Photos and stories from across Yushu Prefecture

I returned a few weeks ago from an 8 day, 1100 mile (2000 miles total) journey across Yushu Prefecture ཡུལ་ཤུལ་་ཁུལ།. I traveled with our good Tibetan friend TS along with some good European friends of ours and their 3 boys. We had two 4WD vehicles and set off with our tents, sleeping bags, cold weather clothes along with food and water. Yushu Prefecture is very remote and lies almost entirely above 4000m (13,125 feet) with the highest point reaching 6860m (22,510 feet). In fact, the lowest place in the entire prefecture, which is roughly the size of Washington State, is 3500m (11,485 feet). The population is small and villages are spread out across great distances. Outside of the 6 county towns, few places have electricity, running water, internet or cell phone coverage. There are also no hotels, no restaurants, no banks and almost no gas stations in these remote areas. The few roads that exist are incredibly rough. In fact, I broke 2 shocks on our 4WD during the trip! One 20 mile stretch of road took me nearly 3 1/2 hours to drive!

In this post, I will write a little about some of my favorite pictures from the trip. If you are interested in Tibet, you might learn something interesting about its culture and people. The top picture is of a small village in Drido county འབྲི་སྟོད་རྫོང་ consisting of 3 mud-brick homes. The elevation is 4100m (13,455 feet). About 95% of the land area of Yushu Prefecture is treeless since the elevation is far above the tree-line. I drove 1500 kilometers (940 miles) without seeing any trees. I only saw short, brown grass like the picture shows. The the weather was sunny, nighttime temperatures are very cold. The river is a main tributary to the Yangtze River འབྲི་ཆུ་, the longest river in Asia. This river is frozen sold for 4 months of the year.

A group of Buddhist pilgrims on their way to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa ལྷ་ས་

We came across this group of Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims in a remote grassland region of Yushu county ཡུལ་ཤུལ་རྫོང་. These monks prostrate to the ground every 3 steps. Their destination is the holy Tibetan capital city of Lhasa ལྷ་ས་. They wear yak leather aprons and wood mittens to protect their bodies. They were 18 days into a 7 month journey. They will walk (prostrating to the ground every 3rd step) everyday, 8 to 12 hours a day through snow and extreme cold temperatures, until they reach their destination. Very few of the 2.1 million Kham Tibetans have ever heard the name of Jesus Christ ཡེ་ཤུ་མ་ཤི་ཀ་. I am quite sure that when Jesus talks about taking the Gospel to the “remotest part of the earth” in Acts 1:8, he had Yushu prefecture and the Tibetan Plateau in mind.

The snow covered grasslands of Trindu county ཁྲི་འདུ་རྫོང་

Much of Tibet that lies above 4000m (13,125 feet) looks like the picture above: Treeless grasslands covered for much of the year in snow. During the brief summer, the grasslands explode to a vibrant green color. From the city to Jyekundo སྐྱེ་དགུ་མདོ་, the drive is about 825 kilometers (515 miles) and about 85% of the route looks similar to this. There are very few people with villages and towns being few and far between. The first snow usually comes in mid to late August and the last snow typically comes in late June. This inhospitable region experiences between 270 and 300 freezing days per year.

Our snow covered tent!

Much of Yushu Prefecture consists of just very small villages. There are only a handful of towns that have hotels and restaurants. Whenever we go out, we have to bring a tent as camping is the only option outside of the county towns. Last year our family took a 3000 mile trip through Tibet for a month and had to camp for 1/3 of the time. This last trip to Yushu, we had to set up camp in the snow, which often happens! Fortunately, the overnight low only got down to 21F (-6C). During the mid winter, temps in this region will regularly reach below 0F (-18C or colder).

Yaks grazing in the snow

Yaks གཡག་ or ནོར་ (females: འབྲི་) are the unofficial animal of Tibet. Yaks in Tibet number about 12 million, meaning that there are twice as many yaks in Tibet as Tibetan people. Yaks are tough, durable animals who live at elevations between 3200 meters and 5500 meters (10,500 feet to 18,000 feet). They are well adapted to the high elevations and cold temperatures of Tibet. To the Tibetans, yaks are very important. Tibetans rely on them for meat, milk (as well as cheese, yogurt and butter), wool and transportation. Nomads pack all of their belongings on the backs of yaks, who are quite slow over long distance, but are very sure-footed. In the uninhabited regions of western Yushu Prefecture, the Ndrong འབྲོང་, or Wild Yak are found. These yaks are up to 3 times the size of domesticated yaks and can weigh well over 2000 lbs.

: High pass with prayer flags

The picture above is on a high mountain pass overlooking Nangchen county ནང་ཆེན་རྫོང་ at an elevation of 4800m (15,750 feet). On all mountain passes in Tibet, you will find colorful prayer flags. These prayer flags come in 5 colors (blue, white, red, green and yellow in that specific order), which represent the 5 elements. Tibetan Buddhist mantras are written on the prayer flags. Most Tibetans are unclear on the exact purpose of prayer flags, even though Tibet is covered in them (some holy sites will have tens of millions of prayer flags covering it). Most Tibetans believe that prayer flags on mountain passes are an attempt to appease the gods they believe live on each high mountain. Tibetans also believe that by putting prayer flags in high places, the wind will blow the prayers written on the flags across the land spreading compassion and good will.

