Tabo Gompa

[Hynek] Early morning, or as early as we manage. Four men, one vision: to reach this un-attractive mountain ridge above Tabo, which is not even a mountaintop. Off we go, Felix, Fabio, Martin and I. After the first 15 minutes it becomes evident: this will be the torture of the trip! The whole hike promises to be in a stony gravel slope. Was it the right decision to go up there?
After the next 15 minutes four different hiking strategies shape up: Martin keeping the steady fast pace you would expect from a mountaineer. I with the only desire to make it to the top as quick as possible, walking in front of Martin to make sure I don't slow down. Fabio's taking it very slowly not sacrificing any means for the one end. Felix first sticking to Fabio mistaking him for the slow and weak one but ultimately understanding Fabio's approach and making up for the lost time, chasing after Martin.

After another 15 minutes all of us are walking, walking in a state of delirium that overtakes you while hiking at over 4000 m, in the early morning without breakfast and without any hope to ever reach the ridge. Another 15 minutes! HEI! We made it! Wow, this nearly 2.5 hours long hike was really worth it!

[Moni] We lived for 2 days in the guest house of the monastery, just beside the temples of Tabo and the monastic school hostel. We spent a lot of time sitting in the cafe of the guest house watching the scene around. The little monks were not half as honest as we thought.

The owner of the cafe organized a visit of the temples for us and other tourists. We were really curious how the inside of the temples would look like- the outside was quiet disappointing for us. For some reasons, we had imagined that famous buddhistic temples shine in bright colors, but this one pointed out to look like hills of brown earth.

The inside: empty, dark rooms with some electrical wires nailed to the ceiling. Sometimes, the rooms served as a storage for a bicycle or an empty Coca Cola box. Or a little monk run inside still wearing shoes. When he saw us, he immediatly took them off.

But after a while the eyes got used to the darkness and we could see thousands of paintings of gods and monks at the walls. They were in strong colors and impressing expression, but the age faded the dyes. Is the money missing or do they just don't care?

We used the time to walk around, go to the barber and send postcards. It was not easy to find the postoffice in Tabo inside a living house in the last room on the ground floor. But I never met such a nice postman before!

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