When I was younger I felt I could understand the complexity of what we don’t see more than others. When my mom said, “Isn’t the blue sky beautiful?” I retorted “If it was orange, we would think it was beautiful too.” I remember thinking, we don’t even know the colors we are not seeing simply because we don’t have the capability to see them. It takes learning a broader perspective to widen how we see the world.
If it takes learning a broader perspective to widen how we perceive, perhaps traveling can give us a glimpse of Heaven. This is my story of visiting the last Tibetan walled Kingdom of Lo Manthang. A Kingdom that has been hidden in the Himalayas for centuries.
After my summer traipsing through northern India, I was set on getting to Nepal for at least a short visit. Unfortunately, I had two problems. The friend who had planned to join me decided to go to Europe. Also, it was now Monsoon season. This meant the Khumbu and Everest region was sure to be a mud and leech fest without so much as a mountain view.
I found an internet cafe and scoped out a few forums. I connected myself with a team of Brits working for the UN in Nepal. This team planned to trek to the last Tibetan walled kingdom of Lo Manthang and were willing to let me join them. The area that had for a long time been cut off to visitors was now allowing a handful of permits a year. At the time, there were no roads or connections to get there.
Upper Mustang
Once past the Himalayan Annapurna and Dhaulagiri peaks, it was a week’s trek following the Gandaki gorge and the winter yak route. Breaking up the Tibetan high desert moonscape were magical stupas and chortens. The only passersby were a few villagers going for supplies and the scattered Hindu traveling guru.
Sometimes we slept in tents, yet if there was a village house, our group was always welcome there. Inside each home, there was invariably a picture of the Dali Lama and the Polata Palace. The message was clear. These Tibetan people were cut off from their motherland, but their hearts had not left it. They pressed on, looking to the kingdom they believed in.
We too pressed on through tired hiking legs and the heat of the high desert. I still had a sinus infection and stomach problems from India, but the excitement of the kingdom we were headed to kept me going.
Lo Manthang
Eventually, we arrived at the last Tibetan Walled Kingdom of Lo Manthang. We walked in through the only entrance to the town. Passing through this entrance feels as though one is walking into a different world– a world that has been locked in the time since the 15th century.
The mud walls of houses and monasteries were crumbling but still painted in stately white, with wood accents around the windows. Chortens and prayer flags fluttered in the high altitude wind. Down narrow lanes, local women in colorful aprons sat out in the setting sun– spinning yak wool. The only traffic jams seemed to be the local shepherds herding their sheep through the streets.
Into this setting, we were ushered into the palace to meet the King of Lo. From the courtyard, we climbed a rotting blue wooden staircase. As it creaked beneath us, I wondered how long it would hold.
We entered a low-hanging room with concave floors and carpeted walls–there before us was the King! He was sitting on a humble bench looking incredibly friendly. He welcomed us with Khata, the traditional Tibetan ceremonial scarves. While we were served butter tea and cookies, we were given the audience to ask anything we wanted.
A Picture of Heaven
Like the people of Lo, we must keep alive a desire for our true country, the kingdom of God. A kingdom of heaven that can be both within us now and yet is to come. It is an everlasting kingdom where God is the King.
Revelation 21 gives a picture of what this coming kingdom looks like. It is radiant. Unlike the crumbling walls of Lo Manthang, they are created of jasper with foundations of every kind of jewel. The city is not crumbling but is made of glassy gold. There is no need for a place of worship because God’s presence is the temple. There is no need for the sun because God’s Light illuminates and guides the nations. The gate is made of pearl, and it never closes.
It is a dazzling picture, but the point is that the bedecked gold and jewels stand in stark contrast to the crumbles of the world around us. Take in the pictures and imagine being in the presence of God. How might this vision of the coming kingdom change your perspective?
Unfortunately, the King of Lo Manthang was stripped of his kingdom and title (which had been part of his lineage since 1380) only months later.
