Weds we visit the Ganden monastery... It's a way out of town but reachable by (early!) bus. We catch the bus in the dark (6:30am) and ride out about an hour and a half. The last half hour of the ride is an eternal series of switchbacks up the side of the mountain, at the top of which is Ganden.
We arrive and promptly take off on a trail that makes a 40 minute loop around the mountaintop. Spectacular views of the surrounding valley!
The monastery compound itself is huge--at its peak it held over 2000 monks. Today it's somewhat the worse for wear--the late 50's/early 60's in China were not kind to it. But it's being rebuilt, bit by bit--lots of work to get the building materials up the hill!
The views from the hill are the highlight--the interior of the place (no photos allowed as usual) is overrun with the usual overwhelming collection of statues and paintings.
We finish up a bit early and wait near the bus for the return trip. As the bus driver approaches and prepares to unlock the door, everyone crushes in in a stampede to get back on the bus... yet somehow, we realize 10 minutes into the trip, everyone ended up, after the stampede, back in the same seats they had on the way out... except us! We'll never quite understand the system.
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