The Hot Springs

This past weekend a few classmates and I went on a trip to local hot spring known for their
healing properties. The Dretrum hot springs are located about six hours outside of Lhasa on the
site of a small nunnery just below famous meditation caves known for their religious power. The
caves are still used by the nuns today and were formerly occupied by one of the most wellknown
and powerful figures in Buddhism, Padmasambhava.
Our stay only lasted a little under 24 hours but we made the best of it by enjoing the
springs as much as possible. I visited the hot springs a total of three times, the last at 5:45 am on
Sunday morning due to an early morning departure. There are three hot pools constructed next to
the river (tsampo), one for women, one for men, and one for either/ or depending on the sex
occupying it at the time. Each pool also has a wooden over hang to provide some kind of privacy
for the occupants and wooden cubbies for personal belongings.
When we first arrived, the group was faced with a few minor decisions. But minor as they
were they ended up affecting the outcome of our entire time at the hot springs. First, we had to
decide if we wanted to stay in the nunnery rooms (upper camp) or the rooms right next to the hot
springs (lower camp). I liked the idea of staying closer to the springs and others did also,
however, the nunnery rooms were cheaper, really beautiful (ning jepo) and the nuns were very
kind. Staying at the nunnery and upper camp turned out to be really nice and very pleasant. The
nuns were really nice and they brought us hot water (chu cul) at night and in the morning. The
rooms had traditional decorations with painted ceilings and blue painted tree branch cross beams.
In the ceiling for the first time in Nepal or China I saw steal beams. They were reinforcing the
ceiling, which was something I have not seen in my experience so far living in Asia. Also,
staying in upper camp put a little distance between the hot spring and us, which was nice when
the pools got crowded and noisy at night. Upper camp was much quieter, hospitable and more
peaceful. The second decision we made that had trip long ramifications was when we were
hungry and decided to eat in the nunnery restaurant and not at the restaurant across the bridge.
This decision turned out to be another good one because we ended eating at the restaurant across
the bride later and it was not so good, taste wise or in terms of our later stomach health.
After we were fed and settled we all made our first trip into the springs. I've been to other
man maintained springs before and these ones were very nice. Built in a kind of grotto pool type
design directly alongside a natural forming river, a circular wall separates the men's and
women's and the third healing pool is separate from the others across the river over a wooden
footbridge. When I first went into the men's pool it had around 5 Tibetans in it, some older men,
some teenagers, and both monks from near by Drupung and lay people. The temperature of the
water was bearable and not too hot. My classmates and I stayed in for around 15 minutes but by
then we were ready to get out again. The contrast between the hot bubbly water (naturally) and
the cold day air was refreshing and welcoming after only being able to shower over the past five
months.
The warm rocks wobble under your feet as you make your way in, across and out of the
hot pool. Sparse vegetation that has found a hold on the surrounding rock wall overhead look
down on you as a rope line hugs the wall for occupant mobility. In the men's pool there was also
a rock known for healing properties which if one (yes you guessed it) rubbed up against it, it
promises to heal you. Accompanied by a sign notifying the would be occupants to not use soap
or shampoo, the combination of signage and tradition provide a unique ambiance for the hot
spring enthusiast.
Upon arrival the sign in the parking lot over looking the nunnery describes the hot
springs as having the power to heal sicknesses ranging from giarrdia to arthritis. The sign also
proclaims in poor English "Peoples come with pain and leaves with happy." Needless to say I
wouldn't count on the pools to treat major diseases but treating minor sickness seems possible.
Although the men's side has a healing rock, the women's side according to my classmate didn't
have an equivalent but the pool known for the most healing properties is the third pool across the
river. The third pool is known for helping a disabled man walk again. I don't know what time
period this story of the healed man originated from but from the temperature of the water in the
pool I have my doubts if anything can survive. I wouldn't have believed anyone could have even
put their whole body in the pool if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. I could only put by foot
submerged in the pool for less then 30 seconds and I saw a man fully submerged getting out of
the pool when we arrived (a little unbelievable to say the least). Another tale associated with this
super hot healing pool goes like this…a drunken man fell asleep in the pool one night and in the
morning he was found dead from the hot water. In other words the man died from basically being
cooked. This story I believe more than the other. But stories like this are heard all the time in
Europe and the US like people finding their demise in hot tubs and saunas. However, after
feeling the water in this pool I kind of believed that the pool could actually kill someone easily.
Sadly, for every trip there are the things that go wrong that go along with the things that
go right. For dinner we ate at the restaurant across the bridge and as previously mentioned, things
didn't go so well. We wanted to try a new place for dinner so we tried it and at first when we sat
down things seemed normal. We noticed that the woman who greeted us was also the only one
working in the restaurant but this was normal for Tibet. We asked what they served and she
stated Tibetan noodle soup (tukpa) and chow mien. Excited about the prospect of chow mien (we
hadn't seen it very much in Tibetan restaurants) my German friend ordered it and both my Swiss
friend and I ordered tukpa. What we saw when the food came out was surprising. Apparently,
chow mien at this restaurant better resembled Eastern Tibetan flat noodle soup (tan tuk) and not
chow mien at all. This lead to some confusion, I ended up eating my German friends chow mien
after mistaking it for noodle soap and thus more ordering of food ensued. The chow mien
actually tasted all right and we had a good laugh about it because the noodle soap I actually
ordered was terrible. Another friend who walked into the restaurant must of known how bad the
food was because before we ordered she disappeared and it turned out she just went back to the
nunnery restaurant we had eaten at earlier. To top if off we were over charged for our food but
no one felt like even bothering to argue. The worst part was that later in the evening and the next
day all of us who ended up eating at the restaurant felt a little sick to our stomachs.
The second unfortunate event happened the following morning when we tried to leave,
tried being the key word here. We all got up very early like 5:30 or 6 am (I got up at 5:30 to get
one last dip in the hot spring) and after waiting for everyone to get there stuff together to leave
we walked up the hill to the parking lot. Leaving this early the sun wasn't quite up yet and I read
the broken English sign one more time as we loaded our things into the van. Once everything
was loaded and we where about to load ourselves into the vehicle the van would not start.
Something seemed to be wrong with the engine's gearbox. There we all were stnding in the
morning darkness six hours from Lhasa in the freezing cold (I left my water bottle in the van
over night and it was frozen solid when I retrieved it that morning). We had no van to ride back
home and nowhere to get warm again. I don't know how it happened (Chinese automotive design
miracle?) but somehow hot water (supplied by the nuns that morning) from someone else's water
bottle helped defrost the gearbox and after 30 minutes we were all on our way again.
Seeing that worst case scenario was to have been forced to spend another day at the hot
springs, (which would have been okay with me) retrospectively having the van not start was not
so bad. But try explaining that when you are waiting with a dozen people in the cold at 7 am
without a warm van to get into. Overall, it was wonderful to just get out of the city, even if for
just a short while. And to be able to interact and speak with the nuns and other local hot springs
enthusiasts was a treat in itself. Thanks again to the nun with the hot water that morning, she
helped warm our bodies in the cold morning air and the van's engine to get us going back safely
home without another snare.