The Tibetan Picnic

The vast grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau were the home of nomadic people who, with their millions of yaks and sheep, formed the core of the Tibetan economy. Those who didn’t move about with their animals did so for trade, and movement pervaded all aspects of life. 

Cities were hubs for commerce and its inhabitants had the most leisure time of all. In summer, they sought out what they no longer had, life on the grassland, and recreated it as a source of enjoyment and relaxation. 

Sometime at the beginning of the 20th century, someone came up with the picnic tent concept, soon to become the norm, a canvas tent with a white base decorated with appliqued motifs. These could be outrageously bright and colorful or a more subdued black or navy on a white base. An older Tibetan remembers the summer picnics which took place yearly, at the time of the Zamling Chisang festival. Families packed their belongings, loaded them on carts and pitched their fancy tents, furnished with carpets, tables and cushions, even thangkas on the cloth walls, by the river. Picnic spots were carefully chosen and perfect ones had many attributes: cushy, abundant grass, a commanding view, protection from wind, and proximity to a river or stream. For two weeks, people socialized, sang and danced, cooked, ate and played games. A whole kitchen tent was set up to prepare elaborate food, families outdoing each other with fancy dishes and new culinary creations.  For children, it was paradise. They met all their friends, swam and explored, the adults too engrossed in their own activities to mind what they were doing. “The return to Lhasa, with the packing up of the tents marked the close of the school holiday. The end of the picnic was like leaving paradise to reenter the hell of my dark, boring school”, he reminisced. 

By the middle of the 20th century, picnics in Tibet were an institution that spread all over the Tibetan areas of the plateau. Picnics still last several days, and at festivals such as laptses, clan members gather to make offerings to the local deities, recreate a picnic like setting where families pitch their tents in a wide circle and enjoy themselves for several days, socializing and taking part in horse races. Monks also hold their own picnics that follow the end of the summer retreat. In Labrang, they pitch their tents on the Sankhe plain and enjoy themselves for ten days, cooking, eating and playing games.  Important lamas and scholars also made use of tents when traveling to nomadic areas to give teachings, setting up camps and attract thousands of pilgrims. 

Norden Camp, in its inspiration and set up, has borrowed from both the nomadic life style and the festive feel of the picnic, creating a  contemporary experience of the Tibetan picnic. The Luxury tent, offers a mix of comfort and feel of nomadic life, in a beautiful stop by the river, where one can be immersed in nature. The camp also prepares nature experience of the picnic with a day excursion. An hearty meal is prepared and a beautiful, isolated scenic spot chosen in advance. A makeshift hearth is built on which tea is prepared, and the afternoon spent of walks spotting marmots and admiring the wild flowers. 

TOMO x Norden founder Yidam

A few weeks ago the founding members of TOMO.video - an online directory of like minded conscious hotels - were asked to share a few insights about our own experiences in the hospitality industry. A moment to share the reality of our hotels, the process it took to bring them to life and the importance of our values to make them special. 

Below are snippets of our founder - Yidam Kyap’s answers. Please visit TOMO.video to read the rest of his answers and get inspired by beautiful locations around the world that care about our environment, society and experience. 

What motivated you to become a hotelier?

As a young adult I had the good fortune to travel to many parts of South East Asia. As many people opened their worlds to me and shared their culture, I was reminded of all that I too had that I could share with people from different corners of the world. I thought of the excitement I used to feel as a child when visiting other people’s homes but also when welcoming others to our house. I realized that this was what I wanted to do with my life; welcome people into a little space that I could call my own and share with them my land and my culture. 

What was your greatest extravagance in creating your hotel?

The greatest extravagance, I believe might be the location and the concept of Norden in itself. When we first tried to explain Norden’s vision to family and friends, people were skeptical as to who would come to stay in such a remote location. The idea of creating comfort and luxury in the wilderness was seen as an extravagance, a whimsical idea that could not possibly be financially sustainable.

Where do you feel happiest on your property?

I love the camp as whole, made up of creeks and rivers, dwarf trees and myriads of flowers. I would say that the happiest I feel is more at certain times of the day rather than a specific location. The dawn with the first light of the day, the rustle of the birds and the fresh morning dew, is by far my happiest time of the day. 

What do you consider your team’s greatest achievement?

My team is made up primarily of local nomads who came to us with no prior experience in hospitality. I feel our greatest achievement as a team is the genuine way in which we are able to welcome our guests and make them feel safe and at home. This innate ability transcends language barriers allowing visitors to experience a direct and unique connection to the land and the local community. 

What is your dream journey?

My dream journey is taking a few months off to show my daughters the Tibetan Plateau; the mountains, the valleys, the rivers and the grasslands. I want them to connect with the land that they are from and learn to love and appreciate it as much as I do.

Travel Gear

Images of isolated Tibet, the land of hidden valley locked in time have always dominated  impressions of the place. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tibet was a crossroad for trade linking China to the East, Central Asia to the West and India to the south. Except for the more isolated nomads, every household of any importance supplemented their income with trade and dedicated at least one family member to the task to bringing wool to India, collecting tea bricks from China, exchanging horses for brocade, tsampa for butter, cloth and carpets for sheepskins. Travel was a part of life, and people could be on the move for months, part of caravans that crisscrossed the Plateau on a wide range of routes. 

Tibetans were naturally adapted to this life of travel. Their crossed shirt is believed to have its origins in horse riding, where it proves more protective. The chuba can come on and off in parts, convenient for the Plateau weather that can turn from hot to cold in minutes, or the contrary. The horseman could easily liberate one arm, then his torso, wrap the chuba sleeves in a voluminous bunch around his waist and enjoy the sun, then pull it back on in minutes when it disappeared behind a cloud.

Every traveler had his gear, which was so deeply ingrained in the culture that remnants of it could be found even in city dwellers and the costume of officials, who had a small knife and chopsticks (in a case) hanging from their belts. People carried their own bowls, which were mostly, especially in the case of monks, made of the gnarled wood of trunks and knots of birth or tung trees, mostly found in the Mon region, now a part of India. Officials and laymen could carry precious porcelain bowls from China, and had special cases made from wool twisted over a wire frame, to protect them. Bowls were tucked into the ambam, the fold to the chuba, ready to be taken out for ceremonial tea or a break in a journey. 

The main edibles for life on the move were the Tibetan basics of tsampa, dried cheese, dried meat and butter. Except for butter that travelled in a wooden box, the other staples had little drawstring bags made of wool or skin, and would all be placed in a saddle bag for easy access. A full meal thus only required hot water, provided by a fire built on the road, lit with the flint stones that every man wore hanging from his belt. Since riding happened for hours at a time, most travelers also wore a necklace of hard cheese, which they chewed as they went along, to calm hunger until the next stop. 

Tibet is the land of travel and travelers. 

Saga Dawa

It is an extraordinary experience to be in Labrang Tashikyil on the holiest day of the Buddhist calendar, the 15th day of the 4th month on the Lunar year (26th of May).

Sagadawa celebrates the Buddha’s birthday, and the whole month is dedicated to accumulating virtue, as Buddhists believe that any merit accumulated during that time is multiplied manifold, a spiritual investment towards the next life, for a better rebirth. 

In Labrang, pilgrims and beggars alike congregate throughout the holy month, but especially on the fifteenth.  The 3km circumambulatory road will be filled with devotees young and old, holding their prayer wheels, reciting mantras, or doing prostrations, while the beggars and the destitute will be seated along the path, awaiting their alms.

The monastery’s temples will be filled with monks making offerings at the demand of patrons, who will have waited years for an offering ritual during such an auspicious month. A pilgrimage to Labrang on Sagadawa is something to be accomplished at least once in a lifetime, and the will be teeming with pilgrims from all over the Tibetan Plateau. 

Debate Period

Labrang Monastery comprises six colleges, the largest one being Majung Thosamling. Dedicated to the study of Buddhist philosophy and dialectics, its teachers use debate as an central learning tool. 

