Tibetan neighborhood

A teeming Tibetan neighborhood was near the university. Lots of shops selling religious items and many Tibetan restaurants and other businesses. I especially enjoyed what seemed the incongruity of men dressed in traditional Tibetan garb, perhaps even monks, talking on the cell phones.

At top is a restaurant where they are cooking the food right on the sidewalk (I joked that it was a Tibetan buffet, which got a good laugh from my Chinese friends); a couple Tibetan monks waiting to cross the street, the guy on the right would soon pull out a cell phone and start talking;  one of the streets lined with the Tibetan shops, selling traditional robes and religious statues; next, a Tibetan typesetting and printing shop; the last two show ships filled with the glittering gold statues. I purchased several small versions of these statues as well as some wall hangings, including one prayer wheel that is activated by a solar cell!