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Sunday, April 17, 2011

A Journey to Dhapa Zong, East Tibet (Part 1)

It was recently that a Buddhist Organization offered a commision to me to head up to Dhapa Zong, East Tibet, Sichuan Province, China.

According to the commision brief, if I were to accept the commission, I will be the one and only designated photographer who will follow them through their 12days journey up to a mountain, 5000 metres above-sea-level specially for an officiation of a Buddhist meditation retreat centre.

Without giving a second or third thought, upon finalizing the conditions that I have to serve, I immediately took the offer without hesitation!

"A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a step" - Confucius. This digital map was made available in the flight.

Starting our journey from KL International Airport, we flew to Bangkok for a transit thereafter headed to KunMing, China.

Instead of putting Kah Peng's journey in text, follow through the images below to 'experience' Kah Peng's journey to Dhapa Zong, East Tibet.

The cultural village at KunMing. The structures are replicas of Buddhist Monastaries in Lhasa, Tibet.

While busy taking shots around the cultural village, I've also taken shots of myself for reference.

GANGES KHAN wannabe? You tell me.

From KunMing, we took the infamous 10 hours 'sleeper bus' to LiJiang Old Town.

China's infamous 'sleeper bus' - unless you are traveling really on a budgetted circumstances, you are not adviced to take the sleeper bus. The following photos will explain to you why YOU SHOULD NOT TRY the sleeper bus.

The very uncomfortable 'sleeper bus'. Check out how close You can get by turning to your left or right of the bed. If not careful, you may even fall to the ground.

 
The sleeper bus carries up to 18 - 20pax in a bus. The beds made to just fit a width of a person. The situation is just like being kept in a sardin tin, if not, a coffin (touch wood). The aisle leading to your bed is very narrow. You will tend to knock into everything while walking to the sleping birth that you are supposed to reast.

Not only subjected to uncomfortable thin mattress as well as unhygienic bedsheets and blankets, you are subjected to all sorts of smell including the smell from your neighbouring bed, inconsiderate people who smoke in the bus, people talking on the mobile phone or worst case senario, people farting! Oh Damn!

When we were at LiJiang, we made a special trip to a Tibetan Monastery which is more than 600years old. According to the Tibetan Khenpo (means 'Tibetan Teacher'), the local Buddhist community are trying to talk terms with the local government to provide enough monatery support without demolishing it. If the money doesn't come in, the monastery will be demolished by the government.

The interior of the 600-odd  old monastery is all handcrafted. Check out the details on the walls to the roof. To make a special note, in due respect of the temple, this will be the only interior shot that will be published on this blog.

 While Education is easily available in Malaysia, of which some Malaysians may not realised, education in the rural areas of Tibet are near to zero. Tibetans travel hundreds of miles or perhaps walk for at least 45minutes from home to head to 'school'. The term 'school' here refers to a volunteering teacher who teaches up to 30 students in a room that is treated as a classroom.

As it got dark, we left the monastery and started our journey up to Dhapa Zong, passing through Shangirila-La.

Stay Tuned for Part 2 of "A Journey to Dhapa Zong, East Tibet. 

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