The town of Xegar lies 7km from the Friendship Highway (aka Highway 318) and is home to several thousand people now that the Chinese have added extensively to the original town. Confusingly, Xegar is also known as Shelkar, Shelkar Dzong, Shekar Dzong, and New Tingri. Xegar is the name by which the town is known to the Chinese, whereas Shelkar and its variations are used by the Tibetans. Shelkhar (note the addition of a second 'h') means 'white crystal' while a 'dzong' is a type of fortress, and the town is indeed built at the foot of the ruins of an impressive fortress. The town was once the capital of the Tingri region and used to be an important trading post where Sherpas from Nepal exchanged rice, grain and iron for Tibetan wool and salt. Today it remains the administrative centre for Tingri County in the Shigatese Prefecture of Tibet. Tibet is of course more properly known as the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Probably as result of its administrative function for Tingri County the town is also known as New Tingri, although the real 'Tingri' which was the subject of my previous blog, is several miles away. I didn't mention then, but do so now for the record, that the other Tingri is also known as Dingri or Dhingri, not to mention the representation in Tibeten (དིང་རི) and Chinese (定日). Apparently 'dingri' means 'lawn mountain' in the Chinese Pinyin language, which seems a little odd as Tingri is miles from the nearest mountain; indeed you will have seen from the photographs accompanying the Tingri-oriented blog that the town is pancake-flat. Confused? Yes - I was too. That's why I thought I would explain as concisely as possible what it took me a considerable amount of 'googling' to fathom. I shall for the remainder of this blog refer to the main town as Xegar, and I shan't mention Tingri again.
The real point of this blog is twofold, neither of which involve confusing names.
Firstly - the case for wearing gaiters. It was while climbing the hill to the fortress above the town (an excursion primarily aimed at acclimatisation as the hill top is a good 1000 ft above the town which itself is over 4,300m) that I was bitten on the outside of my right leg roughly mid-calf, by some unknown and unseen creature. I felt the bite and trapped the offender between thumb and forefinger under my trousers. Regrettably I didn't make a study of the flattened remnant as I viewed this incident as a minor inconvenience that would shortly be forgotten. This was the case for a few hours, however later that evening I became aware of a certain swelling around the bite. I normally heal fairly quickly so still thought little of this, until the next morning when I noticed that it was a little uncomfortable to walk. Dousing the area liberally with my favourite treatment for insect bites, Anthisan (which has never previously failed to provide relief) I continued to ignore the problem hoping it would go away. It didn't, and by mid-afternoon I felt I had to let Tim know of the matter. By that stage my right leg was very red and swollen and putting any weight at all on my right leg was fairly sore. A few minutes riffling through the expedition first-aid kit produced some antibiotic ointment which after thoroughly disinfecting my leg was applied thickly before the whole area being covered by a substantial bandage. This treatment was to be be repeated every 6 hours and if no improvement was seen within 24 hours a somewhat more brutal solution (involving a scalpel) was scheduled. Mercifully, after a couple of treatment cycles the swelling began to go down and the discomfort subsided. The moral of the story? Wear gaiters!!!
Secondly - the wonder of Shelkar Chode. The Shelkar (Shekar) Chode (spelled Choedhey locally) Monastery was founded in 1266 and we were very fortunate to be allowed to visit. This was arranged for us by our Chinese (CTMA) guardian, Mr Nawen. I understand that even he was surprised that our request was accepted. The monastery is surrounded by the old part of Xegar and is built at the foot of the hill atop of which was the dzong. Though in the past it was home to several hundred monks today there are considerably fewer, perhaps 30 or so. While the buildings are very traditional this is a modern community. Several of the monks we spoke to (through an interpreter) were using iPhones or similar and our guide carried an iPad. Indeed the monastery has its own website (shelkarmonastery.org) which contains a very interesting history which is well worth reading. The monastery is situated in a sacred site which goes locally by the title of the Shelkar Immutable Adamantine Fort. Apparently (according to the website) it is surrounded by four great pilgrimage sites, four snow capped mountains, four great towns, four great rivers and also surrounded by seven auspicious signs. The monastery flourished in various forms for several centuries, however in 1959 when the political situation changed, all the monks of the Monastery suffered under the communist aggression. Over sixty senior monks were arrested and taken to Shigatse and it is alleged that just twelve survived. It would seems matters continue in this vein. While I cannot confirm its accuracy, a report in the North Indian 'NVO (Northern Voices Online) News' on 31st May 2008, filed by the correspondent V K Sharma from Dharmshala, read as follows:
12 monks of Dingri Shelkar Choedhe Monastery arrested for opposing the “Patriotic re-education” campaign.
The Chinese security forces arrested twelve monks of Dingri Shelkar Choedhe Monastery during a night raid for opposing the “patriotic re-education” campaign , according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
The Chinese authorities have re-launched and reinvigorated the “Patriotic re-education” campaign in the “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAR”) and other Tibetan areas in neighbouring provinces for a stipulated two-month period covering almost every sections of society beginning primarily with the monastic institutions.
During one of those campaigns the Chinese “work team” visited Shelkar Choedhe Monastery in Tingri County, Shigatse Prefecture, “Tibet Autonomous Prefecture” (‘TAR’) to conduct the “Patriotic re-education” campaign which resulted in a bitter and heated argument between the monks and the Chinese “work team”. According to the source, Ven. Khenrab Tharchin, a member of so-called Democratic Management Committee (DMC) of Shelkar Choedhe Monastery stood up while the campaign was in session by openly opposing the “patriotic re-education” and even told the visiting “work team” that he cannot denounce the Dalai Lama as required under the campaign. Another eleven monks of the same monastery stood up in support of Ven. Khenrab Tharchin and adamantly opposed the campaign in unison. According to source, after the incident, entry to the monastery was closed for faithful devotees and visitors. Monks were ordered from leaving their monastery compound and even cell phones were known to have been confiscated to curb the report of the incident from leaking to the outside world and the monks were even known to have been threaten with dire consequences if found ‘leaking’ the information to the outside world.
In order to avoid the public glare, on the same night, scores of Chinese People’s Armed Police (PAP) forces and Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials stormed into the monastery and forcibly taken away the twelve protesting monks from their residences to unknown location. There is no information on the current whereabouts and the condition of the arrested monks.