06 Jul 11: Xia hé, China

The Labrang Monastery is still there, a living monastery in spite of the Cultural Revolution and difficult ties with Lhassa. It is a huge university of Buddhist philosophy and medicine for hundreds of monks. We had a tour of the monastery with a monk guide speaking perfect English. I am amazed by the flexibility of the philosophy and their capacity of adaptation to local context and conditions. I wish all the religions could have the same approach. I don’t think I could live their life and devotion, but I can certainly find very acceptable their philosophy and attitude towards life.

We had lunch with 3 French student girls Camille, Pauline and Alice who are travelling the same route as we did in the other direction. They wished to exchange some travel tips with us