As you travel overland across Tibet you become more and more aware of the interconnection between the landscape and the people. You see how the landscape is both changed by its inhabitants and how it changes them. Gyantse used to be the third largest town in Tibet. Now, it has been eclipsed by other cities across the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is split in half by the Gyantse Dzong, a large fortress; on one side there is a modern industrial center, and the other side there is a traditional Tibetan town. Gyantse is mainly known for the Kumbum, the largest stupa, or reliquary shrine in Tibet. During our visit we were surprised to find the pilgrimage community clustered around Rabse Nunnery, a nunnery slightly outside of Gyantse; we wondered if this might be a response to the heavy tourist culture surrounding the town's primary monastery, Palcho Monastery. In fact, over the course of our stay we had this strange sense of multiple-line tightrope-walking. We were walking the fine lines between our own Western culture, various traditional Tibetan cultures, and recent modern industrial cultures. And it was fascinating how our preconceptions about pilgrimage shifted with the communities we met ... Note: We have permission from Otti Albietz to use the song "Lighting Bolts in Little Ships" in this video.

• published: 07 Dec 2013
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