The Tibetan Empire was bigger than you thought! Come visit Western Tibet.

The Tibetan Empire was bigger than you thought! Come visit Western Tibet.

Dr Seow Onn Choong

Recently an old classmate traveled to Tibet. He sent his itinerary to me with photos of the places he had visited. I have not been to Tibet before but there is a placed I visited that look very similar.

Have You Heard of Western Tibet?.

All of us know Tibet also known as the "roof of the world". Many tourists have visited Tibet  Very few people would have heard of Western Tibet. Actually there is a place west of the present Tibet that was known by this name. It is now a part of North West India known as Jammu Kashmir region. Coincidentally the Dalai Lama lives near this region.

At one stage of history this was actually a part of the Tibetan Empire. Being very far from Lhasa, it had broken away and formed its own kingdom with its own king. The more famous name for this region is Ladakh, thus the Kingdom of Ladakh.   

I visited this place about 2 years ago. The main city is Leh. This town is situated in a valley at the height of 12000 feet above sea level. The best way to reach Leh is by plane. You can reach this town by road but it is a very long and arduous journey. As you can see Jammu Kashmir region is situated in the western part of the Himalaya mountain range with the most famous mountain being Mount Everest that reaches a height of 28000 feet.  This region is very dry and there are few trees in sight. Probably all the trees had been chopped down for firewood as winters here are freezing. This area looks like a desert. As the water laden clouds rise to pass this mountain range it is force to shed its load before it pass the high points of the mountain range. Thus by the time the winds reaches the valley, there is no more water to fall as rain. In this situation the only source of water is from the streams that are created by the melting snow on the mountains when summer comes. The streams of water are the lifeline for all the villages that sprout out on the flatland adjacent to the water supply.

Very fertile fields

Over the centuries a series of irrigation drains have been created. This has resulted in fertile fields where a variety of crops is grown. There are few trees even in these fertile patches as most of them have chopped down for firewood. Winters can be very harsh and for that period this place is literally cut off from the rest of the world. Fortunately as this is a strategic region for India, the government subsidise the cost of fuel, thus life is no longer as bleak. With the opening of the region to tourism , the town of Leh  is full of tourists from Europe. They either come to see Leh or take part in treks up the mountains.

Trekking up the mountain trails.The streams are from melting snow.

Even though this area is so isolated, it has been the scene of many wars. Due to its harsh environment only the people who remained are those who can adapt to the climate. Up until recently this place even had a king and a palace to live in. With India’s independence and the British (being the last colonial master) handing the region to the Indians, the king lost his kingdom. The palace now has become a museum.  This palace is situated not far from Leh in a place called Stok.

The King's palace at STOK

The reason for this moved was  Leh had been invaded by others. There is a grand palace in Leh. It looks very much like the Potala Palace in Lhasa. This palace was built at the same time as the one in Lhasa. I was told that the famous one in Lhasa is a copy of the one in LEH. Since it had been occupied by invading forces it has lost much of its grandeur.

The Palace at Leh. You can see the similarity

This is the Highway

One slip and you roll down a thousand feet

From Leh we drove on what is labelled as one of the most treacherous roads in the world, crossing one of the highest motorable pass in the world. The road is extremely narrow with vehicles nearly scrapping each other as they pass. Although the road is asphalt covered , the quality is extremely poor due to the extremes of weather. In fact there are many road repair gangs all over the course not only to repair the road but also to clear the many stone falls that frequently occurs.

Traffic jam at the roof of the world

Celebrating at the highest point of the road

Road repair gangs. Don't know how
they can live here.

Our destination was a town known as Diskit in the Nubra valley. Here you will see most of the residents are Tibetans wearing exactly the same dresses. Unlike in Leh few Indians live or do business here. In the surrounding areas there are many monasteries. It was at one of it that we had the good fortune of meeting the Dalai Lama’s brother. A great many people had come to this monastery where the Dalai Lama was having an audience and sharing his wisdom.

His Excellency the Dalai Lama's Brother

Outside Diskit we climbed up the hills to visit a monastery that had been in existence for hundreds of years. To our amazement they had built a huge statue of Buddha. It was a great sight overlooking the Numbra valley. We were really fortunate to be there at that time as it had taken them many years to build and that the Dalai Lama had come to consecrate the statue.

Worth the climb to see the stature

The very beautiful Stature

The Stature overlooks the beautiful Nubra Valley

Nubra valley is one of the series of valleys were settled by people and made up of villagers string along the old trading route.   In the old days yak caravans will travel across the passes carrying goods passing from one valley to another. We visited one of the village at the invitation of one of the doctor. His family have settled here for hundreds of years. We were shown his farm which had an impressive array of vegetables. This land is very fertile and the land is really an oasis in the desert. No kidding just as in the Arabian desert, there are camels here. Fancy having a camel ride in this highland.

The camel train

real camels, where did they come from?

So now you know Tibet originally had a bigger footprint.