The curriculums established by the great scholars of the Gelukpa tradition require that a student memorize the root of a text, then listen to its explanation from their teacher. Debate, the principles of which are taught in the first year, is the gymnastic that brings the concepts to life and helps students gain mastery of a philosophical concept through questioning each other on various topics.

Excelling in debate is a source of great fame for young monks, marking their pedigree as scholars, and demonstrates their understanding of the philosophical concepts they were taught. Debate sessions, which take place daily during certain periods throughout the year, take place in a dedicated courtyard, with flagged stones and shady trees.  

For a skilled debater, these sessions are the most exciting time of the day, and can become very animated. Inter college debates, which occur at certain times of the year, give a scholar the opportunity to engage with those from other monasteries and yearly examinations, where a monk has to defend his stand or question a peer, attract large audiences of illustrious teachers. Great scholars thus gain their fame not simply in their own monastery but in others as well. 

The Four Friends

The mural below is from Labrang Tashikyil Monastery and it illustrates the story of the Four Friends, a symbol of harmony. The ancient times, before the coming of the Buddha, an elephant, a monkey, a hare and a grouse lived in the jungles of the Kingdom of Kashinagar, which is in present day Varanasi, in India. 

They lived in harmony, enjoying each other’s company. They decided that the source of happiness lay in respect for others, and wishing to share this revelation with the world, set out to spread the word.  

Gradually, they developed the practice of the Five Precepts: Abandoning the taking of life, of taking what doesn’t belong to one, of licentiousness, of taking intoxicants and of pointless chatter. This practice brought them a clear mind and inner joy. It also brought harmony to their environment, first the jungle then the kingdom, bringing timely rain and bountiful harvests. The King, reflecting on these fortunate events, called on a sage to find out the cause. The sage told him it was thanks to the wisdom of four animals who lived deep in the jungle. The King asked the sage to bring the animals to him, but he refused, saying all the king needed to do was to practice the five precepts himself. The King followed his advice and the whole kingdom prospered. Kashinagar became an example for neighboring kingdoms and all experienced happiness and peace. 

The saying goes that these animals were no ordinary beings, but ones of great merit and advanced spiritual development. Later, when the Buddha came to the world, he preached that the Five Precepts were the basis for all spiritual development and that their practice led to great wisdom, eventual release from samsara and, ultimately, enlightenment.

Winter Homes

With the coming of spring, nomads will soon leave their winter houses and resume movement. Nomads’ lives revolve around those of their animals, and the cycles of nature that they depend on. Winter is marked by nature shutting down and the transhumance of men and beast coming to a close, except for high altitude grazing conducted by the young and fit, who lead yaks to graze certain highly nourishing grasses.

The major portion of the herds, and all the sheep remain in one designated area feeding on the leftovers from the pasture supplemented by oats harvested for that purpose. Still, it is a lean time that carries over into the spring and that most animals survive thanks to abundant summer and fall grazing. 

Winter dictates a different lifestyle, and thus, the winter house. Until the last few decades, nomads set up winter camps, with a designated spot a family would return to each year, a site that offered natural protection and easier access to supplies.

The concept of a house remained alien to nomads until recently, and in Central and Western Tibet, more prosperous families would build small dry stone structures to protect their assets and surplus food and continue to live in their characteristic black yak hair tents.

Nomads in the areas around Norden Camp began building houses on their winter plots, and since house building was a new concept, they were plain, with the sole purpose of putting a roof over their heads. Built of single bricks with a tin roof, they may have  one or two rooms, a walled yard for animals and a spot to park their car. Some families evolved into more spacious lodgings with wooden floors, a supply room and a glassed in veranda to catch the sun.

Each summer, they are emptied out and nomad families can be seen with their possessions loaded on a Blue Camel, the 3 wheeled pickup that take them back with their animals to higher summer pastures where they resume their more migratory patterns. 

