A trip to some remote locations by local bus and with chartered vehicles. Almost half of it over unpaved roads, a lot of the time through mountains with passes of over 5000 m high, mudslides, a lot of rain, erratic electricity, two minutes walks to the nearest toilet and other pleasantries. But some trips are worth all of that and more.

Derge, the printing monastery

Derge is a border town, frequented by traders. It is mostly modern, concrete and in no way picturesque. However the Printing monastery is an interesting place to visit and I was lucky to run across a small festival with dancing monks in mid august. There were few tourists and my friends and I were invited to sit and eat with some of the families that were camping at the festival.

Another festival was held to celebrate the arrival of two Tulku's (reincarnation of important lama's), one of them a young boy. Abundantly decorated motorcycles, Tibetan men in their best outfits, quite a spectacle.

The Derge Scripture Printing House, is the largest Sutra-printing academy in the Tibetan regions of China. Apart from its printing the importance is that it is the center of the Tibetan literary heritage. More than 290.000 engraved blocks are stored, with more than 500 million characters. Texts range from classic Buddhist religious books to science, astronomy, medicine, art and language, among others are engraved. The printing process is fascinating to watch. Two people form a human printing press and, with almost mechanic movements, produce a copy in a few seconds. Across the street from the monastery printing blocks.

Serxu and Xiewu

Around both these towns are some interesting not often visited monasteries.