Thursday, June 13, 2024

Tarke Gyang: Monasteries and Gompas:

 begin partial quote from: 

https://www.natureloverstrek.com/blog/all-you-need-to-know-about-tarke-gyang-in-langtang-region.htm

Monasteries and Gompas:

Tarke Gyang is home to several Buddhist monasteries and Gompas including Ama Yangri at hilltop, which hold significant religious and cultural importance. The monasteries serve as centers for religious study, meditation, and communal gatherings. The architecture of these monasteries is striking, with vibrant colors, intricate woodwork, and prayer flags fluttering in the wind. Visitors can explore the monasteries, observe Buddhist rituals, and even participate in meditation sessions if available. 

end partial quote.

When I was there with my family in 1986 likely in February or March of that year I had no idea of what was there beyond the Family house of our guide's Aunt and her baby son then. So, though I went to the cave that I meditated in likely in the late 1800s while there in another lifetime I didn't really understand much about Tarke Gyang at all beyond what our guide and his Aunt that we stayed with showed us then. My then wife and I were both 37 years old then and very physically fit to carry 50 pound or heavier backpacks most of the 50 miles we trekked. Our children were 10 to 14 years old. There were no roads at all because monsoon season would wash them all away each year because of the steepness of mountains there then. So, instead there were suspension bridges for walking across for people between these mountains and gorges so they wouldn't wash away during monsoon season which I believe is in the summer. We were earlier than that being likely in late February or early March so instead of a monsoon arriving we were snowed on at the 8500 foot (approximately) elevation of Tarke Gyang. 

But, walking across a suspension bridge in a heavy wind you were taking your life in your hands (especially if you were a Sherpa porter carrying aluminum roofing sheets for houses and other buildings on foot. (There were no roads at all) only trails and suspension bridges then for the entire 50 mile trek we took then in 1986. And there definitely were no phones anywhere either of any kind. So, in an emergency westerners often died there. So, it was a risk we were willing to take at the time. But I likely wouldn't do it again because of what I have learned since about how many people from the U.S. and Europe and other places that died there from things like a broken toe or foot and died of exposure because they couldn't get out at all and died. Photos of these deaths were on the wall where we got our trekking permits from the local government then in 1986 by the way to discourage westerners and other foreigners not to do anything stupid and die out there.

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