If you ever visit a place on this small mountain range called the “Tibetan plateau,” one of the first things you’ll encounter is an abundance of cultural expressions. Colorful fabrics, Buddhist symbols carved in stones and paintings are on display everywhere. No need for reservation. You can see them all right from the road through […]
Travel
Dear Cousins, Can You Please Save Me?
July turned to August. My departure for the West was fast approaching. And my cousins had yet to practice a long-lived tradition in that neck of woods – Rebgong. A Tibetan custom, you are invited to a scrumptious meal, if you’ve returned from a journey, worked or studied a distance away, completed a long period […]
One Last Savory Bite
As an expatriate, the journey afar from North America back to my motherland, the Tibetan plateau, has always been very special. Just the thought of a trip home uplifts memories of my upbringing in the majestic land where I feel most connected. Spending two months with my loved ones, visiting historic spots, as well as […]
Glimpse of Tibet’s Moon
A tall, historic figure, and golden charm once electrified every corner of the Tibetan plateau, he was Tibet’s “Moon”– the 10th Panchan Lama (པཎ་ཆེན་རེན་པོ་ཆེ།, Pictures of him seen here). Tibetans refer to the Dalai Lama and Panchan Lama as the “Sun” and the “Moon”. They are ranked the highest and second highest in Tibetan Buddhism, […]
Xining (ཟི་ལིང) Part II: Street Food Market
Continuing the topic of street goodies in Xining (ཟི་ལིང, Silung in Tibetan), the capital of Qinghai Province (ཨ༌མདོ, Amdo in Tibetan), the multitude of food markets along the streets are equally rich and interesting (learn more here at Xining (ཟི་ལིང) Part I: Street Food). One would only need to take a two-minute walk to […]
Xining (ཟི་ལིང) Part I: Street Food
Xining (ཟི་ལིང, Silung in Tibetan), the city I called home for five years before I left for England, is the capital of Qinghai Province on the Tibetan plateau (see photos of Xining here). The province governs eight prefecture-level divisions – two prefecture-level cities, one Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and five Tibetan autonomous prefectures. One of […]
Traveling Back to My Nomadic Roots–Tsekog
I’ve finally realized the long-awaited journey to my nomadic family in Tsekog, Zekog or rtse khog (རྩེ་ཁོག Zeku). Rongwo Rongbo (རོང་བོ, Longwu), the Reb gong the Golden Valley, was where we started the trip. Rongwo, the seat of Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Tongren County, is an ancient town, the heart of renowned Rebgong […]