The Flickr Tibetthenorthernlandབྱང་ཕྱགས་བོདJangchakwö Image Generatr

Nakchu prefecture,traditionally known as Jang Nakchuka,is the name given to the high nomadic terrain of the East Jangtang Lakes and the Salween headwaters, average altitude 4,500m. This is a vast wilderness region trhough which the Nak chu, Shak chu, and Sok chu triburaries flow to form the Nag chu ནག་ཆུ་ (Salween): a 2.784 km river rising in the Dangla range to the north and flowing into the Gulf of Martaban, south of Burma. The county capital Nakchu,
Area: 17.194 sq km.
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National dress
The inhabitans of different parts of the Tibetan plateau may be recognized by their distinctive dress, notwithstanding the ubiquitous Chinese clothing which is all too prevalent nowadays. Both men and women wear the chuba, a long-sleeved gown, tied at the waist with a sash. Farmers often wear sleeveless chubas and nomads wear sheepskin chubas. Local designs are distinctive, among them the black smock design of Kongpo, the otter-skin bordered chuba of Amdo, the shorter length but longer sleeved chuba of Kham, the brocade-bordered black of Tsang and To.

Head-wear is also distinctive: the coiffure of both men and women indicating the part of the country from which they come. For example, Khampa men with black hair braids generally come from Chamdo and those with red braids from Derge or Kandze (ie east of the Dri chu འབྲི་ཆུ་ (Yangtze), Brocade hats lined with fur are popular in Central Tibet while stetson or Bolivian-style bowlers are widely used in East Tibet. Ingeneral Tibetans wear subdued colours, but there are areas of East Tibet in particular where maroons and pinks are preferred, above all for festivals.

Jewellery Both men and women wear jewellery, the most highly prized stone being the uniquely Tibetan "zi" (banded agate or chalcedony). Ornaments of gold, silver, coral, turquoise, amber, beryl, and ivory are also worn, but none compare in value to the zi stone.
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Darchen (4,575 m),more properly known and still signposted as Lhara, was formerly an important sheep station for the nomads and their flocks. Until the late 1980s it still consisted at that time of only two permanent buildings. One survived the mass destruction of religious shrines during the Cultural Revolution, since it was said to have belonged to the Bhutanese government through the Drukpa Kagyu tradition, Which still claimed jurisdiction over it. More recently, Mount Kailash has become a popular destination for tourists and trekkers, and Darchen has correspondingly chanced out of all recognition. Sleaze, garbage and prostitution are the hallmarks of this once tranquil pilgrims'trailhead. Consequently many visitors and pilgrimage groups now prefer to camp further west at Darpoche or to stay at Jiu Gonpa beside Lake Manasarovar, and send their guide on ahead to make the final preparations for the circuit of the sacred mountain. ལྷ་ ར་ .

དར་ཆེན་ IW long prayer flag, sail
RY long prayer flag; a sail. standard; great flag. Darchen, Darpoche (dar po che), the Great Flag, at Mount Kailash


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Mount Kailash itself is known in the Tibetan language as Gang Ti-se and informally as Gang Rinpoche ("Precious Snow Mountain"), to the Bon as Yungdrung Gutsek ("Nine stacked Svastikas"). Though only 6714 m high, it stands quite alone like a great white sentinel guarding the main routes into Tibet from India and Nepal in the south and west.
Traditionally a pilgrim undertakes the 52-km trekking cirquit or cicumambulation (khorlam) around Mount Kailash commencing at Darchen (4575 m) and crossing the 5630 m Dolma La pass on the second day of the three-day walk. This is followed by a trek of the same duration around the beautiful turquiose Lake Manasarovar known in the Tibetan language as Mapham Yutso མ་ཕམ་གཡུ་མཚོ།
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Princess Wencheng (Tibetan: Mung-chang Kungco; Chinese: 文成公主; pinyin: Wénchéng Gōngzhǔ; Wade–Giles: Wen-ch'eng Kung-chu; 628–680, surnamed Li, was a member of a minor branch of the royal clan of the Chinese Tang dynasty. In 641, she was granted by Emperor Taizong of Tang to King Songtsän Gampo of Tibet for marriage, an involuntary actor of the emperor's heqin (marriage alliance) policy. She is popularly known in Tibet as Gyasa, or "Chinese wife".

