"ex-tibet” (on the way to Yubeng Shenpu - Sacred Waterfalls, 3650M, Yunnan Province, China) 2006

A series of photography can be a sketch for an idea for another project that culminates itself into some other medium. The way I think of a photo-documentation of ex-tibet, a part of China now termed as Tibet Autonomous Region, once was Tibet, now populated by Tibetans in ever-changing landscape of China is a definitely sketch for an unknown sculpture, installation, or video project in mind.

I have been interested in Tibet, once a country that used Buddhism as doctrine of its political policy, in other words, peace as a fundamental belief. I wanted to get a hands-on experience of disappearing Tibetan culture before it evaporates into a lost horizon. In 2006, I traveled to Yunnan Province of China, once Kham Province of Tibet, populated by the ethnic minority, Tibetans, and visited a sacred waterfall on Mt. kawa Karpo, one of the three important Tibetan Buddhist Mountains.

As my travel went deeper into the mountain area of Northwestern Yunnan province, I was starting to find nobody that spoke English so I communicated with gestures. In a taxi zigzagging on the rocky road to the village, Xidan, I saw a red umbrella. Under the umbrella, a Tibetan monk was hitchhiking, so we picked him up. With such a limited English the monk knew, we have come to agree to trek together to my final destination, Yubeng. As we trekked from Xidan, my legs started to shake on such a steep climbing and every two minutes I went out of my breath for reaching 3000 m altitude. Every time I couldn't walk anymore, I would stop the monk, Lama Lobsang and offer him candy, fruits, and teaching English words. As we kept stopping and trekking for 5 hours, we have come to know each other without words.

When we entered the flat land of Yubeng, we passed many Tibetans who would stop and listen to Lama's teachings of Buddhism. Thus, everywhere the lama went, he was very welcomed as well as myself accompanying him. We were invited to a dinner at a lodge with Tibetan Yak butter tea. After the dinner, Lama taught Buddhism with such a high-pitched voice with rigorously animated gestures in front of enthusiastic Tibetan family.

The next day, Lama and I headed for Mt. kawa Karpo and Yubeng Shenpu - Sacred Waterfalls. As we walked through the small trek ways with the mist from the waterfall keeping the area damp constantly, so the moss was everywhere like a green carpet. The thick moist air and the silence offered a contemplative road to a sacred waterfall.

As the green road became a permanent snow road, we started to hear the waterfall throwing a large blast of sacred water. The winds changed the directions of slash falling from the cliff of Mt. kawa Karpo with unearthing power of nature. In Tibetan Buddhism that if you go around where the waterfall drops three times, you obtain happiness. So, I managed to circle the blowing drops of icy scared water. As I got drenched completely, somehow I felt the warmth deep inside of me.

Walking down to the village of Yubeng with soaked sweatshirt, I had a week long diarrhea. As the last day of Yubeng arrived and I had to say good-bye to Lama who was going to another village, we hugged and I watched his back disappearing in late afternoon light. Suddenly, an incredible feeling of such a fulfillment came over me and in a slight sense I felt that I understood the idea of pilgrimage.

a Altitude Headache

at Shangri La (Zhongdian)

When I woke up in the morning, for the first time I had an altitude sickness. I thought that maybe I should rest in the city of Shangri La (Zhongdian) for the rest of the time and not to go to Yubeng that was 6-10 hours away on car and trekking. This city was filled with young people and there were many bars and shops.


Then, I forced myself to have a breakfast, getting toasted bread and not having any bite for feeling sick, I took a bus to Songzanlin Monastery.

b This is the....................

at 松赞林寺 (Songzanlin Monastery/Ganden Sumtseling Monastery)Then, in no time, I was at Songzanlin Monastery.
These cartoon-style painted depictions of life in Tibetan Buddhist mural was provocative and humorous at the same time. The young man was standing facing the spectacular view all to himself.

c In the dark corner, there is a prayer

This is looking at what's in front of Songzanlin Monastery, the field was vast and in someways, it reminded me of my grand mother's hometown in Japan.
In the monestery.

d Les Monks des Mystique

As I spent time there, seeing these grown men wearing this reddish brown robe praying with tanned skin mystified me.
I saw many monks. I talked to many of them, imagining their life. Then by the time I walked around the whole Songzanlin Monastery, my headache was gone and I was taken by the atmosphere there. Then, I wanted to experience more. So I took a bus back to Shangri La (Zhongdian).

In the bus, monks were very lively, energetic, and bright in their facial expression.


I quite didn't know how to pay the fee and how much the bus fee was since I spoke no Chinese nor Tibetan. So, I ended up giving a large sum of money so they had to give me a change. This abrasive gesture pissed a lot of people in the buss off, making me look like a big unkind tourist. Maybe, they thought I was a snobby Chinese tourist.

e Tibetan Cab Driver Was a Lama

So, back in Shangri La (Zhongdian), I told a man who was sitting in one of the van that I wanted to go to Deqin (德欽) and Yubeng (雨崩) by showing the names of the town and village that I wrote on a piece of paper. That man brought another man, the driver who seemed very excited about the money that I offered for the trip. I was little bit hesitant and skeptical, but I had no choice and not much time left.
So about one hour later, two men drove this van with me in the back. The one on the right is a monk on the weekend, but for money he wears NorthFace jacket and drives a van/cab.

f 金沙江 Jinsha River （長江源流）の大屈曲

金沙江（長江源流）の大屈曲

g On the road in the middle of nowhere

Lama selling 松茸 Matsutake near 德欽 Deqin County

Suddenly, the monk/cab driver stopped the van and told me that there was something interesting going on outside. In the middle of nowhere, right by the large river on the cliff, there were a bunch of people on the street (a highway) selling, exchanging, or trading what I thought was the Matsutake, a Japanese pine mushroom.