Dairy Treasures

Tibet is the land of yaks, about 13 million of them spread across the plateau, most in the northern plains of the Chang Thang, and the great grasslands of Amdo. Pastoralism is the way of life, and the milk of yaks is one the principle staples. The female yak, or dri, gives birth once a year, in the spring. She is able to feed her calf and provide about a litre and a half of milk per day, in two milkings. This is a minimal amount compared to a cow’s yield, yet it is sufficient to provide a family will all their needs and be a base of exchange with other necessities, such as barley flour, basic staples and items of daily life such as cooking utensils and clothing.

It has been found that yak milk has exceptional properties, high in (good) fat, but low in lactose, and is digestible to young children and babies, due to the ecosystem that the free ranging animals roam in. Products from the dri are many, and form the core of the Tibetan staple, butter being on top of the list as the ultimate comfort food, used to enhance much of what Tibetans eat or drink. It finds itself in tea, either churned into it or plopped into a cup of black tea, mixed into tsampa, or simply spread on top of bread. Stored in wooden boxes or yak stomachs, it also makes a deeply appreciated gift, even if the common form of packaging causes it to become rancid. Fresh butter is a delight, which can only be consumed in summer, and is highly appreciated.

After butter comes yogurt, which is thick and delicious. It is known for its capacity to cause drowsiness (according to Tibetan drivers who will not drive following a bowl of yogurt) or enhance sleep, making it a perfect dish to finish off the day, especially for children. Yogurt is considered auspicious and a host will present a bowl of yogurt at the end of a meal, an offering that cannot be refused. Imagery of yogurt is everywhere, with yogurt like clouds and yogurt offerings to the gods, borne by jeweled goddesses in flowing scarves. When a monk scholar passed his Geshe degree, which marked the end of his formal studies in Buddhist philosophy, an offering of yogurt would be made to the assembly of monks, brought in by running monks, its quality marked by its ability to remain in the bowl, as solid yogurt is considered the best and the richest.

Milk is the object of endless analogy, rich with auspicious connotations; spilling milk or crossing paths with a woman carrying a bucket of fresh milk are signs of good things coming and its presence marks many events. A bride walks into her new home carrying a bucket of milk tied to her back, and heavenly abodes have rivers flowing in milk.

At Norden, we collect fresh dri milk to turn into yogurt or add to tea. We offer butter from the nearby Lungta cooperative, and cheese from the Norchur cheese factory. Due to the exceptional qualities of yak milk, these unique products pass on their merits down the ecological chain, from plant to animal, then to us. Let us use it well!

Nomads on the Move

There is evidence that the Tibetan Plateau has been the site of human activity for hundreds of thousands of years, beginning with groups of hunter-gatherers who followed herds of wild yaks and hunted them for sustenance. Gradually, they domesticated the yak and led the herds across the Plateau in patterns of seasonal migration.

Though the pasture may seem vast and empty, and today’s nomads are often perceived roaming freely, they have spent centuries carefully managing their resources, a complex and highly regulated lifestyle. For a nomad, satisfying the needs of their animals while preserving pasture for future use is a delicate balancing act. Each area, with its designated inhabitants, has a defined territory that the nomads manage in common. This takes a high level of coordination, with limits on grazing for areas in certain seasons to ensure sufficient grazing to satisfy everyone’s needs.

Nomads move pasture three to four times in a year. The number of animals grazing and the quality of the grass determines the length of their stay, and when they judge and the area has been sufficiently grazed, they pack up their tents and possessions and prepare the move. They used to load yaks but lately have mostly switched to three-wheelers called Blue Camels.

The same families move together, and the sites are pre-assigned by agreement. There are spring pastures, summer pastures, late summer, and fall pastures, depending on the area. They choose a sheltered area to establish camp, one close to a river or stream and build a mud-brick stove at the center of the tent. The families from one group erect their tents in proximity to one another and the chores are shared between the different family members.

Written by: Kim Yeshi

The Spirit of Norden

The Origin

The Tibetan Plateau has been the site of human activity for hundreds of thousands of years, beginning with groups of hunter-gatherers who followed herds of wild yaks and hunted them for sustenance. With time, they domesticated the yak and led the herds across the Plateau in patterns of seasonal migration in search for pasture. 