Much of her life has been mythified and used for propaganda purposes. Chinese sources since the Tang dynasty credit her with introducing Chinese culture to Tibet, whereas Tibetan sources credit her, along with Songtsän Gampo's Nepalese wife, Bhrikuti, with introducing Buddhism to Tibet. Traditional Tibetan histories consider both Wencheng and Bhrikuti as physical manifestations of the bodhisattva Tara, although the historical veracity of Bhrikuti is still debated among scholars.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Wencheng

Sershul Tekchen Dargyeling སེར་ཤུལ་ ཏེཀ་ ཆེན་ དར་ གྱེ་ གླིང་ is an important monastery of the Gelukpa School, located 20 km west of Deongma, on the right side of the road. This is currently the largest monastery in Sershul county, with 1200-1300 monks divided into six colleges, under the guidance of the youthful but charismatic Drukpa Rinpoche. The rain retreat festival held in August is a magnificent spectacle, attracting nomad communities. The hills and grasslands around the monastery are sparse and spacious. The complex was founded as a branch of Chunkor but soon outgrew the latter. The recently restored buildings at Sershul, which are all near the motor road, include the Tsokchen (assembly hall), the Jamkhang (Maitreya temple), the Gonkhang (protector temple), the Dewachen Lhakhang (Amitabha temple), the Mentsikhang (where Mipham Rinpoche`s tradition is maintained), the college, a Mani Wheel chapel (containing three wheels constructed by the father of the present Drukpa Rinpoche) and a small guesthouse. A new Tsongkhapa Lhakhang, resembling a giant cathedral, has been constructed below the main complex, and was due for completion and consecration on 12 December, 2008.
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Sershul Tekchen Dargyeling སེར་ཤུལ་ ཏེཀ་ ཆེན་ དར་ གྱེ་ གླིང་ is an important monastery of the Gelukpa School, located 20 km west of Deongma, on the right side of the road. This is currently the largest monastery in Sershul county, with 1200-1300 monks divided into six colleges, under the guidance of the youthful but charismatic Drukpa Rinpoche. The rain retreat festival held in August is a magnificent spectacle, attracting nomad communities. The hills and grasslands around the monastery are sparse and spacious. The complex was founded as a branch of Chunkor but soon outgrew the latter. The recently restored buildings at Sershul, which are all near the motor road, include the Tsokchen (assembly hall), the Jamkhang (Maitreya temple), the Gonkhang (protector temple), the Dewachen Lhakhang (Amitabha temple), the Mentsikhang (where Mipham Rinpoche`s tradition is maintained), the college, a Mani Wheel chapel (containing three wheels constructed by the father of the present Drukpa Rinpoche) and a small guesthouse. A new Tsongkhapa Lhakhang, resembling a giant cathedral, has been constructed below the main complex, and was due for completion and consecration on 12 December, 2008.
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Sershul Tekchen Dargyeling སེར་ཤུལ་ ཏེཀ་ ཆེན་ དར་ གྱེ་ གླིང་ is an important monastery of the Gelukpa School, located 20 km west of Deongma, on the right side of the road. This is currently the largest monastery in Sershul county, with 1200-1300 monks divided into six colleges, under the guidance of the youthful but charismatic Drukpa Rinpoche. The rain retreat festival held in August is a magnificent spectacle, attracting nomad communities. The hills and grasslands around the monastery are sparse and spacious. The complex was founded as a branch of Chunkor but soon outgrew the latter. The recently restored buildings at Sershul, which are all near the motor road, include the Tsokchen (assembly hall), the Jamkhang (Maitreya temple), the Gonkhang (protector temple), the Dewachen Lhakhang (Amitabha temple), the Mentsikhang (where Mipham Rinpoche`s tradition is maintained), the college, a Mani Wheel chapel (containing three wheels constructed by the father of the present Drukpa Rinpoche) and a small guesthouse. A new Tsongkhapa Lhakhang, resembling a giant cathedral, has been constructed below the main complex, and was due for completion and consecration on 12 December, 2008.
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Tibetan girl at the horse race festival, on the vast peltang plain near Yushu. She wears her family's treasured jewelry. She wears an turquoise, coral and amber headdress, and neckles with coral and Zi stone (Kind of onyx with zebra-like banded designs, two eyes--regular, three eyes--good, 9 eyes--best).

