Photos

Ladakhis are very sociable people, any excuse for a get together is most welcome. We stumbled across this festival in Lingshed by accident as we were trekking through, so we stayed all afternoon. We never quite sure what it was all about, but it involved lots of fun and monks chanting.
The guy you can see is responsible for dishing out the butter tea, which the locals absolutely love - a rancid mixture of yak butter, tea that comes in a block from china, and salt. Its completely foul, but better if you mix it with Tsampa, a flour from millet, roasted with sand. They make sure we had constant refills!
There were plenty of other stuff coming round, a dab of curd and honey, a monk tapping everyone on the head, and even a hat which belonged to the Dalai Lama. After the celebrations each year they put the hat into a box from which it magically flies off, only to return for the next time its needed. Endless amusements...

scan from slide

I have just realised that this must in fact be the Tsampa guy, as he has a sack of flour, and no teapot...