Though the pasture may seem vast and empty, and today’s nomads are often perceived roaming freely, they have spent centuries carefully planning their movement and managing their resources. Having a complex and highly regulated lifestyle means that there is no time or space for nomads to authentically reflect and respond to the modern day disruptions that are now impacting life on the Plateau; From globalization, to climate change and the rise of urban living. 

Arrival of Transformation

Norden evolved out of the need of creating space where nomadic traditions are respected and cultivated while change brought by the passage of time is embraced. While nomads move with the changes in Season, Norden stays put, adapting to the time and place by becoming a platform to facilitate change and innovation, translating nomadic traditions and weaving them within the modern context. 

Summer

Fall

Winter

Spring

Norden and an Embrace of Impermanence

Norden is built from respect both for the plateau and our community. All structures are built above ground and the camp could be folded up in a matter of days, leaving the pasture intact, as a nomad camp would. Norden is a mirror for an inclusive and conscious change; we adapt to today’s reality and provide paths for the nomadic community around us to take advantage of the what change has brought them. 

Staying in one place has given us the power to observe what we have, how to appreciate it and transform it so that it serves us and our community: From experimenting with nomad’s basic staples for our menus at Norden, to creating unique spaces where the grounding nature of the Plateau can be observed in comfort, and redefining our use and appreciation for the simplicity of furniture and implements made for a life on the move. 

Norden provides employment for local youths, the future voice for the community, and offers a window for them to see into how other people appreciate what they may have taken for granted all their lives. In 2016, Yidam Kyap, our founder, helped a group of 20 families set up the Lungta Cooperative with their 200 yaks.

From using local material and traditional building techniques to their mission, Lungta is a transition and a space for exploring the potentials of nomadic way of living on the plateau today. While Lungta produces dairy products for the local market, visitors can also experience immersion in a nomad environment by visiting or staying at their cooperative. They also provide milk for Yidam’s nearby cheese factory, which transforms the milk into high quality cheese based on French know how.

The Future For Tibetan Nomads

The current issue faced by local nomads with modernization is in essence a concept of impermanence. That all things change - and to thrive we need to transform, revitalize and adapt. And at Norden we are exploring with our community the possibilities of how we can transform the nomadic way of life as a means to serve our community in a better way. Respect of tradition, and the openness that allows transformation through innovation is the basis for moving forward.

Norlha's Home Collection

Nomads are a people of essentials. Their focus is on their herds, taking their animals to new pastures and managing a highly complex process that demands the herder’s constant awareness and synchronization with his beasts and the environment they share. Tibetan nomads come from a complex culture, rich in arts and literature, but because they move, they have simplified their life, retaining only what is essential to their needs. We have much to learn from this combination of complexity and simplicity.

At Norden, we have extracted the essentials of this lifestyle, in a way that it can be shared with those coming from outside its sphere. At Norlha, we have combined the materials the nomads use in their everyday life with their transformation through spinning, weaving and felting, creating new livelihoods as well as an awareness of the beauty precious materials and highly skilled hands can bring about.

Morning at Lungta Cooperative

The Lungta Coop brings together 19 nomad families from Tsayig, an area over the hill from Sangkhok. Most people in the area lived from a mixed economy, a combination of farming and yak and sheep herding. Lately, they found the area could not support large numbers of yaks, and under the guidance of Yidam’s older brother, they formed a cooperative they called Lungta, and pooling their resources, leased pasture in Sangkhok, moving there with 140 yaks.

Twenty years ago, the Sangkhok grassland, along with many other areas, was divided up between the local nomads each parcel fenced off. Over time, some nomads chose to sell their animals and lease their land, as in the case of the pasture acquired by the Lungta Cooperative.

Lungta has 140 yaks, that are milked daily. The milk is made into butter and yogurt which is sold locally and highly popular and appreciated for its purity. Next year, Lungta will be establishing a cheese factory, modeled on the small enterprises that exist in remote areas in the French and Swiss Alps, and produce hard and semi hard cheese. A French expert has already visited the area in the Spring and the building is planned for construction early next year.

