On October 31, 2015, the volunteer English teachers of Tibet Charity’s Education Section were fortunate enough to be able to make a day trip out to see Bir, a nearby Tibetan settlement. We enjoyed a full day of sightseeing and exploration in the town and at a couple of the area’s monasteries.

Our first stop was at Sherabling Monastery, a beautiful temple with a thriving monastic population. Luckily, we arrived in time for one of their prayer sessions, and we were able to sit and listen for a while, the monks there making us feel very welcome and kindly allowing us to observe the event. We also took some time to stop into the information centre to learn more about the history of the monastery and the monks there.

The second monastery we visited was on the other side of Bir. We stopped in to admire the ceiling to floor thangka paintings and intricate butter sculptures. It was interesting to see the differences between the two monasteries.

The day of our trip happened to coincide with the final day of the Paragliding World Cup, so at the end of our day we joined the crowd gathered in Bir to watch the paragliders make their landings. The local community was out to watch the closing ceremony, and we saw people from all over the world gathered together, including local monastics, Tibetan schoolchildren, Indians, and foreigners.

– Eden Merritt ( A volunteer English teacher)

Note: We organise such trips once every academic session as a gesture of our gratitude to our volunteers who come from far and wide to help us teach English to the new comers from Tibet at their own expenses. We thank Tibet Charity Denmark for funding this program.