A sky burial, sounds quite barbaric to westeners, it is where the body is taken to a sacred hill, and cut up and left for the vultures to eat. This is a respected for of burial for the people in Langmusi. The sky burial site is open to tourists although obviously there was a considerable amount of respect required before visiting such a place... {don't read this if you are squeemish!}

We walked up the hill for about 40 minutes, and we could see villagers up at the site, JiuJa- our guide said that there had been a burial this morning. We waited for the villagers to leave before getting closer.

JiuJa was very clear to warn people what they would see before letting anyone get to close.

I was actually suprised by the low status of the site, I was expecting almost an alter type thing - offering up the remains, to the sky.. but it really consisted of a blessed hill, with lots of prayer flags. JiuJa told us the the main section ahead of us where the belonging of the passed were placed, and there was a smaller section over to the left where they were placed if it was a child who had died. I am not sure if he meant 'belongings' as in all their stuff - or just things they wanted to take into the next world.

The actual burial sight was an arrangement of rock. Not a ceremonial type, but more a functional one, like chopping boards, rocks on which the body is cut up.
Perhaps the most shocking thing was the implements used were laying next to the rocks, and they weren't hi-tech or even very sharp looking. There was a couple of axes and some scissors and other random objects.

JiuJa advised us that the act of cutting up the body was not perfomed by any relative of the deceased - it was usually done by the monks from the monastery. Later in my trip I heard a conflicting story, that two families would make a pact, and agree to perform the task for the other family on two occasions, in return for the same 'favour'.

We walked around the stones, and obviously what we saw was quite grim, but I wasn't really as repulsed as I expected. I think maybe I was looking at it through logical eyes, I knew I would see human remains when I chose to walk closer, but it was also easily confused or blurred in ones mind - to just look like the back of a butchers shop, bones laying around were hard to distinguish as human.

The monks performing the burial today had wrapped the body in plastic, as they had seen tourists approaching - which was a relief really.. as the birds don't eat that much meat, the previous 'burial' is simply cleared away to the side of the main plot, and this was grim enough.

Overall I was please I had seen something so different to what we do in the west, even though people reading this may find it a bit on the gross side. I personally wouldn't have a problem being buried this way - except for the slightly sick job of performing the burial.

The thought has to cros my mind - at least they don't do this in the US.. if they did, there would be a million horror movies depicting it !