Zhongdian
Trip Start
Apr 22, 2004
1
5
Trip End
May 09, 2004
Zhongdian,
China
Saturday, May 1, 2004
One gets a nominal sense of what Tibentan culture and society is like by visiting Zhongdian. The falt plateau landscape gives way to expansive sky views in all directions, truncated only at distant horizons by snowcapped mountains
Abodes
. What look to be like super-sized huts group together every so often to form villages on the plain. Hawks with 10foot wingspans speckle the sky above and land precariously on the many erected wooden grids outside the homes. Crops and animal skins are dried here throughout the season. I guess that's what really defines this cold, dry and arid landscape... the ability of it's inhabitants to adapt and really thrive in this seemingly imperturbable wilderness. The sheer remoteness has only recently been broken by the introduction of new communication infrastructure, such as improved paved roads leading to the city, satellite internet connections, and mobile phones. I only realized the significance of the latter when I befriended a young monk atop a lonely mountain. I found myself in the late afternoon climbing a lone hill in the hopes of catching a fleeting view of the sun setting over the mountaineous horizon. To my surprise there was a small buddhist temple at the top with a young monk fast asleep inside. Two young apprentice monks were assiduously reciting their assigned prayers outside the main doors to the temple. I was ready to turn around at that point because I really didn't think it proper for me to be there. But! A middle-aged man in tattered clothing suddently appeared out of nowhere and invited me to enter. Long story short, the middle-aged layman woke the sleeping monk to see me. Though he spoke absolutely no English, and my Chinese being none the better, we were able to communicate..
Buddhist Temple
. for 3hours! I shared the digital pictures on my camera with him (*he'd never seen one before), and eventually had dinner with him! The meal started with a bowl of noodle soup, then progressed to two stirfried vegetable dishes, soup, and rice. We ended the evening with some delicious butter yak tea (black tea, salt, and yak butter), a staple in this cold environment. My time was running out in Zhongdian, so I thanked my new friend and bid him farewell. I had a long journey ahead of me, including a 18 hour overnight busride back to Kunming, then a 26hour train ride to Guangzhou in southeastern China. Distant family relatives and my great-grandparents hometown awaited me...