Padmasambhava (lit. "Lotus-Born"), also known as Guru Rinpoche, is a literary character of terma, an emanation of Amitabha that is said to appear to tertons in visionary encounters and a focus of Tibetan Buddhist practice.

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries there were several competing terma traditions surrounding, for example, Vimalamitra, Songtsen Gampo, Vairotsana and Padmasambhava. At the end of the 12th century, there was the "victory of the Padmasambhava cult." Nyangrel Nyima Özer (1136-1204) was the principal architect of the Padmasambhava mythos.

Although there was also a historical Padmasambhava, nothing is known of the "obscure Indian sorcerer" apart from him helping the construction of a temple at Samye at the behest of Trisong Detsen and shortly being chased out of Tibet.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmasambhava

Sershul Tekchen Dargyeling སེར་ཤུལ་ ཏེཀ་ ཆེན་ དར་ གྱེ་ གླིང་ is an important monastery of the Gelukpa School, located 20 km west of Deongma, on the right side of the road. This is currently the largest monastery in Sershul county, with 1200-1300 monks divided into six colleges, under the guidance of the youthful but charismatic Drukpa Rinpoche. The rain retreat festival held in August is a magnificent spectacle, attracting nomad communities. The hills and grasslands around the monastery are sparse and spacious. The complex was founded as a branch of Chunkor but soon outgrew the latter. The recently restored buildings at Sershul, which are all near the motor road, include the Tsokchen (assembly hall), the Jamkhang (Maitreya temple), the Gonkhang (protector temple), the Dewachen Lhakhang (Amitabha temple), the Mentsikhang (where Mipham Rinpoche`s tradition is maintained), the college, a Mani Wheel chapel (containing three wheels constructed by the father of the present Drukpa Rinpoche) and a small guesthouse. A new Tsongkhapa Lhakhang, resembling a giant cathedral, has been constructed below the main complex, and was due for completion and consecration on 12 December, 2008.
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Sershul Tekchen Dargyeling སེར་ཤུལ་ ཏེཀ་ ཆེན་ དར་ གྱེ་ གླིང་ is an important monastery of the Gelukpa School, located 20 km west of Deongma, on the right side of the road. This is currently the largest monastery in Sershul county, with 1200-1300 monks divided into six colleges, under the guidance of the youthful but charismatic Drukpa Rinpoche. The rain retreat festival held in August is a magnificent spectacle, attracting nomad communities. The hills and grasslands around the monastery are sparse and spacious. The complex was founded as a branch of Chunkor but soon outgrew the latter. The recently restored buildings at Sershul, which are all near the motor road, include the Tsokchen (assembly hall), the Jamkhang (Maitreya temple), the Gonkhang (protector temple), the Dewachen Lhakhang (Amitabha temple), the Mentsikhang (where Mipham Rinpoche`s tradition is maintained), the college, a Mani Wheel chapel (containing three wheels constructed by the father of the present Drukpa Rinpoche) and a small guesthouse. A new Tsongkhapa Lhakhang, resembling a giant cathedral, has been constructed below the main complex, and was due for completion and consecration on 12 December, 2008.
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Sershul Tekchen Dargyeling སེར་ཤུལ་ ཏེཀ་ ཆེན་ དར་ གྱེ་ གླིང་ is an important monastery of the Gelukpa School, located 20 km west of Deongma, on the right side of the road. This is currently the largest monastery in Sershul county, with 1200-1300 monks divided into six colleges, under the guidance of the youthful but charismatic Drukpa Rinpoche. The rain retreat festival held in August is a magnificent spectacle, attracting nomad communities. The hills and grasslands around the monastery are sparse and spacious. The complex was founded as a branch of Chunkor but soon outgrew the latter. The recently restored buildings at Sershul, which are all near the motor road, include the Tsokchen (assembly hall), the Jamkhang (Maitreya temple), the Gonkhang (protector temple), the Dewachen Lhakhang (Amitabha temple), the Mentsikhang (where Mipham Rinpoche`s tradition is maintained), the college, a Mani Wheel chapel (containing three wheels constructed by the father of the present Drukpa Rinpoche) and a small guesthouse. A new Tsongkhapa Lhakhang, resembling a giant cathedral, has been constructed below the main complex, and was due for completion and consecration on 12 December, 2008.
