paintings and more

I managed to do a couple of paintings so far. An advantage of painting is that you see things in much more detail that when taking a photo. Also, it allows interaction with local people as they come to watch what you are doing.

Here is one of chorten outside the village of Samar, on the third day of our trek:

And here is one of prayer wheels at the entrance to Lo Mantang:

As I sat down to draw the one in Lo Mantang, about half a dozen kids, ages from about 4 to 10, gathered around, and sat with me to watch as I drew. Soon, the littlest ones were literally hanging off of me. When I finished, one of the older boys, who spoke some English, asked if he could try. I tore a piece of paper from the pad and gave it to him with the pencil. I asked what he wanted to draw and he pointed to me. So, I sat patiently for about half an hour, with kids hanging off of me, while he drew. I could tell he was pretty focused on it, and I gave him pointers when I could, like not to make the top of the head too small. In the end it was not a bad drawing for a kid his age.

While I was sitting there, something interesting happened. There was a stretch of time when there happened to be no other tourists around, and my presence didn't seem to matter, and something seemed to shift. More people came outside and were joking with each other. A boy monk went by trying to ride a horse, and then the horses owner put his toddler on the saddle and let it around just for fun. It was a very light, fun atmosphere, and it seemed to me to be a rare and privileged glimpse into this aspect of village life.

Lo Mantang

Generally, Nepal is mostly Hindu, with the Buddhist areas being in the mountainous north. As we started the trek, there was still a mix of Hindu and Buddhist symbols on the inside of lodges, etc. However, as we headed north toward Lo Mantang, by the third day of the trek, the culture and symbols seen in the villages and lodges was definitely Tibetan Buddhist. By the fourth day, even the first language of people was Tibetan, although they also speak Nepali. So, instead of saying 'namaste' to say 'hello', we said 'tashi deleh'. The word 'Lo' in Lo Mantang refers to an ethnic group of Tibetan origin that occupies the northern part of Mustang.

We approached the walled town of Lo Mantang and walked around the outside of the wall towards our lodge. There are now several houses and lodges around the outside of the wall, a trend that is certain to continue. After settling in, I explored the walled town. Compared to the villages that we passed through, which had populations of at most a couple of hundred, Lo Mantang has a population of about 1000. The wall and buildings are of the same white-washed stone as the villages, and the alley-ways are very narrow. It was clear that the life inside was similar to that of villages though: I saw herds of goats and cows being herded through the alleys, and people bringing in harvest from the fields.

It is harvest time, and the fields were being cut and grain being separated, all being done manually. It was like a pastoral scene from a town from middle ages Europe.

The next day we were given a tour of Lo Mantang by the owner of the lodge, which was really great as he was so full of information. We started at a monastery which is very new, built and supported by the American Himalayan Society, and is the only active monastery with about 100 students. There is a small museum with ancient artifacts that were found in old monasteries or caves. Some of the paintings were almost 1000 years hold. To get to the museum we walked through a room of students writing exams:

Next we went to a very old monastery, built in about the 8th century. It was so old that the floor was lower than the ground of the surrounding town, but when it was built, it sat on a mound above the town. An interesting thing is that the wood columns and beams that supported the inside of the monastery we made from locally harvested wood. The barren hills around Lo Mantang were once forests of juniper. A classic case of deforestation. The population was once much larger. At some point hundreds of years ago, thousands of monks studied in the monasteries here. There are also ruins of fortifications in the surrounding hills.

Next we went to the roof of a monastery for a view of the town:

We had a break in the afternoon, and in the evening we went to the kings residence. In fact, we had tea with the king! He does this for tourists. He is 79 years old and is the 25th ruler in the line of kings of Lo Mantang. We went to the finest room (ie. it had a wood floor instead of a mud one) that was colourfully decorated. We lined up in front of the king each presented him with a white scarf that he put over our necks. We then sat at the side, drank tea, and were told to ask questions if we had any. I asked what he thought of the road being built from Jomsom to Lo Mantang. We walked on parts of this dirt road during the trek. It is in pieces now, used mainly by people of neighbouring villages, but in a couple of years it will be complete. He said the road was very much favoured by the people, but he feared the increase in congestion, pollution, and crime, and the loss of way of life that will result.

It's easy to see the dilemma. Certainly the road will provide better access to health care and education, etc, but that pastoral way of life I took pictures of will likely be gone in a few years.