things less so. Like cheese momos, which one of our group had ordered today at lunch, and pronounced "It tastes like the inside of the monastaries", which was not a good thing, since it was made with yak-milk cheese, which tastes rancid. Even when it's not.
Tibetan Buddhism is another. I had an image of Tibetan Buddhism as being somewhat ethereal, fed by images in the West of the "downtrodden people of Tibet". It's not. Now, I know that all religious organizations need to raise funds to clothe, house and feed the leaders. And that all religions tend to go overboard - for example, despite vows of poverty, the Vatican is pretty fabulously wealthy. Mormons give 10% to their church, Judiasm charges admission for the high Holy Days, and don't forget about the evangelical Christians with the mega-churchs. But when you tour the temples and monastaries, you see what looks like naked greed. First of course, you pay an admission fee (reasonable enough, given the traffic, and included in the package tour). You then enter the grounds of the temple, which has several buildings crawling with monks, the faithful, and tourists. Each temple has a number of rooms, with various icons of Buddha, important lamas, various figures in the Tibetan Buddhist iconography (think of Catholic saints), as well as wall hangings (thangas), yak butter candles (fed by the faithful bringing in bags of yak butter to scoop a spoonful or two), and incense and a burner of evergreen smoke. It is all very mind-numbing, esecially when you are not completely up on the many forms of the Buddha, the deities, etc, etc. Plus inside it is somewhat dark and smells of rancid butter and incense.
Now, imagine going into church or synagoge, and instead of having a collection plate or box to drop your money or envelope discretely, cash is jammed into every nook and cranny. Mao's face (on the yuan) is everywhere, which is pretty ironic, in and of itself. People put money in the picture frames, the altars, the tables, etc. They even jam them into the hands of the Buddhas in all their various configurations. Picture Jesus on the cross, with a few twenties stuck behind his knees and neck, and jammed into his hands; or the manger scene with dollar bills spilling from the cradle. Or when the rabbi opens the ark of the Torah, fives nad tens spill out. Plus, if you want to take any pictures of the inside, you have to cough up another 10-25 yuan PER ROOM!! For this reason, most of my shots are of exteriors, although I did take this one:
This is a deity that gives children safe sleep. No, really! If your child is having trouble sleeping, you bring them to this statue so they can touch the nose! You can even buy masks representing it to put in the kid's bedroom! I can just imagine trying to go to sleep with this thing staring at you!
Now when I took this picture, the monk in charge of the room came rushing at me to get the 20 yuan. When I left the room and showed the picture to one of my fellow travellers, the monk in charge of that room rushed over to demand another 20 yuan. I could not get him to understand the picture was taken in the last room. Fortunately, one of my fellow photographers had taken pictures in this room and hadn't paid yet, so the monk was happy with her 20 yuan.
For a religion that stresses detachment from the worldly desires, there is sure a lot of interest in money!
Politically, it is a very interesting situation in Tibet. When we touring Potala Palace, officially the home of the Dalai Lama, he is discussed as though he were on holiday in India. Since 1959. But any day, he might stop back to resume holding lectures and audiences. Imagine if the Pope had to leave the Vatican and could not return to Italy, but was stuck in France (a situation that did in fact occur in the past, and led to a brief period of 2 popes, one of whom was later termed the "false pope". It's actually a very interesting period in western history where religion and politics were intertwined)
As I type this, someone just "happened" to wander over to glance at my screen. I suppose there are some very strong filters in the internet cafes to watch for any subversive information being put on line. At one point on our tour, when someone asked the guide something about the Panchan Lama (sort of the "vice lama"), she stated "Please don't ask about anything political - it is not allowed to discuss". So I will save the story of the Panchan Lama for another time. But it is interesting, especially when we were in Nepal, where the King and the government, as well as the Maoists, are openly criticized by some the the Nepali people we met.
Here's another brief reminder of how things differ here: Symbols have very different meanings. Take a look at this picture:
Now, to Western eyes, this looks like a bizzare juxtaposition of Nazi and Jewish symbols. But the swastika originated in Tibet as a Buddhist symbol (or possibly pre-Buddhism in Tibet), migrated to Nepal and India. Indai was once invaded by Aryans, an ethnic group based in what is today Eastern Europe. Hitler stole the symbol and the name "Aryan". So it really has not connotations here that we in the West would have about it.
Overall, it's a strange place, with good and bad elements to it. Tomorrow we head back to Kathmandu, where I'll be able to see my own blog, as well as the end to the trip.
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