Suddenly, the monk/cab driver stopped the van and told me that there was something interesting going on outside. In the middle of nowhere, right by the large river on the cliff, there were a bunch of people on the street (a highway) selling, exchanging, or trading what I thought was the Matsutake, a Japanese pine mushroom.
In someways, the monks seemed like a mediators for trading, exchanging, and selling. The people seemed to let monks taking the situation in their hands. Their presence was big.
Then, I got to a market based town, 德欽 Deqin at very late night. The cab drivers took me to a local restaurant and we ate some fried vegitables , cooked rice, and meat dish. The can drivers seemed surprised at what I preferred to eat for being a tourist. I guess a normal tourist eat more voracious food. Luckily, the cabdrivers decided to stay in 德欽 Deqin in the same hotel with me. I was very glad for not being able to speak Tibetan. This whole town was mostly Tibetan populated. Then as we got to the hotel room, the cab drivers had a phone call and suddenly they had to drive 5- hours back to Shangri La (Zhongdian). Then from that night I was again all on my own without being able to speak Tibetan. The next day awaited trekking 5-6 hours to a remote village, 雨崩村 Yubeng.
In the morning at the market town of 德欽 Deqin, after some struggle with ATM machine and withdrawing money directly from credit card from bank teller, I took a cab to 飞来寺 Feilai Si, the spectacular cliff with beautiful stupas. I was starting to learn Tibetan Buddhism's connection to beautiful views of spectacular nature. These scene of awe were so breath taking that it leaves you believe a trace of God-like power of nature. This overwhelming marks of nature is a visual testimony of subjugation to faith, at least that's how I felt.
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