Jyekundo and around

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Trip Start May 17, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Jun 30, 2007 Next
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  Jyekundo, China
Saturday, May 26, 2007

We had an excellent day today, although we did squish 3 days of our itinerary into 1!

We started the day by heading to a monastery perched on the hill.
The young monks happened to be on a break as well, and they enthusiastically wanted to be photographed by Rob.

It was fun.... until our driver accidentally ran over a puppy sleeping beneath our car.
uh ohhhhh.
Not good..... But well, we apologised profusely and he soon got over it.

Next up was the Mani Stone temple, with the world's largest collection of prayer stones (mani stones)

01 Rob & Monks

. There are an estimated 2 BILLION stones here!
After that, we went to a sky burial site.

It wasn't creepy until Rob pointed out a piece of JAW BONE on the ground, remnants of the vultures' meal.

We were later told that there was a sky burial that took place several hours earlier (about 8am) - we were there at 11. That's why the vultures were still hanging around - they're too full to fly back up into the mountains.

It was really cool when Gungpo asked if we wanted to stop at his friend's house, so we did.
There, they served us air-dried yak - i.e.: raw yak, just hung in the wind until it hardened, home-made yak milk yoghurt and home-made twisty bread. It was like "you tiao" but in the shape of plaits.

I also had the chance to play with the cute kids.
It's really a universal thing.... take pictures of children, show them on a digicam and they will laugh and laugh

02 Mani stone

.

It's moments like these that I think I wanna have my own kids. hehe.
(Just a fleeting thought. You know i jest. pfffffft)

We spent about an hour and a half with the friendly Tibetan family, eating and drinking.
Nimrod and Rob weren't spared, and had to finish 3 bottles of beer. And the beer sucks big time, according to Nimrod. LOL

From there, we went to the Princess Wencheng Temple.
Princess Wencheng is the wife of the first King of Tibet.
It was absolutely amazing how prayer flags were stretched across the mountain passes, their vivid colours flapping in the wind.

The fengshui of the temple is absolutely fantastic though.
Flanked by 2 mountains, it had a serene lake at it's side, just at the mouth of the pass, as well as a small flowing creek ahead of it.
Has mountains and waters.... awesome stuff!

Our last stop for the day was a monastery perched on a steep cliff of sorts.
One of the monks took time to take Rob and I around the prayer halls, library etc

03 Piles and piles

.
(Shauna and Nimrod were both not feeling well).
While we were at this monastery, there was HAIL!
Can you freakin' believe it!?

The pictures I got at Wencheng Temple were framed by the clear blue sky and fluffy clouds.
But right now, 20mins later, there was hail just pattering upon everything.
I'm SO glad I'm prepared for the weather!
I think my Columbia boots are by far the best buy in all my travel gear. Yaay shoes!.

So i'm back here now at the internet cafe, blogging.
I think i'll be back in Xining much sooner than June 2, so i'm making plans to get to Lhasa.
From the feedback I've been getting from folks here, it seems like i can easily get into central Tibet -- almost everyone thinks i'm China Chinese!!

Thinking about this trip, I think i've made one of the best decisions in my life when I chose to go solo

04 Batang plains

.
I really think that for future trips, I'm gonna travel alone too.
It's such a fantastic way to meet new people, do your own thing, and well, basically just feel free.

I haven't felt so liberated my entire life.
I feel almost invincible (save for the creaky ankle and killer headaches) and am absolutely loving every minute of this adventure -- yes, even the horrible toilets don't faze me.
I hope the rest of the next week or so will turn out smashing too.

When I get back to Xining, I may just go to the Public Security Bureau (PSB) myself instead of getting the guesthouse / travel guide to help.
With sufficient Chinese, my super duper diplomatic skills (:P) and some whining, i'm quite sure i'm gonna get the permit and find my way legitimately into Lhasa.
Maybe.... just maybe, I'll get to wear my woolly socks at Everest.

For now, I'm just trying to find a not-so-smelly / non-violet yak to hug

05 Sky burial site

.
Saw one on the street ystday but get this, it was fighting with a dog!!!
There was no way I was gonna intervene and get between and angry yak and angry dog.

K, going back to watch Simpsons liao.
And I'm also trying to find a cheap Jay Chou album here :P hehe

Cheers,
Feli "Feeling Invincible" Wong

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

06 Vultures!	07 Air-dried yaaaaak!	08 Yak Yoghurt	09 Tibetan kids
10 Pretty Tibetan child	11 Snotty baby	12 Princess Wencheng pass	13 Princess Wencheng Temple
14 Duck!	15 Me being retarded (as usual)

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