Galden Jampaling Monastery crowns the narrow promontory where the Dza Chu and Ngom Chu rivers meet, on the site where the first monastery was built in the 15th century. The position is dramatic: the complex sits high above the town on both sides, and from the terraces you look out over the confluence and the forested ridges beyond. The main assembly hall is large, gold-roofed, and busy with monks at morning prayer — arriving at dawn, when butter lamps are lit and the deep drone of chanting fills the courtyard, is worth the early start.
The monastery belongs to the Gelug school, the same lineage as the Dalai Lama. Despite the destruction of the Cultural Revolution, which left only the foundations, the rebuilding has produced a functioning complex of considerable size. Several hundred monks are in residence. The most important annual event is the Butter Sculpture Festival, held at the end of the first Tibetan month (typically March), when intricate sculptures made from coloured butter are displayed through the night and then dismantled at dawn.