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The Nya chu ཉག་ཆུ་ (Yalong), (known as the Dza chu near its source) emerges from the once impenetrable and inhospitable Nyarong gorge at Pundarong, the capital of Nyachuka county, which broods over the eddying silted waters of the Nya chu ཉག་ཆུ་ (Yalong). The county has 27 monasteries representing diverse traditions - 12 of them are Sakya, 6 are Geluk, 4 are Kagyu, 3 are Nyingma and 2 are Bon.
Area: 6.732 sq km.
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Sershul Tekchen Dargyeling སེར་ཤུལ་ ཏེཀ་ ཆེན་ དར་ གྱེ་ གླིང་ is an important monastery of the Gelukpa School, located 20 km west of Deongma, on the right side of the road. This is currently the largest monastery in Sershul county, with 1200-1300 monks divided into six colleges, under the guidance of the youthful but charismatic Drukpa Rinpoche. The rain retreat festival held in August is a magnificent spectacle, attracting nomad communities. The hills and grasslands around the monastery are sparse and spacious. The complex was founded as a branch of Chunkor but soon outgrew the latter. The recently restored buildings at Sershul, which are all near the motor road, include the Tsokchen (assembly hall), the Jamkhang (Maitreya temple), the Gonkhang (protector temple), the Dewachen Lhakhang (Amitabha temple), the Mentsikhang (where Mipham Rinpoche`s tradition is maintained), the college, a Mani Wheel chapel (containing three wheels constructed by the father of the present Drukpa Rinpoche) and a small guesthouse. A new Tsongkhapa Lhakhang, resembling a giant cathedral, has been constructed below the main complex, and was due for completion and consecration on 12 December, 2008.
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The Nya chu ཉག་ཆུ་ (Yalong), (known as the Dza chu near its source) emerges from the once impenetrable and inhospitable Nyarong gorge at Pundarong, the capital of Nyachuka county, which broods over the eddying silted waters of the Nya chu ཉག་ཆུ་ (Yalong). The county has 27 monasteries representing diverse traditions - 12 of them are Sakya, 6 are Geluk, 4 are Kagyu, 3 are Nyingma and 2 are Bon.
Area: 6.732 sq km.
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Sershul Tekchen Dargyeling སེར་ཤུལ་ ཏེཀ་ ཆེན་ དར་ གྱེ་ གླིང་ is an important monastery of the Gelukpa School, located 20 km west of Deongma, on the right side of the road. This is currently the largest monastery in Sershul county, with 1200-1300 monks divided into six colleges, under the guidance of the youthful but charismatic Drukpa Rinpoche. The rain retreat festival held in August is a magnificent spectacle, attracting nomad communities. The hills and grasslands around the monastery are sparse and spacious. The complex was founded as a branch of Chunkor but soon outgrew the latter. The recently restored buildings at Sershul, which are all near the motor road, include the Tsokchen (assembly hall), the Jamkhang (Maitreya temple), the Gonkhang (protector temple), the Dewachen Lhakhang (Amitabha temple), the Mentsikhang (where Mipham Rinpoche`s tradition is maintained), the college, a Mani Wheel chapel (containing three wheels constructed by the father of the present Drukpa Rinpoche) and a small guesthouse. A new Tsongkhapa Lhakhang, resembling a giant cathedral, has been constructed below the main complex, and was due for completion and consecration on 12 December, 2008.
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Father and son in full costume, in front of Sershul temple.

Tibetans are very conservative in their dress, and though some have taken to wearing Western clothes, traditional styles still abound. Women wear dark-colored wrap dresses over a blouse, and a colorfully striped, woven wool apron signals that she is married. Men and women both wear long sleeves even in the hot summer months.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_culture

Tibetan women who live in remote rural areas still wear traditional clothes. Tibetan coats (called chuba) are long and are lined with sheep furs on the outside. In some areas of Tibet, women will wear sheep fur lined hats as well. In many cultures women are responsible for making clothes, but in most of the Tibetan homes men have been the ones who make clothes.
kekexili.typepad.com/life_on_the_tibetan_plate/2008/02/ti...

Sershul Tekchen Dargyeling སེར་ཤུལ་ ཏེཀ་ ཆེན་ དར་ གྱེ་ གླིང་ is an important monastery of the Gelukpa School, located 20 km west of Deongma, on the right side of the road. This is currently the largest monastery in Sershul county, with 1200-1300 monks divided into six colleges, under the guidance of the youthful but charismatic Drukpa Rinpoche. The rain retreat festival held in August is a magnificent spectacle, attracting nomad communities. The hills and grasslands around the monastery are sparse and spacious. The complex was founded as a branch of Chunkor but soon outgrew the latter. The recently restored buildings at Sershul, which are all near the motor road, include the Tsokchen (assembly hall), the Jamkhang (Maitreya temple), the Gonkhang (protector temple), the Dewachen Lhakhang (Amitabha temple), the Mentsikhang (where Mipham Rinpoche`s tradition is maintained), the college, a Mani Wheel chapel (containing three wheels constructed by the father of the present Drukpa Rinpoche) and a small guesthouse. A new Tsongkhapa Lhakhang, resembling a giant cathedral, has been constructed below the main complex, and was due for completion and consecration on 12 December, 2008.
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Mato is an high altitude town(4,300 m) ,where snow is not uncommon in summertime. The open air market has an interesting selection of nomadic produce and Golok-style clothing. The town itself is small, but its bus station and market are important for the locals. It is the capital of Mato county.

This county ,also known as Machukha མ་ ཆུ་ཁ་ , contains the source of the Ma chu རྨ་ཆུ་ ( Yellow River),and lies north of the Bayankala watershed. There are a few small Nyingma shrines and monasteries, of which the largest and most influential is Horkor Gon. Area: 25.263 sq km.
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Sershul monastery has undergone a metamorphosis in the last five years. Not only in concrete, but also the traditional Tibetan construction has not forgotten it was done right.

Sershul Tekchen Dargyeling སེར་ཤུལ་ ཏེཀ་ ཆེན་ དར་ གྱེ་ གླིང་ is an important monastery of the Gelukpa School, located 20 km west of Deongma, on the right side of the road. This is currently the largest monastery in Sershul county, with 1200-1300 monks divided into six colleges, under the guidance of the youthful but charismatic Drukpa Rinpoche. The rain retreat festival held in August is a magnificent spectacle, attracting nomad communities. The hills and grasslands around the monastery are sparse and spacious. The complex was founded as a branch of Chunkor but soon outgrew the latter. The recently restored buildings at Sershul, which are all near the motor road, include the Tsokchen (assembly hall), the Jamkhang (Maitreya temple), the Gonkhang (protector temple), the Dewachen Lhakhang (Amitabha temple), the Mentsikhang (where Mipham Rinpoche`s tradition is maintained), the college, a Mani Wheel chapel (containing three wheels constructed by the father of the present Drukpa Rinpoche) and a small guesthouse. A new Tsongkhapa Lhakhang, resembling a giant cathedral, has been constructed below the main complex, and was due for completion and consecration on 12 December, 2008.
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