frontier town?

---

I am in a town about a 6-7 hour smooth bus ride west from Chengdu and is said to be star tracks final frontier between C and T communities, at least according to the lonely planet bible.

They have it wrong. It is overwhelmingly a C town, with ethnic Ts living amidst the normal C style city, concrete box, utilitarian construction.

The shops are mainly C run, save for some shoebox food shops or T restaurants. The roadside fruit and veg and bread vendors seem to be mainly T.

Most T i've seen here seem to speak C much of the time. Some of the older ones speak T amongst themselves, in the confines of a restaurant, home, or small area. I get the impression, though, that this is simply out of practicality: it is much more sensible to communicate in the dominant language.

From what i have heard, T children who attend schools are learning C curriculum and have little exposure to T language. Explained to me by a T studies student from the states, from C's point of view, it is not economically sound to waste money on educating T in their language, a basically useless language from an economic and developmental perspective .

Today i was fortunate to join the american student in visiting a local school which focusses, non-politically, on educating T on their language. They also, if fortunate enough to attend the school (based on previous educate and entrance test), learn further C, as well as art and some other subjects. The other very fortunate aspect to today's visit was in meeting a very educated, very accomplished, very highly regarded nun and one of her students/aides.

We spent the afternoon with the student, talking about the positive changes he is making in his own community, and basically just exchanging cultural tidbits. He has started a small school for the local impoverished, he doing the fundraising by his own art-work which is commissioned, usually from surrounding monasteries. I commissioned a piece, not for travellers bravado but because he wouldn't accept straightforward donations.

We met a cousin of his, and later i had my first glimpse of a T meal, albeit a light, veggie version: fresh yogurt (one of the best i've experienced) and fried tubers, and butter tea. The tubers were tiny (say that 5 times fast), but apparently when combined with the staple food, roasted, ground barely, make a complete protein.

The town lines a river on both sides, a river which is quite high and full of protests after a good amount of rain. Mountains (tho not the snow-capped one of dreams) frame the setting in jagged streaks. Those snow caps are visible in the distance, enticing indeed. It is still lowish altitude, so no problems with any sort of sickness. I curiously await my fate: will i or won't i feel the wrath of altitude?

One other overwhelming, and positive, thing i've experienced here is that everyone is quite friendly, everyone ready to smile back at me, which is vastly different from some overtouristed towns in mainstream tourist C.

Tomorrow, on to another ethnic T region, one that is said to really be T territory, and small. So probably no internet~

---

Photos

round the prayer wheel
in kangding/dartsedo a humble monastery with a sombre prayer wheel. The faces were alight, happy or surprised to see a foreigner there, and eager to show me how to give it a spin.

prayers in motion
the wheel was set spinning by someone and continued to distribute the prayers even after departure.