west and north

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Since the first town west of Chengdu, Sichuan province, I've visited 2 others and am now in the 4th town.

One was quite a ways west, nearing the official T border, and passing through stunning scenery. The further west, the more T homes i saw. In retropspect, having returned partway along the same route (in order to head north), i realized that those before the actual town were quite spaciously distanced from one another, perched in lovely vantage points like on a hill/ledge or overlooking the river.

In general, the houses are either made from charcoal coloured rocks, or from solid wooden beams (there are a lot more trees in those western areas, so mountainous and difficult to clearcut).

The colours vary, anything from solid with with a band of maroon rimming just underneath the flat-topped roof... or solid maroons or yellows, with white borders around the rectangular windows. Sometimes these white borders have intricate designs painted in swirls of black or other colours.

The rooves, as mentioned, are flat-topped, though they often have a 1/4 square cut out, which is used (presumably) as a lounging place protected from the stronger winds. Surprisingly, many of these homes housed large satellite dishes (i've since learned that nearly every home in C has a tv with cable, part of the education efforts). Otherwise, potted plants or drying vegetables could be seen atop the homes. Some were stately, two or three stories, while others were a simple but still lovely single level home.

In the western town itself, the houses were placed much closer together. Some were so close it was like a T suburbs. There is a massive construction and re-construction effort going on in these villages, as well as in between. Yet, this is possibly just a surface effort, to make the towns eye-candy for tourists, while the very poor nomads still roam with little to no support or basic services.

In that town, i stumbled across a monk. Rather, he picked me up. Saucy monk. He invited me to tour around with him the next day on his motorbike. And true to his word, he found me and took me onto the rolling hills i'd eyed that morning, and further, about 15km outside of town to a sacred mountain housing a recently built monastery, funded by its head lama.

Later i chatted with him, had dinner, and set him up with his first email account.

Interestingly, he had fled to India in 1990, returned about 12 years later because he was quite ill (from the water and food, he said). I found this strange, as once having left i didn't expect he'd be welcomed in. A good deal of money to the right people seemed to solve this problem. Yet, i worried about him associating with me, my western influences and all, but he didn't seem to worry too much.

I bussed back the way i'd come and headed north to another small, increasingly famous, town which i'd heard was also very T and little influenced. Hmmm, yes and no. Very T, in terms of the buildings and overall population. But still C influenced, with C shop owners and control. Later, in my dorm room, i learned from a foreign woman who's taught english in the area for the past 3 years that an T orphanage-school, funded by a foreign NGO had been accepted as legitimate (thus a state school) and thus had to be run and controlled by C authorities.

From what the woman said, it sounded much like a prison. Seven days a week, very long hours, no opportunity to leave the locked compound... And the teachers there (one foreign teacher) have it just as rough. So, little-to-no money seems to be poured into T education, but when something is independently set up, it is still nearly impossible to run in a different, more effective manner.

I stayed only briefly in that town, finding it quite beautiful but more like a facade, like an ole western set with building faces but no content. Maybe a hasty judgement, but there is a lot to see.

Now, i am further north, again having passed through incredible scenery (those rolling, overlapping, velvet green mountains; winding roads; forested hills; yaks; T houses in extraodinary colours; stupas; more yaks...) and now am in a town with the none-too-shabby backdrop of mighty snow-capped mountains.


pictures to follow later, when at an adequate computer

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Photos

monk's hat
this is but one of the many variations of dress

friend and guide
he approached me earlier to offer a tour of the surrounding hills

shovelling tea
after taking a tour of Gandze monastery, i was invited in for lunch. Seeing the kitchen was interesting, and the utensils incredible.