Picture of Afternoon tea for Tashilhunpo monks (Shigatse, China)

Monks of Tashilhunpo monastery gathering for an afternoon tea

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The main sight of Shigatse, the monastery of Tashilhunpo is like a separate village lying agains the hills, with much more to see than temples and monks quarters.
But this does not prevent the visitor from enjoying the chapels of the monastery and the many monks living in it. Probably the most remarkable scene I saw was in the central courtyard. When approaching from outside, I noticed monks rushing in, and perhaps hundreds of red shoes everywhere on the floor. Down in the courtyard, monks carrying huge metal jugs, emptying them in flasks lined up at the end of the stairs. When all flasks were full, they were carried up, and I followed them. Monks gathered to drink milky tea or cha ngamo. Afterwards, they collectively started studying religious scriptures. While watching the monks inside, some of the monks near the entrance gestured me to sit with them. It was good to be a little bit more part of the scene, to see the long-shaped religious books the monks were using, to see how they could behave like naughty schoolboys, giggling when their master did not look. Quite soon after that, the leading monk came by and when he spotted me, grew quite agitated and ushered me out again. The sun was going down, and visitors were leaving: it was time to leave the monopoly of the monastery back to the monks. Soft sunlight was setting over the white buildings as I left, just in time to walk the kora around Tashilhunpo monastery.
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