Where prayer-flags come from

It's been a disappointing fortnight in Dege, waiting for the famous Tibetan scripture printing monastery to open. Apparently it's closed until April, they now tell me.

So it was nice this morning to stumble upon this little backstreet printing house, where two guys churn out prayer flags.

There's a carved wooden print-block underneath, which they periodically smear with ink. The white fabric of the prayer-flag-to-be is stretched over the block, and a roller passed over the top, printing the text onto the back of the sheet.