In someways, the monks seemed like a mediators for trading, exchanging, and selling. The people seemed to let monks taking the situation in their hands. Their presence was big.

Then, I got to a market based town, 德欽 Deqin at very late night. The cab drivers took me to a local restaurant and we ate some fried vegitables , cooked rice, and meat dish. The can drivers seemed surprised at what I preferred to eat for being a tourist. I guess a normal tourist eat more voracious food. Luckily, the cabdrivers decided to stay in 德欽 Deqin in the same hotel with me. I was very glad for not being able to speak Tibetan. This whole town was mostly Tibetan populated. Then as we got to the hotel room, the cab drivers had a phone call and suddenly they had to drive 5- hours back to Shangri La (Zhongdian). Then from that night I was again all on my own without being able to speak Tibetan. The next day awaited trekking 5-6 hours to a remote village, 雨崩村 Yubeng.

In the morning at the market town of 德欽 Deqin, after some struggle with ATM machine and withdrawing money directly from credit card from bank teller, I took a cab to 飞来寺 Feilai Si, the spectacular cliff with beautiful stupas. I was starting to learn Tibetan Buddhism's connection to beautiful views of spectacular nature. These scene of awe were so breath taking that it leaves you believe a trace of God-like power of nature. This overwhelming marks of nature is a visual testimony of subjugation to faith, at least that's how I felt.

h Spectacular view and the presence of Buddhism

small Monestary near 德欽(Deqin) altitude 3550m

i A red robed hich hiker with an unbrella

Climbing to 雨崩 Yubeng with Lama Lobsang

Then, after 飞来寺 Feilai Si, we started driving. As we crossed a bridge near the border of T.A.R., the road started to become very rocky and bumpy with a strong sun blasting from the top. We were driving right by the cliff and then underneath there was a river. Then, we saw A Tibetan Monk walking this rocky road all by himself with an umbrella. He was hitch hiking. We picked him up and he was very happy that we did. He was sweating with thick red robe on his body. Then, I asked him where he was going.


This Tibetan Lama, his real name is Lama Lobsang and he told me in the combination of physical gesture and a very very few words of English, as well as myself knowing the pronunciation, we realized that we were going to the same place, 雨崩 Yubeng. This made me very glad since I knew that from the town of 西当村, Xidan, there is no road for the cab, and from there you have to climb for 4 hours. I had some Internet print out of lodges in 雨崩 Yubeng, I didn't know what this climbing entailed. It was a big unknown trip that I was about to do. So, I immediately realized that I can follow this lama to 雨崩 Yubeng. In the morning, I felt shy about getting food since all the Tibetan restaurants there seemed very local and foreign to me, so I enede up just getting three apples and bottled water, thinking that the town of 西当村, Xidan, there is more restaurants. As soon as we got to 西当村, Xidan, Lama Lobsang was ready to climb and I was still trying to arrange the cab driver, his name 六三 (sheeee-san), to pick me up after three days at noon. I tried everything by writing things down to show (Japanese use Chinese characters) to 六三. The deal was set and I was ready to eat. For some reason, Lama Lobsang was not interested in eating and he wanted to leave right away. I showed him a gesture of eating by moving my hands into my mouth. he said, in the mountain that we climb, there are places to eat. I knew how to read his gesture by then. So, the climbing started lightly hastily but with excitement and comfort with Lama Lobsang.
This is already the altitude, 3000m or higher. I am very adoptable and healthy in general so since Shangri La (Zhongdian), I had no altitude sickness. Then as soon as I started climbing, I started breathing heavily and my legs started shaking as I walked. It maybe the combination of thin air and the lack of exercise. I also had a medium sized but heavy back pack, a camera bag hanging from my shoulder and a camera tri-pad. These things hanging from my body made me sink into the ground it felt and every 10 steps made my breathing very very heavy and I couldn't walk anymore. So, I would say, "Oh! Lama, Oh! Lama!," and just sit down there. This actions of mine, if this was someone that I was climbing a mountain with, I would get annoyed but, this was my limitation, the best I could do, and I had no choice than walking little and resting every two minutes. So every time we stopped, I would take out candy bars and shared with lama. I filmed Lama speaking. I gave lama a book with Dalai Lama in it (since it is not allowed to have Dalai Lama picture anywhere in China, but I knew by then, having it in a places like we were, it is alright). We tried teaching each other English and Tibetan. Little by little, I started to know him by the chance of my not being able to keeping up climbing.

Then after a while, as we were hearing some domesticated mules coming our way, when the group of mules were trying to walk by us, Lama suddenly stopped mule by almost hugging the mules from its head. The mule startled first of all and shook his body in Lama's arm, but then the mule calmed down. This all happened within 20 seconds and it really gave me a strong impression. In someways, I remembered a scene in graphic nobel, "Buddha," by Osamu Tezuka in which Buddha meditates and jumps into the soul of an animal, softly telling the animal, don't be alarmed, I am your friend. Lama after calming own the mule, took my backpack and put it on mules back, and let it walk ahead of us.

j Here I was in Yubeng Village(雨崩村)

k The animated buddhist, Lama Lobsang and local Tibetans

m The nature's treat

on the way to 雨崩 Yubeng Shenpu (Sacred Waterfalls, 3650M)