Leaving Shangri La
Trip Start
Apr 04, 2004
1
13
34
Trip End
Jun 07, 2004
Zhongdian,
Yunnan,
China
Thursday, May 20, 2004
20th May 2004
Catching the local bus to see the nearby Ganden Sumtseling monastery, I see there's a path round to the back of the monastery which provides a pleasant climb. Along it, I see small stone monuments draped in prayer flags. Inside the monastery itself, monks study their scriptures and do not bother looking up. I scan the horizon with my binoculars and other visitors seem keen to try them out. They fumble with them as I stand on ready to give chase if they run. Beyond the immediate zone of low hills runs a serrated edge of white peaks - like sharks teeth.
It's a nice day, the bus ride wasn't too far
1.Ganden Sumtseling monastery
. I'll walk back. I pass settlements of the classic Tibetan style dwelling - boxy and detailed in white and claret. A more robust and cubist approach than the ornate Chinese pagodas whose roofs would be more akin to the petals of flowers. I pass a strange structure almost like fallen-over scaffolding . Made from logs of various widths and lengths. Designed, I find out later, for drying yak skins I think. Local folk exchange with me a cheery "Tashi Dele" the normal greeting. I can see Zhongdian in the distance in what looks like a wide basin. I soon reach the outskirts and notice the number of men who wear cowboy hats and boots. Stores sell horse blankets and stirrups. Clothing fashioned in the Wild West style they seem to have adopted using leather and steel. I see the beggar girl again, she has not moved an inch. Even in the rain. She transmits a truly haunting persona. Behind the Tibet café is another path leading at first to a graveyard and then a large hill. I scurry up it and survey the town from this angle. It's stopped raining. There are blossom trees and lush grass which is soft to sit on. So I smoke and write a few lines in my diary. The sun starts to fade. Returning across the street, I check out what seems to be a fairly popular and decent watering hole called Noah's. I strike up an immediate rapport with the cheeky girl who runs the place and leave her at some ghastly hour of the morning after she and I have rolled around in the dark
2.Ganden Sumtseling village
. Mister Chen has got me a ticket from here to Lhasa so it looks like I'm leaving. The Chinese Government stipulate that foreigners must pay for an 'entry permit' into the region they claim is theirs, and the outside world call Tibet. Lets not get into that right now. The fact is that this permit costs about the same amount as the flight itself. There's not much I can do about it.
I wander about in the old part of town searching out a huge golden prayer wheel. I find an old monastery and gangs of impoverished children playing in filthy streets. It's mildly depressing given the amount of money I have just contributed to the government, supposedly their guardians. Shangri-La, my arse.
Next ; The place of the Gods ?
