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SHIGATSE Day 3/48 Sep 2006
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Dinner in Gyantse, cooked by a pyromaniac, Food tasted of kerosine, I...
Same cook calling fire worshipers into his restaurant
Tashilhunpo Monastery
SHIGATSE
Shigatse, only 3900m high, is quite a nice town with an interesting market, carpet factory, and yes a monastery. Actually Tashilhunpo Monastery (1447) is quite lovely. Again it once housed 4000 monks but know only about 700 remain. The monastery houses a 27m high Buddha, very impressive, also the tomb of the forth Panchen Lama containing 85kg of gold and numerous jewels. Fatima was imagining the rings and earrings she could create out of all that finery. There is also a ruined fortress that at one time must have been very impressive, but now in need of a little TLC.
We did buy a carpet here from the carpet factory that employs all local workers and uses local raw materials. Mostly women are employed here, supposedly they are fairly paid and treated well. It was an interesting tour, watching the women working away at the looms, they were friendly and eager to show off their skills, if a little camera shy. Some worked alone on smaller carpets. On the larger carpets with more intricate patterns three or four women worked as a team, singing songs as they laboured. We were able to choose the colours and pattern we liked and they scaled it down to fit the size of carpet we wanted (or could afford). I'm not sure whether or not we got good value but it was nice to actually buy something that you can see being made by living, breathing, real people. One felt somehow connected to the product, made it feel like a more personal and intimate. The factory also took care of the shipping, for a price of course.
