We weren’t quite ready to leave Tibetan culture behind just yet, and had a plan to visit a town near Xining called Tongren. This town is home to a predominantly Tibetan population and is close to the border with the Tibetan Autonomous Zone, while still being accessible without special travel permits. We were particularly excited about this town as it is known for being the home of Buddhist Thangka art, a beautiful traditional style of Buddhist painting which we saw throughout Nepal and Tibet.

It seemed fate was on our side, and as we were having lunch in Xining we started chatting to a lovely man (via translation apps). He told us he was from Tongren and was heading there that evening. After some more discussion he offered us a ride with him, so we rushed back to our accommodation, packed in a hurry, and next minute we were on our way to Tongren with our newly made friend རྩྭཐངབུཆུང (who spoke no English). The drive was beautiful. It followed the yellow river up towards the Tibetan plateau, crisscrossing over huge bridges and passing straight through mountains via long tunnels. We were getting more of a sense of the infrastructural prowess of China. They don’t build roads like we do in New Zealand, instead they build their roads directly, and if there is a mountain in the way they tunnel through it. At times it felt like we were going from tunnel, to bridge, to highway on repeat!

We arrived in Tongren late that night and met his friend for dinner at an amazing yak noodle restaurant. The hospitality of the Tibetan people continued to amaze us, as our new Tibetan friends insisted they would pay for our delicious dinner while we chatted happily about Tibetan Buddhism over translation apps. We slept that night at his friend's place in the spare room. It was so special to be welcomed into someone's home so easily, and it didn’t feel weird at all, actually very comfortable. 

We said our goodbyes the next morning after we were given breakfast and a private tour around the local Tibetan monastery in town. A huge thanks to རྩྭཐངབུཆུང for your amazing kindness! Safe to say we were pretty amazed by the generosity and hospitality of the people we had already met in China. That evening at dinner we got chatting to a friendly Tibetan monk who told us it was his dream to speak English and visit another country one day. He was very stoic about the depressing reality that he likely wouldn’t be able to leave China in the future since the Chinese government makes it almost impossible for Tibetan people in China to obtain any passport. After exchanging WeChat contacts he insisted on paying for the meal and went on his way. Every time this happens we truly try our hardest to pay, but they are insistent, and culturally it would be considered rude to not accept their generosity. 

Another highlight of our time in Tongren was two walks of Kora around the monastery. One was an evening walk where we got a little lost, but led us up a path above the town to a panoramic view point over the whole valley. The second was a morning walk with so many locals, where we were constantly being told where to go in what order and felt so welcomed into the community. There is nothing like Kora around a special monastery to feel the spirit of the Tibetan community, and it has quickly become our very favourite tradition in the Tibetan Buddhism religion.

On our final day in Tongren we managed to catch our first local bus in China out towards a nearby monastery. We caught the wrong bus but it dropped us close enough, and with a 10 minute walk and a hitchhike down the road we made it to our destination, the incredible Wutun monastery on the outskirts of Tongren town. We walked inside one of the many Thangkha art studios in the area and immediately started chatting to a young monk called Jiayang who lives in the nearby Wutun monastery. Turns out the owner of the studio was his father, Master Tashi Dangzhou who had been painting Thangka art for over 30 years. Over some tea we had deep conversations about Tibetan Buddhism via translation apps and our new monk friend asked us if we wanted to see the monastery? 

So began our private tour of the monastery. Doors were unlocked and we were given access to all the beautiful stupas in this incredible monastery. One of the stupa rooms housed the official Guiness World Record certified largest statue of Avalokiteśvara, a bodhisattva (enlightened being) in Mahayana Buddhism revered for embodying compassion. It is hard to compare, but this monastery was just as beautiful as any that we saw on our Tibetan tour, largely due to the incredible selection of Thangka art covering the walls. After our tour, our friend invited us for lunch with his family that lived just outside the monastery. So we found ourselves in a traditional Tibetan family home eating the most amazing selection of meat, noodles, and vegetables. The lamb was so tender and delicious it’s making me hungry writing about it. His wonderful family were so kind, and his mum wouldn’t let us stop eating with the quote “Eat more now so you won’t need to have dinner later”, and of course we obliged! We ended up buying a small keepsake (a tiny Thangkha necklace painted by our monk friend's father) to remind us of this incredible day, and to say thank you to this lovely family welcoming us into their home, showing us their art, and giving us such an incredible tour of the monastery. Tongren was such a special way to close our Tibetan chapter and it really goes to show the kindness of the Tibetan people that we were looked after so splendidly.