#litang

Litang, Sichuan

Photograph: Jack Hickman

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Snowy hills on the road to Litang, Sichuan

I'm currently in Litang, one of the highest towns in the planet at 4014m. This Tibetan town is even 400m higher than Lhasa. It's been my first venture outside in days after being stuck in doors with serious food poisoning. I was feeling enough strength for a gentle stroll to the monastery and for the first time in a long time I felt a little nervous to walk past the gate. On entering I see floods of Tibetans circle the courtyard spinning the wheels all murmering chants and a louder voice amplified chanting another mantra. The religious belief felt so strong it was almost daunting, it reminded me of how I felt entering a mosque in Afghanistan and how people desperately clutched at shrines almost in tears at the shear magnitude they were feeling. That kind of belief is so powerful it's scary and so far from anything I've known. I observed and walked down the path to begin circling and spinning the wheels. I merged in to crowds. Encircling the area 3 times, spinning countless wheels. People murmering their own chants and tunes on the way round. I continued to another set of wheels circling a smaller temple and continued. I must have spent atleast an hour in there and many it seems spent whole days in there - praying spinning chanting. As the only foreigner I'd received a lot of smiles and 'Tashidelek's which I'd nod and return. There isn't the same physical barriers so women would often just come and touch me or feel my clothes, which are quite unusual for them. I suppose I look as odd to them as them to me. After all the spinning my mind was pretty cleared out and I sat to rest and observe. Pretty quickly I was surrounded, first by women, then a few men came to have a look too. All touching my hair and peircings, lightly pulling my septum to see it's real. Feeling the fabrics of my clothes. Shaking the bells in my hair. I no longer felt alienated like I did entering at first, watching these waves of people in ritual, I now felt somewhat a part of it. All they wanted to do was have a good look at me, smile tashidelek, take pictures of/with me and often question with one finger "you're just one, you're on your own?" - with which I'd nod and reply with one finger.

At an elevation of 4,012m above sea level, Litang is one of the highest cities in the world. The town sits on the edge of a grassy valley. Many people who live in the surrounding area are yak herders. The 7th Dalai Lama, 10th Dalai Lama, and 11th Dalai Lama were born here.  The climate is alpine sub-arctic, with an average temperature of 10.6 °C in July, and -5°C in January. Visitors can hike the mountains nearby, visit the local monastery, or relax in the natural hot springs just outside of town. 

Prayer flags on a hill in Litang, Sichuan

From ancient Kham the great Dharma Wheel Realm