This is a much different monastery than you might think. By just looking at Yungdrungling, it appears as a typical Buddhist Monastery. but it is not! It is a Bon Monastery. Bon is the original religion of the Tibetan people dating back thousands of years. In the past, the two religions were in a type of competition. However, recently, the Dali Lama recognizes the Bon as one of the official spiritual schools of Tibet.

A very important tradition and practice to take note. When visiting a Bon Monastery, always enter a temple or start a Kora in the counter-clockwise direction. It can be difficult to remember because if someone didn’t tell you, you would think you are in a Buddhist Monastery.

The Monastery suffered a great deal of damage during the cultural revolution. Evidence of that can still be seen. I prefer to hike to the Monastery, which is not that far from the Northern Friendship Highway.

Yungdrungling is situated between Lhasa and Shigatse. Again, this monastery can be visited as a day trip from Lhasa, but many people stop by as a side trip during the drive from Lhasa to Shigatse.

Visiting Samye Monastery is an all day event for the time being. With the various road checkpoints, additional permit to enter Shannon Provence and terrible road conditions in the direction of Lhasa, make this an over night trip. Most groups will first drive to Tsedang on the Friendship Highway. Samye happens to be on the other side of Yarlung Tsangpo River (Bramhaputra). Some maps map not show this road yet. Samye is closer to Lhasa than Tsedang but not by road. Because of the road conditions currently, it is best to sleep the night in Tsedang and travel to Samye the following morning. The road condition to Lhasa is bad and under serious construction. However the road has recently been paved for the trip from Tsedang to Samye.

The Monastery itself is small but beautiful. A very active monastery, they have their own food store and restaurants in a compound before the entrance. I’ve even seen monks in here buy supplies. Samye is different than most monasteries in Tibet. It is very spread out on a flat plain instead of being built on a mountain or the side of a mountain.  During my visit, I was fortunate to see monks practicing a dance for a festival that would be coming up.

I decided to change my plans for the day because I was so tired of all the driving and waiting and more driving. Looking at my map, I spotted a few small monasteries that seemed nearby Lhasa. I asked my guide about them and he said he had never been to them before. He asked around and said they were accessible and we can go. Great! Unfortunately it was cloudy and raining on and off. The monastery is east of Lhasa and this requires another permit.

After the appropriate permit was obtained, when continued on to Nalendra. It was a little long, poorly maintained dirt road. Nalendra sits on a hill above a small town. Once nearing the end, the road winds through obvious old stone ruins. It was very surreal with the low cloud and mist of rain. Finally we arrive, passing a large stupa under construction. A little further we park. We are directed to the main hall, which is small but beautiful. Inside are amazing statues of various Buddhas. I am permitted to take pictures by a monk that was present tending to the Yak butter candles. He would not specify an amount which is different from any other monastery I’ve visited. He said I could pay later.

After spending some time in the main hall we went to explore the ground but it was raining very hard. We made our way to the building where I was to pay. Inside was an older Monk. He invited me to sit and offered some butter tea as my guide asked questions about the monastery. At one point this monastery had about 2000 monks. All the reconstruction being done is paid for by pilgrim donations when they visit. The amount is small because it is not that easy to get here.

I handed my donation to the monk. After some more talking he invited us to have some lunch. I happily accepted. We were served what the monks eat every day. A bowl of Rice with golden raisins and dates mixed in. It was good but I could not imagine eating that every day. He asked me what is common food for Americans. I found myself having some difficulty answering his question. America is such a melting pot, I eat different ethnic food nearly every day. Embarrassingly, my answer ended up be “steak and potatoes.” He just nodded his head. He also gave me a receipt for my donation along with these special seeds that I’m suppose to take with my meals. Not sure about that. After about one hour talking I thanked my host. As I was leaving the monk stopped us and gave me a hata (white silk scarf), placing it around my neck, for a safe travel and a quick return. It was very moving. It was still raining and now thunder could be heard. I was able to take a few shots of the ruins before we left. It is sad to see the destruction that occurred during that time.

I will definitely be returning to see my new friend.