Before breakfast we were still chuckling about the Olympic rings at Tsetang‘s stadium, then we set off for Samye Monastery. The drive there was an experience in itself: first over a beautiful mountain pass, then on a road through an impressive dune landscape all the way to Samye.
Tibet’s first monastery
In the afternoon we reached the beautiful monastery. According to tradition it was built around 775 as Tibet’s first monastery, and it was the highlight of the day. Samye was built under King Trisong Detsen; the Indian scholar Shantarakshita began construction in 763, and the first Tibetan monks were ordained here in 779. Destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, the monastery was rebuilt after 1988.
In the glass front in Tsetang a payphone, mountains and colourful seats reflected.At the stadium in Tsetang, the Olympic rings between two stone pillars.A stony slope, a mountain range behind, on the drive from Tsetang to Samye.On the pass to Samye, colourful prayer flags run out into the sky like a star.On the pass to Samye lie printed sheets and rolled texts, in black and white.Next to dry branches on the pass to Samye, a green bag full of grain.Under the prayer flags a man sits on the asphalt pass road to Samye.In a red jacket a man sits under the flags on the pass on the way to Samye.A sand fence in the foreground, dunes and snowy peaks behind, on the way to Samye.Behind the fences the dunes pile up, mountains still visible on the way to Samye.A sand ridge with fine ripples under open sky, dunes on the way to Samye.Fine sand ripples with a tiny dark dot in them, a dune before Samye.Pale dunes in front of the snow-covered mountain range on the way to Samye.In the ripples of a dune before Samye lie footprints and a dark patch.Nothing but light and shadow on the soft curve of a sand dune before Samye.A wide field of dunes under small clouds, mountains on the horizon on the way to Samye.An old tyre, full of sand inside, lies among the dunes on the way to Samye.Low dunes and bushes in front of snowy mountains on the drive to Samye.A sandy plain with yellow bushes in front of bare rocky mountains on the way to Samye.On the stone slabs at Samye Monastery, two dogs lie side by side.White façade, golden roof and a white hanging at Samye, the first monastery in Tibet.In the courtyard at Samye, visitors stand by the prayer wheels, the yellow gallery over them.On the wall at Samye a multi-armed figure, the halo made of coloured panels.A dark mural at Samye, several seated figures beneath a canopy.The paint is peeling: a seated figure with a halo on the wall at Samye.Two visitors stand in the dark doorway of a hall at Samye Monastery.Beneath the window at Samye Monastery, a person sits at a low table.A carved red wooden front and a patterned floor in the corridor of Samye Monastery.In the dark hall at Samye, long red benches run along both sides.Over the entrance at Samye hangs a large bell under the painted ceiling.In the dark corridor of Samye Monastery a gong hangs from the ceiling.A white wall and a wooden building corner under the roof edge at Samye.On the red and yellow wall at Samye, a white sign with Tibetan script.Monks in red robes in two rows at Samye, where the first monks were ordained in 779.Two long golden trumpets between the columns, monks behind them in the corridor at Samye.From behind, the monks in a crowded hall of Samye Monastery.At Samye Monastery a red stupa on a white base, visitors on the path in front.Beneath the row of colourful prayer wheels a dog lies on the floor at Samye.Under the red wooden rack at Samye Monastery a dog lies in the shade.White walls and the golden roof of Samye before brown mountains, rebuilt after 1988.In the dark room at Samye, prayer wheels stand on a shelf, a statue beside them.Two striped columns on plinths in front of a painted wall at Samye Monastery.By the white wall in the courtyard of Samye Monastery, a woman sits on the ground.A rusty sign at Samye, Tibetan script above it and a black arrow pointing right.A black pot on a dented white sheet of metal in the courtyard of Samye Monastery.