Milking the dris takes place twice a day, early in the morning and in the late afternoon, when the animals return from the wide grazing areas that extend all around the Cooperative. I visited on an early foggy morning. The dris were tethered, waiting patiently for their turn, while the yeko, the babies born in the Spring hovered around their mothers, or played in groups. Up on the hill, the horses were let out of their corral, while the mastiff barked at the intruders. We had milk tea in the large yak hair tent, which was warm and cozy.

Horse Journey on the Grassland

There is nothing like the thrill, often romantically exploited in films, of galloping through the grassland, preferably at the peak of summer, when the wild flowers lend it their color; yellow, blue or spots of pink, purple or red. Traveling on horse was the best and was, until recently, the only way. In some areas of the pasture, covered in green bumps, it still is, as only a horse can pick its way through a terrain that is even difficult even to walk on.

With the advent of cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles, we have lost the sense of crossing a road less area guided only by the sun, starting at dawn and riding until afternoon, only dreaming of these journeys from the tales told by the older generation; three months trip from Amdo or Kham to Lhasa where they describe the changing scenery, rising up to tall passes that command breathtaking views to descend into narrow valleys, through towns villages and nomad camps where they could buy provisions and expect local hospitality.

Those days are gone, but one can still get a taste riding from one place to another on horse, watch the sky change, the grassland go from yellow to green, hear the marmots screech at each other from one hill to the next with the eagles circling overhead.

Kangtsa Monastery

Kangtsa is a small monastery about an hour from Tso, situated on the border with Zorge and Kakya. Coming from the surrounding grassland, it offers a stark contrast with its narrow valleys and juniper forests. Kangtsa is older than Labrang Tashikyil, and was founded in the late 1600’s by the 4th Panchen Lama Lobsang Chogyigyaltsen’s disciple, Ngomar Ritropa.

After the establishment of Labrang Tashikyil, Kangtsa became integrated as a branch of its Medical College, giving its monks the privilege to pursue their studies in Labrang.

Today, Kangtsa has about 80 monks. The road to access it was only built less than ten years ago, and before that, it was quite isolated. Kangtsa has always functioned as a Medical College and recently, the monks have built a larger dispensary for outpatients to serve the region.

The Medical College at Labrang TashiKyil Monastery

Labrang Tashikhyil was founded in 1709 by the First Jamyang Shepa, Jamyang Shepei Dorje, under the sponsorship of a Qoshot Mongol prince. Many incarnation lines have their seats at Labrang Monastery including the Jamyang Shepa, Amdo Zhamar and Gunthang incarnation lines. Labrang has six colleges, the largest of which is the debate college, Mejung Tosam Ling, which was established by the First Jamyang Shepa when he built the monastery. The Tantric Colleges, Lower and Upper, were established by the First Jamyang Shepa in 1719, and the Upper, in 1943 by the Fifth. The Kalachakra College and Medical Colleges were established in 1763 and 1784 by the Second Jamyang Shepa. The Fourth Jamyang Shepa established Hevajra College in 1879.

Tibetan Medicine has its roots in India, introduced on the Plateau along with Buddhist Indian culture in the 11th and 12th centuries. Tibet absorbed early Indian Abhidharma literature as well as wide range of Indian Vajrayana tantras, containing practices based on medical anatomy, all of which formed the base of the Tibetan medical treatises.

The Medical College in Labrang is the largest in the area, and has a very active clinic and pharmacy. Most medicines made there are based on the wealth of local medicinal plants that cover the summer pasture, and in summer, we often see monks gathering plants in Ritoma, whose Monastery falls under Labrang’s monastic jurisdiction.

Building Log Cabins

Norden began by housing its guests in yak hair, and after a year of just those, Yidam decided to explore further and create an interior that would offer more shelter and could be used longer into the season. He looked at another traditional dwelling, used in the forest areas of Kham and Kongpo; the log cabin.

The only examples of log cabins he found made for quite simple living, but he took it as a base, and with a local builder, nicknamed ‘Apple’ for his red cheeks, went on to design the contemporary Tibetan log cabin, complete with a deck and a small attached dry toilet.

