Heaven, Cloud, Fire, Earth, Water

In accordance with their worship for blue sky/heaven, white clouds, red fire, yellow earth and green water, Tibetans plant colourful Buddhist banners (in strings or in sticks/poles) anywhere and everywhere visibly significant: across hilltops, on bridges, along roads, on rooftops etc. A photo attached shows Grace wrapping string of banners around a pole in front of an ancient temple

As one would expect, Tibetans burial practices also resemble these banners. The most prevalent is Heaven Burial, where a priest disects the corpse into small pieces to feed eagles and vultures circling in 'blue sky and white clouds'. Close relatives do not attend the ceremony. They rely on friends to supervise the priest doing a good job --- cutting into smaller pieces and offering the bones to the birds first, meats later. Second is water burial where priest and relatives jointly cut small pieces from the corpse and throw into rivers. Any platform up by a hillside or by a river with multiple Tibetan Buddhist banners maybe a burial platform. Cremation and ground burial are also practised. (A photo of Grace and I on a river burial platform. We didnt know we were standing on one when we took that photo)

Tibetans generally spot very deep suntan, and many appear very dark skinned. In the rural areas, hot shower is non-existent. The rural peasants may wash themselves in the river late summer when water is warmer.(Some locals mistook me as a Tibetan too. In the photo attached standing next to me are 2 Tibetans, 1 of mixed Tibetan/Han Chinese, and 1 Manchu. Try spot the differences)

Sisters marrying one man, or brothers marrying one woman still exists. I was told (by a very high rank govt official) a real case involving 7 brothers ageing from 52 to 9 sharing one bride. The woman takes care of financial matters. She cooks for all husbands each evening, who may plough different trades. At dinner table, what she dishes out for each is all they get to eat that evening. The lady decides. Matriarchal societies still exist in western Tibet to this day.