A trip to Tibet

Traveling all the way in Tibet, or many times, you will always meet all kinds of people. Especially when I am alone, I can't avoid dealing with people. Sometimes I meet people that I will never forget. Therefore, small close-ups of characters are occasionally inserted in travel notes)

The trip to Tibet lasted for 9 days and the scenery was beautiful. It is the hardest thing to forget the people passing by on the road, and it is also a fate.

Uncle who feeds the dog

The day after I arrived in Lhasa, I went to drepung monastery. The temple was built on a mountain, with a slope first, then steps, and then the first step, which extended to the mountain where the top of the mountain could not be seen. The two of us climbed up bit by bit. The weather is fine. It may have just rained. Although there is sunshine, it shines gently through the clouds, only feeling warm but not hot.

Although it was Saturday, not many people went there. Basically, the local people went to burn incense, and almost everyone had a bottle of ghee.

Halfway up the mountain, I was having a good rest when I saw a young uncle holding a long-handled umbrella in his right hand, carrying a plastic bag in his left hand, carrying a big bag on his back and tying it with a rope. There are many dogs on the mountain road. When I met them, I saw him gently put the things on his back on the ground, took out some bones and meat from the plastic bag and threw them to the dog. It turns out that plastic bags are filled with meat and bones.

After listening to him say hello to passing Tibetans and watching dogs eat bones for a while, we continued to walk up. He walked faster than us and then climbed up with us. We talked while walking, and saw him walk for a while, so we had to lean against the low fence by the stairs and put our big bags on the wall to have a rest. Although we walked fast, we had a lot of rest time and soon we caught up with him.

He is not tall, a little fat, with a round face and slightly dark skin. Seeing us climb up, he smiled first, which was very kind. We smiled back and chatted with him. According to him, whenever he is free on weekends, he usually takes a day off to buy 58kg of meat and bones, and feeds them in drepung monastery, because there are many dogs in the temples here.

He carried 58 kilograms of meat on his back, crawling all the way and walking around the temple, trying to feed all the dogs.

Talk to him while walking. I picked up the plastic bag that he put on the ground when he was resting. The bag contains a small amount of meat and bones. It was a very simple and natural action for me, but he thanked me again and again in strange Mandarin.

He is 62 years old and a native of Tibet. He can speak simple Mandarin, but he can't read Chinese characters. I have been to Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and many other places, but I have to take it with me every time, otherwise, in his original words, it is "illiterate, and I will lose it when I go out." Later, I heard him say that he worked in Potala Palace. I guess he works in Potala Palace. I think, maybe when I go to Potala Palace tomorrow, I can see an uncle who is working hard in a suit.

We walked to the Buddha-drying platform together, and he enthusiastically introduced us to the Buddha-drying platform and the Sutton Festival. Because we had to take pictures, he left first. Before we left, he kindly told us how to walk all the way, over the hill and into the temple.

Watching him walk slowly on the road with a big bag of 50 kilograms on his back, an idea quietly rose in his heart. Such people are compassionate and worthy of respect.

Well, it's not over yet.

The next day, the fanaticism of various tour groups swept us all the way into the Potala Palace. We visited the Red Palace first. Finally, before going out, two lamas sat in front of me, wearing dark red robes. One of them was chatting, and I looked around and thought it was the uncle who fed the dog. He stood in front of him and cried timidly.

He looked up at me happily. He held out his hand and shook my hand. His palms are generous and warm. He also introduced me to the monk next to me in Tibetan. The monk changed his expressionless face to many tourists and smiled at me. Before I could say anything more, I was wrapped in a huge crowd and said goodbye in a hurry. I only remember that he saw the warm smile on our faces again and talked about his faint smile when he insisted on feeding dogs in drepung monastery for decades. That kind of smile blooms slowly from the bottom of my heart, like the indifferent smile of Buddha.