Exploring Shangri La

Wednesday, July 9, 2008--Shangri La (Continued)

Most of this day was a loss due to being so tired. After napping deeply, my head still felt sluggish. It wasn't until the late afternoon before I felt good and could go out exploring and enjoying myself in this picturesque place.

I met a nice Tibetan young man while walking. We said hello to each other on the street and then stood there visiting for at least half an hour. He has an interesting history. He lived with monks at the monastery from ages 7 to 17 because that was the only way to get an education. He migrated to India as part of the exodus of Tibetans reacting to China's takeover of the country. He went to a Tibetan university in Varinasi. Now he is living here and organizing private tours to area towns and villages and to Tibet. He provides either treks or horseback tours and can arrange bus tours, too. He seemed like a sincere young man. He never tried to talk me into letting him do any kind of business with me. And he commented that if I knew of anyone who would want to arrange travel with him as a guide that his prices were reasonable. This area is really great and is easy to access from Bangkok and other major cities by flying to Kunming.

When I returned to my hotel, I met Denis. He's a Brazilian who is a professor at a university in Macau. He's taken off some time to travel in this area. But he was ill with an upset stomach and fever apparently due to something he had eaten. We visited a long time. He was impressed that I have seen so much of Brazil. He ate some plain rice in the guesthouse restaurant, but he obviously was afraid to try anything else.

I left the guesthouse to go eat dinner and was surprised to find the square in the old town filled with people dancing. Many of them were locals in native costumes. A few tourists had joined in, too. They were in a big circle and were moving as they danced. It was somewhat like a line dance.

I went around the corner to a "tourist" restaurant for dinner. I had seen earlier that they had a wooden fire and offered pizza. Unfortunately, the crust was not that good, and the pepperoni (made from local yak meat, I think) was tough. And the prices were as expensive as eating in the U.S. Anyway, I ate my pizza making the most of it. Tomorrow, I will try local food, I think.

Thursday, July 10, 2008--Shangri La

This area used to be offically a part of Tibet. But the Chinese strategy of taking over Tibet and keeping control of the situation has been based on several tactics. One has been divide-and-conquer. Various parts of Tibet were taken from it and put with Chinese provinces. This area came to be a part of Yunnan through that strategy. Another tactic has been to flood Tibet with Chinese. Everyone says that to see "real" Tibet today it is necessary to go beyond Lhasa today to visit in villages, since Lhasa has such a large proportion of Chinese people forming its population due to this strategy.

The people here look Tibetan, too. Unfortunately, many of them also look dirty. But if I lived in such a high climate and had no hot water for bathing, I might put off taking a bath as long as possible, too.

This morning, after enjoying a very warm shower with water from my private hot water heater, I went hiking into the hills south of here. I wanted to reach a small monastery the guidebook had mentioned. It was a long upward walk. With the high altitude, it was necessary to slow my pace and pause occasionally to get plenty of oxygen into my lungs. I climbed out of the old town and up a trail. I went through an old cemetery and eventually reached the place. The monastery itself wasn't much, but the view was fantastic!! Because it was the top of the mountain, I could see in all directions. Returning, I found a more direct path than the one I took getting up there.

I stopped at the square in old town and bought a special breakfast bread they were selling there. It is a disk of dough about 20 cm (8 inches) in diameter and about 1 cm (half an inch) in thickness. They spread a chile paste on it and sprinkled it with green onions. I walked in the streets eating it.

I visited with Denis some more. He had been sick during the night. But he looked as if he were feeling better this morning. He had just eaten some dry toast with a cup of tea. He was talking about getting out to see some of the town today. The two of us may go out later to see the big monastery here which is the main reason that most people come to Shangri La.