Dege

Dege is a small town in Sichuan Province (Tibetan Kham Province), near the border with the Tibetan Autonomous Region. It is home to the amazing Bakong Printing Lamasery, founded in 1729, where thousands of Buddhist scriptures are still printed by hand everyday. The lamasery halls are filled floor to ceiling with wooden printing blocks (over 300 000). We watched workers, binding, printing, drying and editing scriptures. The lamasery is an important pilgrimage sight for Tibetan Buddhists, who circle the monastery endlessly. Up the hill from the printing lamasery is the lovely Dege Dgon Chen Monastery (more than 500 years old).