Apple had never built a log cabin, but putting to work his skill as a wood builder, he soon came up with a solution that was attractive, saved on the wood, pine farmed in Manchuria and available locally, and was properly insulated. The result is a mix of East and West, with large windows and in some cases, skylights, where one wakes up to the birds, who noisily hop on the roof and build their nests under the eaves. The cabin is elevated on tires to keep it dry, with enough space for sheep to snuggle under, though this only happens off season when the animals are back in the ‘lowlands’ (3200 meters)

Black Pottery

When looking to bring more charm to our Norden Camp dishware, we thought of Tibetan Black Pottery, which had undergone a revival in Gyethang, now commonly known as Shangri La. It was Spring and the guests were not due for another month, so we decided to drive down there, 1,500 km directly south of Labrang. It took three days and was a memorable trip, though I wish we had spent more time on the road, there was so much to see.

When we reached Gyethang, we saw black pottery everywhere, not always the most practical forms for dishware and visited a kiln, where we saw it being made. Clay has always played an important role in Tibetan craft. It is used for statues, mixed with high fiber content Tibetan paper, and sun dried. Tea pots and earth ware requore more firmness and impermeability, so the pieces are fired in a kiln after completion. Each area had its particulars in terms of clay, and as in many places in China, Japan and around the world, some have very special qualities and are keenly sought after. In Gyethang, the clay naturally turns black after firing. Most of the pieces we saw were rather crude, but some small wall decorations bearing the Eight Auspicious Symbols were very fine, and took more time and the hand of a talented artisan to make.

Had we had time, I would have loved to work with the clay artists and make clayware that better lend itself to everyday use, but we didn’t, so Dechen, Yidam and I loaded the car with ready-made pieces; bowls, small flower vases, braseros, and hot pot ware.

Nomad Black Tents

Nomads lived in large yak hair tents moving camp 3 to 4 times in a grazing season, following their animals to new pastures. A generation or two ago, families were much larger and everyone participated in the daily chores; women milked the dris and processed the milk, making butter, dried cheese and yogurt and made the dung ready for use as combustible. Children from the age of six took sheep to graze, and men lead the yaks to higher pasture and brought them home every night. In the evenings, everyone gathered around the fire and a meal of thukpa, and the elders told stories.

Now families are smaller and scattered, children at school, old people nearer to the monastery and the children, leaving the young couples to tend the animals. The tents are more reduced in size and lighter, and most often made of canvas.

Lungta is a cooperative comprising about ten families and their common animals, 140 yaks. They have set up a yak hair tent as they were in the times of large families, with a large mud stove in the middle, bringing back typical nomadic implements, bags containing supplies lined up on the inside, yak hair ropes and cheese drying cloths woven from yak hair and sheep wool. It is a beautiful and inviting space for all to get a glimpse of a lifestyle on the wane.

The Lungta Cooperative

A week ago, my son in law Yidam told me he had something new to show me. We drove a few kilometers from the camp, then branched out on a narrow, steep track to the top of a hill. There, scattered on green hills, was a whole new world, introduced to me as the Lungta Cooperative.

Founded by a group of farmer/herders from Tsayig, Lungta is a groundbreaking enterprise. Begun this year, when a number of Yidam’s cousins requested his help in transforming their livelihood, it is meant to accommodate their skills into the changing world and the opportunities it may offer.

Spread over 100 hectares of rolling hills, the cooperative comprises 140 yaks, six mud colored cabins, a yak hair nomad tent and other tents and is manned by twelve nomad men an women. They built a cheese cellar modeled on the ones Yidam saw in the French alps some years ago and are beginning steps to bring a cheese maker from France or Switzerland in view of making a quality yak cheese as well as packaged butter for the local market.

Another of the cooperative’s projects is to organize stays for city teenagers and young adults and give them a feel for country life in Tibet. The Lungta Coop members worked all summer to build the cabins and cheese cellar themselves. They are proud of their enterprise and look to a new future. One of their first customers will be Norden camp, where their products will be sampled at the highest level.