“If you are a foreigner, the answer is NO.” “Change your plans.” “Forget it.” “I got turned back.” “…at the checkpoint, they strictly prohibit foreigners from going any further.”
In 2015, Natgeo published an article on two very dense and ever-expanding monastic settlements within Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan.Yarchen Gar, located on a basin within a grassland, and Larung Gar on the slopes of an amphitheatre-like sanctuary, at 4000m above sea level.Both are extremely secluded.However, little did I realise, by 2017, news of these two places being closed to foreigners surfaced.The Chinese Embassy verified it.
I disobediently bought a flight to Chengdu in June 2017.At the hotel tour desk, I was optimistic, but all came to naught when I showed my identifications.Without a solid plan, I headed to Xinammen Bus Terminal, and bought the first bus to KangDing, just to try to go as near to Sichuan Tibet as possible.It was an uphill journey. Nine Hours.KangDing is like a single street, a halfway town between the digital civilisation of Chengdu and the high-altitude grasslands where the yaks graze.
The next morning, the subsequent journey consisted of more grasslands, many Stupas, prayer flags and occasional gigantic buntings of the Buddha adorning hills.Sceneries way more panoramic, the skies bluer and lesser clouds.After another nine hours, initially just to find accommodation in Garze, I randomly asked an illegal taxi driver of Tibetan ethnicity to take me to Yarchen Gar, without a permit.Surprisingly, he agreed but I had to keep quiet at the military checkpoint.
After three hours of butt-cracking dirt road trip with a light hailstorm, surviving on a bagful of Chinese Cherries, we reached the checkpoint manned by five guards (with machine guns).The driver told him that we wanted to have an audience with the Lama.After a brief discussion, we were allowed through!
After a short stretch of undulating road, Yarchen Gar was revealed.What a truly magnificent sight.It was snowing.We rushed for an audience with the Rinpoche at the main hall and proceeded to secure the only accommodation before dark.Not the most decent motel, I got up extremely early, freezing.I climbed a small mound for a sunrise viewpoint.After checking out the meditation Kutis on the hill, I walked deeper into ‘Yarchen Gar Central’.Sanitation was poor as the gradient was almost non-existent, one can notice lavatories over the river but the nuns were glowing and happy.Nothing seems to be an obstacle in their cultivation.There was a Buddhist ceremony the next day, and I joined them.Luckily, there weren’t any police patrolling the whole complex.
On my way back to Garze, I made my wish to visit Larung Gar known but he stayed silent.So, I secured a hotel room and refreshed myself.After dinner, he called and told me that should I want to try my luck, we must leave that very night at 1 am.It would take four hours and we could try to sneak in when the guards are asleep!
We left at 1 am, traversing through extremely dangerous pitch-dark roads with cliffs on either side.By 4 am, we became quite wary of our proximity to the checkpoint and drove cautiously before dashing through.It was a proper security complex with boom gates, guard posts and bright lights, but fortunately, they were all unmanned and the guards were indeed asleep!
We made it.We reached the Sertar town and had to find a friendly Hostel to stay in, without records.By sunrise, after some warm soy drink and Yau-char-kway, we decided to walk steadily past the last and strictest checkpoint at the Larung Gar gateway.It was all up to us now.We pretended to be local Chinese, acted cool and boarded the monastery’s communal bus, which zigzagged up to the main Larung Gar temple complex.This settlement was no mean feat, really.One wonders – why this secluded location?The monastery was breathtaking, the dwellings were growing organically laterally, vultures circled the skies when there was a sky burial, and nuns of various ages walked from one complex to another for classes.So much so that by noon, I felt so sleepy due to fatigue – it was actually a sign of Altitude Mountain Sickness.
Both are still off-limits today.
