Traveling

Xiahe

Xiahe was amazing (ly cold). We flew to Langzhou and then bussed for almost a day to this place called Xiahe. It is supposed to be the place to go if you cant get to Tibet. I am so happy that Chantal and Phil brought us here- we would have never been able to get to this place on our own. Too far out and off the beaten path- sorta.
Anyhow, this town was pretty much just a huge Monastery. You have never seen so many monks in all your life. Everywhere you went. They were on motor bikes, in taxis, walking down the street, on cel phones, EVERYWHERE. My favorite was: ok, just to put this in perspective, the main cars that are around are these tiny white truck taxi type things. There is the occaisonal obnoxious Chinese tourist SUV, but mainly just work trucks or these little taxis. Anyways, this Sonata pills up next to our taxi (Sonata would be a pretty sleek car- think very high end) and there is a monk in full robes driving with another monk in the passenger seat , also full robes, wearing these huge sunglasses. I will never forget that.

We spent a day out in the Grasslands, horseback riding. We each had our own guide that rode along on the horse with us.. interesting. My lady sang most of the way, and she was so gorgeous, with long black hair and colorful clothes. Jess did so well on her own horse too!

This was an amazing town to stay in. I;m glad it was longer than just a run in and out time. I like to lounge, and this is exactly what we did. We wandered the town and I had the chance to feel reallly comfortable in a very cool town. (BTW I am so not doing this town justice as I am writing so far after the fact, and nothing I can say will explain better than my photos. Go see them on yahoo- My favorite would have to be the one of the couple that are staring right into the camera. they wanted to see what I was doing as i was showing pics to jess on the street, so I asked to take their photo and then showed it to them. She has the most beautiful jewelry on and he looks like a full out 'Tibetan cowboy'.
Long jacket, with arms going to the ground, one of them wrapped around his body tucked into the red belt.. dagger slung on the belt as well.

posted by jjoollee @ 6:24 AM