Tabo Gompa is one of the most important monasteries in the Tibetan Buddhist world. Rumor has it that the Dalai Lama intends to retire here. Built in 996AD, Tabo and Alchi (in Ladakh) Monasteries both have some of the best preserved Indo-Tibetan art remaining in the world. There are a total of nine temples in the complex along with a dormitory for tourists. There were quite a few tourists who had stayed there the night before.

The important rooms are off-limits to photography and have no electricity inside. If it’s a sunny day (it wasn’t), the paintings are easily visible. Otherwise, you need a flashlight (torch). We were able to absorb the beauty of the paintings easily enough without sun or torch. The colors are still vivid even after all these years. (The following are postcard images purchased at the Monastery.) …View image

Preaching Buddha, 11th Century, Tabo Monastery, India
Another unusual thing about Tabo is it was built on flat ground and had quite a Arizona, adobe-looking feel to it. As a matter of fact, it didn’t look like any monastery we’ve ever seen. (Most monasteries are usually built on hills in very remote areas.) …View image…

outside Tabo Monastery, Spiti Valley, India
There was also a small shopping opportunity which we took advantage of.

shopping outside Tabo Gompa, Spiti Valley, India
A big surprise…the road into the Kinnear Valley was open so off we went to get inner-line permits for travel into the valley. There are still other areas in India off-limits to tourists and many of these require permits. Talk about time-consuming. You need two passport photos (I happened to have one extra for each and we cut the second one out of an extra passport copy we had,) photocopies of visas (didn’t have) and filled out applications. First problem, the visa photocopies. Walked up and down the four-block long village of Tabo trying to find a copier. One place was closed…another’s printer was broken…finally a copier. then you visit the Government office where everyone is at lunch until 2:00pm. Everything in hand, you start visiting different offices. One office with forms…official signs.

Another room with police officer…he signs. Back to room #1 where form is rechecked and we are sent to a new room. This man gives a hard time over only one bona-fide photo but finally accepts the cut-out copy as the second photo. He stamps and signs and send Jagdish back to a former bureaucrat who then returns this entire mess back to this person who adds another stamp to the permit. Everything in duplicate, no paper clips…they use a straight pin to hold everything together. Finally, the permits are handed to us and we are off for the ride into the Kinnear Valley.

During all this, I wandered through Tabo town (that didn’t take much time). The women were always knitting…while they tended their cows…or having conversations with each other…hoping to sell their socks and mittens in the local stores.

Tabo women schmoozing, Spiti Valley, India
Heading toward Sumdo, we veered six miles off the main road to visit a mummy in Geu. Geu is a very small village with a big military post – because it is only a two-day, 90-mile trek to the China/Tibet border. The villagers often make the trek on horseback, up and over the mountains, to buy China-made goods for themselves and to sell on the black market. The mummy was discovered about five years ago when the Army was doing construction. They think it is about 500 years old, originally buried in a landslide, but no one could tell us much more about it. Photos were not allowed and Geu is also the last village reachable by road in Spiti.

the mummy is in here, Geu, India 

Geu, the last village before China/Tibet border in India
A border check to show inner-line permits and passport on the border of Spiti and Kinnear, and on to Nako…