Day Two In Shangri-La
I have a few minutes here so hey, why not post our entire day? Okay. Photos AND some videos even.
After arriving yesterday and the initial disappointment from seeing what the town was like (THIS is supposed to be Shangri-La?) we set out today to find something that would redeem this town in some way - not that it’s the local peoples fault that the Chinese government decided to proclaim this as Shangri-La.
After breakfast, we set out to visit the two Tibetan Buddhists monasteries nearby. First, we hopped onto the #3 bus and rode it all the way there - for just 1 yuan! Tibetans got on the bus too and rode with us.
I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. We had seen the monastery that is in Beijing - and it was more Chinese Buddhists than Tibetan. This one… was probably really great before the Chinese arrived. Not that Chinese influence is bad, however, as is often the case with any new overriding influence that turns the old into a tourists attraction - it’s just a poor situation.
The monastery is really awesome however, sadly it seems to have lost any religious meaning/status/depth. Overrun with Chinese tourists running all over the grounds, and generally being less respectful than anyone with any appreciation of another culture would like.
It’s not Chinese tourists I have problems with - just domestic tourists of any type, no matter what the country. Whether it’s Americans in America or Chinese in China, tourists are increasingly annoying. And there is a clear distinction between being a traveler and tourist.
And as I may have said in an earlier post somewhere, it’s always sad when one of these minority cultures turns to the gift shop model of selling their wares to visitors. Whether you’re talking about Native American Indians hawking dream-catchers or Tibetans selling mini-prayer wheels manufactured in factory somewhere else in China - it’s just kind of sad.
And yet, it is very easy to appreciate everything I’ve seen, and been here to take part in. The monasteries are awesome, and seeing the Tibetan population here really helps to emphasize why it is such a terrible thing that their culture is being stifled at the very least, if not erased - just as the path that Native American cultures in the US have arguably been forced to go down.
With Tibetan culture disappearing, we lose thousands of years of thought and understanding of consciousness that are/were kept in writings that have already been destroyed and many that will most likely be destroyed.
We also stopped at the market on our way back - because you know that we ALWAYS stop at the market - no matter what town or city we’re in. This one was quite awesome. We finally purchased some tea, except the language barrier was a little more trouble than usual. This is Leah trying to buy some jasmine and green tea for the both of us.
Then we went to the other side of the market and saw that all the local Tibetan women were sitting down at tables and eating lunch. So we walked around a little and this lady starts waving to me, trying to get us to come over to her section. We look at a few other spots then eventually decide to check her out since she was trying so hard. That was a good decision on our part. She and her husband really took care of us. Here’s some video of him making us some Yak Butter Tea, and then also Leah making little dough balls. It was a good small lunch.
[Video to be inserted when at a faster internet connection - sorry]
After lunch we went to the second monastery - this one didn’t even have any monks in it anymore - just a shell of what was and only there for the tourists to do their thing. This site did have a huge prayer wheel. HUGE. Here’s the video of Leah making her round.
[Video to be inserted when at a faster internet connection - sorry]
This one is only about a five minute walk from the hostel we’re staying at, so that was nice since I have a head cold and I wasn’t really feeling too great when we set off to walk to this one. Fortunately, it was still beautiful and a good site to visit.
This town isn’t the real Shangri-La. Knowing what I know now, I don’t think that I would’ve chosen to come here. I would have probably avoided it on purpose. But we have spent money that should go directly to the Tibetan population here and that’s at least a little comforting, though not very much.
My legs are tired and we have Tiger Leaping Gorge tomorrow. For some reason, I can’t wait to get back to Beijing. I know it’s heavily polluted and an insane urban mess, but even now, only two weeks after leaving that city, I kind of miss it.