Dana Monastery རྟ་རྣ་དགོན་ in Nangchen county, one of the most remote monasteries in Tibet

Buddhist monasteries are found everywhere in Tibet. It is estimated that before the Chinese came to Tibet that there were over 6000 monasteries across the land and that 12% to 15% of the total Tibetan population were monks and nuns. Now, there are between 2000 and 2200 Buddhist monasteries across Tibet, including nearly 400 in Yushu prefecture alone and nearly 150 in just Nangchen county. Some monasteries are quite small with just a few dozen monks, while some have several thousand. Pray that the monks in Tibet will have a knowledge and thirst for the true and living God. We have known of a few monks who have become Christians and they make a powerful witness in their Tibetan communities.

: A traditional yak wool tent used by Tibetan nomads in Nangchen county

Traditionally, most of the nomads in Tibet lived in handmade yak wool tents. Over the past 10 to 15 years, the government has been relocating nomads out of their tents and into small mud-brick homes in small resettlement villages. While even a few years ago it was common to find nomads living in yak wool tents, it is becoming less common as the government regulations of resettlement are being strictly enforced. Now, nomads only live in these tents for a few months during the summer season and even then, some Tibetans are staying in their mud-brick home all year long. I found this lone tent near the county line between Nangchen and Riwoche counties.

A remote, dirt road in northern Nangchen county

Over the past 10 years, the roads across Tibet have been steadily improving. The international highway connecting Lhasa with Kathmandu, Nepal is now 95% paved. What used to take 2 full days can now be done in 15 hours. The highway from Xining to Jyekundo used to take 22 to 26 hours, but now can be done in 14 hours. While the highways (still no expressways or freeways anywhere on the Tibetan Plateau) have definitely been improving, there are still many regions which can only be accessed by a rough dirt road or only by a motorcycle path. This last trip, I drove well over 600 kilometers (375 miles) on dirt roads, most of which were quite horrible. A I wrote earlier, the worst section of road took me well over 3 hours to drive and the distance was only 20 miles! Public transportation only goes to the 6 county towns of the prefecture. None of the other towns, villages or nomad areas can be reached using public transportation. That is why we need our own vehicle. Without that, there would be no way for us to reach most of the areas of the prefecture.

One of many peaks above 5500 meters (18,000 feet) in Yushu prefecture

Tibet is well known for its high mountains. Everest, known in Tibetan as Chomo Langma ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ་, is found in southern Tibet along with many other Himalayan giants. In Yushu prefecture, there are countless mountains above 5500 meters (18,000 feet) with the highest peak rising to over 6800 meters (22,500 feet). High, glaciated peaks surround Yushu prefecture on all sides which has been a major deterrent for Christian workers over the years wanting to go to Yushu. I have talked to some of our colleagues and asked them if there was any history of Christian work in Yushu prior to the mid to late 1990’s and the only person we could find was a Canadian woman named Susie Rijnhart. Susie Rijnhart and her husband and young son were in Dzado county རྫ་སྟོད་རྫོང་ in southwestern Yushu prefecture in the 1890’s. They passed through the area on their way to Lhasa to preach the Gospel there. First, Susie’s 1 year old son died of altitude sickness. Shortly thereafter, her husband was killed by hostile Tibetans. Susie barely made it back to China alive. She is the only Christian witness any of my colleagues and I could find who had been to Yushu prefecture before. Even now, there are only a few Christian workers who have been given permission to live and work in Yushu. Living at altitudes of 3700 meters to 4200 meters (12,200 feet to 13,800 feet) is extremely difficult for non-Tibetans. Pray that this region opens up and that more workers can live among the Tibetans in this remote region.

Morning after a snow storm that left snow drifts more than 3 feet deep

Tibet is known as the “Land of Snows” གངས་ལྗོངས་.While most regions of Tibet are actually desert with little precipitation, plenty of snow can and does fall. Since all of Yushu sits at high elevation, snow can fall just about anytime of year. Nearly all of the prefecture (state) receives over 220 freezing days per year, with some areas in the far west being permanently frozen. I have been caught in heavy snow in Yushu in June and the first snow of the season usually comes by late August. While the summers and early fall are quite pleasant and can even be warm in places (highs reaching 75F/24C), the area can definitely live up to its nickname of “The Land of Snows”.

Tibetan woman from southern Nangchen county

We find Tibetan people extremely fascinating. They live in some of the most remote and harshest regions the earth has to offer. They live simple lives either herding yaks or growing some of the few crops that survive at 11,000 to 14,000 feet. They follow a mystical form of Buddhism that is complicated and little understood. For the most part, they are poor. Yet, they are extremely hospitable and friendly. I met this woman near our campsite in southern Nangchen county. She came up asking if we had any kind of tarp we could give her so that she could keep her stock of yak dung dry from snow. Since there are few trees in Tibet, dried yak dung serves as the fuel for fires. Fortunately, I had an old tarp that I was able to give her. Our love for the Tibetan people is immense and we regularly pray that a breakthrough of the Gospel will take place among them.

Here are some other favorite pictures from our recent trip to Yushu prefecture: