Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
allowed two children before they lose certain stipends and housing allowances. Ironically,
the most effective form of birth control in modern Tibet still seems to be to join a monas-
tery.
TIBET IN EXILE
About 120,000 Tibetans live in exile, mostly in India and Nepal but also in the United
States, Canada and Switzerland. Hundreds of refugees a year continue to brave high
passes and border guards to get to Kathmandu, paying as much as ¥2000 for a guide to
help them across. The trek takes several days, with no supplies other than all the dried
yak meat and tsampa (roasted-barley flour) they can carry, and no equipment except
canvas shoes to help them get over the 6000m passes. Most make the crossing these
days as educational refugees, travelling to Dharamsala to get a traditional education,
learn Tibetan and English language and to study Tibetan arts and history.
Dharamsala in India's Himachal Pradesh has become a de facto Tibetan town, although
the Dalai Lama, after personally meeting each refugee, actively encourages many of them
to return to Tibet. The great monasteries of Tibet have also relocated, many to the swel-
tering heat of South India, where you can find replicas of the Sera, Ganden and Drepung
Monasteries.
With exile has come an unexpected flowering of Tibetan Buddhism abroad; you can
now find prayer flags gracing the Scottish glens of Samye Ling Monastery in Dum-
friesshire and huge chörtens decorating the countryside of California.
From Ütsang (central Tibet) comes the best religion, from Amdo the best horses, from
Kham the best men
.
Traditional Tibetan saying
Ethnic Groups
There are considerable variations between regional groups of Tibetans. The most recognis-
able are the Khampas of eastern Tibet, who are generally larger and a bit more rough-and-
ready than other Tibetans and who wear red or black tassels in their long hair. Women
from Amdo are especially conspicuous because of their elaborate braided hairstyles and
jewellery.
