Tagong Horse festival

---

After we left Gonga Shan we left at 6 in the morning to hike out 4 hours. We then got picked up by our faithful minivan driver in the middle of nowhere. We were then whisked 6 hours to Tagong on through backroads and even one field path. Once in Tagong we met Djorge who took our group and a group of french and spanish out to where we hoped on horses. These horses were not as docile as our previous encounters. Many of the French and Spanish were not even as seasoned as Keren and I now so we spent what could have been a much shorter ride waiting for the group of now 14 to do an amoeba dance across the plateau from Tagong to the festival.

Once there the rain had begun so Keren and I popped up our tent and did a bit of settling in. The large tents that were provided for many of the others were bottomless and had holes in the top for the poles meaning water. They had spread bushes on the ground to keep people off of the wet ground. food had been brought up but a group in the main tent mostly european backpackers had already lit into much of the beer and spread out their things. We were greeted with "This is our space that is our beer did you bring any food". As we had paid for food and not lodging we grabbed what we could and headed to our cozy dry tent. The night was rather chilly with a large thunderstorm that had delivered lightening and a considerable amount of rain. Our sleeping bags and tent kept us cozy. The next morning we got up to find hot water for tea or coffee. We were met by disgruntled and wet Europeans in fact something of a shouting match had broken out during the night over the tent situation. As Keren and I had been wet now for nearly a week keeping our things in rotation to always have something dry for the morning, without a shower and had just spent a cozy night this was a bit humorous. We drank our coffee and taught some of the Europeans how to make Tsampa. Basically cookie dough using barley flour and yak butter and a bit of water. I tried adding my coffeemate sugar creamer packet to no real affect as they don't add any sugar. Suprising though how so many years of making cookies prepares you for the oddest situations.

After this little rigamoroll. We headed up to the buddhist temple erected at the top of the hill where a rain rain go away ceremony was about to commence. As most ceremonies there was giant smokey fire of incense and then an awning was set up and rugs set out for the musicians. Where they then began there hubabaloo in a dense cloud of fog with rolling incense hoping for a clear day of horse riding. The riders brought their horses up to do three turns around the alter for luck and headed back to tent city where they sat and drank tea or in many cases beer. After several hours of milling about the general population of tent people meandered up to the ridge top for a bit of hollering. Where they then rode off to a ridge almost out of sight. Then then rode what seemed quickly at a far distance from the crowd up to the top of a peak. Then sauntered back to us. With paddles declaring their place. Sort of anti-climactic we didn't even know that was the race. From here we went to the awards ceremony where people won bales of tea. literally tied up bales of tea. That was it for the day. We sat around the rest of the day. Most of the Europeans split as this was a little too rugged for them. A swiss woman and a canadian man stayed on with our group as they were of a little hardier stock.

The next day we meandered around for hours until the flag pickup game. Where the riders reach down sideways and backways to pick up flags off of the ground. This was my favorite part as we actually got to see them doing it. After the flag pickup game was a small variety show of various medium grade performances. That afternoon we packed up horses and headed back. This time we got back quite a bit quicker as everyone was pretty comfortable on their horses. The expanses and spending more time at elevation was definitely enjoyable. We spent a few days in Tagong and then headed back to Chengdu.

---

Photos

Buddhists for a clear day
Buddhists at the festival doing an anti rain ceremony

Comments

[Aunt Lonnie]

Not hardy stock
I would have not been hardy stock as wet and cold are not my friends! So proud of you however.