thx for your pictures, and your travelogue. i am especially interested in details of the monastery you encountered near Madoi/Maduo (aka Mardo?). reason: i have encountered a monk who says he comes from a monastery near Mardo (unsure whether same as Madoi/Maduo). Your description of a monastery between Xining and Maduo makes it sound as if the monastery is near or at a place called Bayan Har Shankou (which from other descriptions sounds more like a mountain pass than a town), and your note perplexing that this is not the "real" name for the place. If the Chinese name is a new one, what is the Tibetan name for the place near which you encountered the monastery. Did you take any photos of the monastery that you can share? I am interested to see what information you can share regarding the monastery you saw (i.e., branch whether nyingma, sakya, gelukpa, etc; name if you recorded it; name of the abbot of the monastery; is there a school (shedra) associated with it; etc.). Was there any indication of association with the Kathog (also spelled Katog) Monastery elsewhere in Tibet? thx for any information you can provide.
raul
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Maduo is on the the road from Xining to Yushu (Jyekundo). It's well marked on most good maps and the spelling on Chinese & American maps is almost always romanizee Maduo or Madoi. Tibetan maps usually romanize it Mato. Mardo is probably some other place. Maduo was mainly a truck stop and I don't know of any large named monastery there although there are some small ones for local Gikij oeioke,
Re the "real name" for a place note.: naming is a tough thing in these areas. There are Chinese names used on maps and bus routes. There are names in Lhasa Tibetan on Tibetan maps and there are names that the local people use (often in different dialects or languages). To make things more complicated these names are often all romanized using alternate systems.
For travelers, because of the bus routes, it's often handy to use the Chinese names, but I often try to find out what the people call the place in their own language...
If memory serves the monastery in question was a small one very near the Bayankala (Bayan Har Shankou Pass) on a dangerous side road (probably 20 to 30 km away) I was Golok style. I didn't take pictures that day (it was so cold my film was freezing in my camera). There is a small Tibetan settlement on the road (mainly just a place for the nomads to stock up on supplies).
The account you are referring to was from 1999. I passed through again in 2002 and found the same monastery closed (this doesn't mean it was closed for good, sometimes the monks go on pilgrimages or are needed in the fields). On my most recent trip (Aug 2005) I didn't make it up into that area because the Chinese military had just quarantined hundreds of miles of road for fear of bird flu. Apparently in all the villages the military came in and killed every bird in site. The road had just opened again in July but I opted to wait until next time...
Bob in Alaska
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thx for this reply Raul. planning trip this summer. have located maduo on Google earth, including what I think is the concrete bridge over the Huang He (supposed to be the first over the river). cool. will try to locate the monastery you describe, as that may be my ultimate destination (or maybe not), we shall see. your photos are great.
3 comments
thx for your pictures, and your travelogue. i am especially interested in details of the monastery you encountered near Madoi/Maduo (aka Mardo?). reason: i have encountered a monk who says he comes from a monastery near Mardo (unsure whether same as Madoi/Maduo). Your description of a monastery between Xining and Maduo makes it sound as if the monastery is near or at a place called Bayan Har Shankou (which from other descriptions sounds more like a mountain pass than a town), and your note perplexing that this is not the "real" name for the place. If the Chinese name is a new one, what is the Tibetan name for the place near which you encountered the monastery. Did you take any photos of the monastery that you can share? I am interested to see what information you can share regarding the monastery you saw (i.e., branch whether nyingma, sakya, gelukpa, etc; name if you recorded it; name of the abbot of the monastery; is there a school (shedra) associated with it; etc.). Was there any indication of association with the Kathog (also spelled Katog) Monastery elsewhere in Tibet? thx for any information you can provide.
Maduo is on the the road from Xining to Yushu (Jyekundo). It's well marked on most good maps and the spelling on Chinese & American maps is almost always romanizee Maduo or Madoi. Tibetan maps usually romanize it Mato. Mardo is probably some other place. Maduo was mainly a truck stop and I don't know of any large named monastery there although there are some small ones for local Gikij oeioke,
Re the "real name" for a place note.: naming is a tough thing in these areas. There are Chinese names used on maps and bus routes. There are names in Lhasa Tibetan on Tibetan maps and there are names that the local people use (often in different dialects or languages). To make things more complicated these names are often all romanized using alternate systems.
For travelers, because of the bus routes, it's often handy to use the Chinese names, but I often try to find out what the people call the place in their own language...
If memory serves the monastery in question was a small one very near the Bayankala (Bayan Har Shankou Pass) on a dangerous side road (probably 20 to 30 km away) I was Golok style. I didn't take pictures that day (it was so cold my film was freezing in my camera). There is a small Tibetan settlement on the road (mainly just a place for the nomads to stock up on supplies).
The account you are referring to was from 1999. I passed through again in 2002 and found the same monastery closed (this doesn't mean it was closed for good, sometimes the monks go on pilgrimages or are needed in the fields). On my most recent trip (Aug 2005) I didn't make it up into that area because the Chinese military had just quarantined hundreds of miles of road for fear of bird flu. Apparently in all the villages the military came in and killed every bird in site. The road had just opened again in July but I opted to wait until next time...
thx for this reply Raul. planning trip this summer. have located maduo on Google earth, including what I think is the concrete bridge over the Huang He (supposed to be the first over the river). cool. will try to locate the monastery you describe, as that may be my ultimate destination (or maybe not), we shall see. your photos are great.