Part 131 - Below the Dzong: visits with the Dzongpen and a wooden tea pot from the Gompa

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SUMMARY:
Camped below the Dzong, the diarist notes abundant irises and Primula tibetica and receives a very old walnut wooden tea pot from the Gompa via the Dzongpen. On 6th May (halt day) the Dzongpen lunched with them, abstained from certain foods, accepted liqueurs and cigarettes, and related the decline of Karuha temple’s lamas.

CONTENT:
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below the Dzong in a much nicer place than before. The Dzongpen came to call and stayed an hour. He is a nice man, very helpful. The irises here are a wonderful sight, and there are a few little Primula tibetica just coming into flower (1551). When we were here last, I asked the Dzongpen about old wooden tea pots. He however did not know much about them, and never remembered seeing any. When I arrived today, I found one on my table. He had got it from the Gompa. All he can tell me is they are very old indeed, were used for tea by the monks, when they sat out in a row for their food, and it is made of walnut, of which there are a few trees here.

6th May. Halt. A lovely day. The Dzongpen came to lunch and stayed a couple of hours. I think he enjoyed himself, but keeps to his vows pretty strictly. He would eat no bacon, no eggs - no chicken. But he took both cherry brandy and Cointreau, and went off with a tin of cigarettes. He told us that Karuha temple used to have 40 lamas, but that they became a bad lot, married and so on, and so the place was washed out. The Lopa story is incorrect.