This 700-year-old monastery, 30km east of Jomda, contains Tibet’s largest Sakyapa monastic school with more than 200 monks studying here at any time. The monastery has two main sites: one, which contains the school, is beside the river and can be seen from the main highway; the other is home to just 30 monks and overlooks the school from a scenic hilltop perch a few hundred metres above the river. The recently renovated but undeniably attractive main hall of the hilltop monastery has an interesting mix of Tibetan, Mongolian and Chinese architectural styles.
Both sites are monitored on a regular basis by plainclothes security guards who may ask to see, and then delete, the photographs you’ve just taken. Monks were arrested here in July 2010 for their alleged role in riots that took place in Jomda county in 2008.