a Altitude Headache

at Shangri La (Zhongdian)

When I woke up in the morning, for the first time I had an altitude sickness. I thought that maybe I should rest in the city of Shangri La (Zhongdian) for the rest of the time and not to go to Yubeng that was 6-10 hours away on car and trekking. This city was filled with young people and there were many bars and shops.


Then, I forced myself to have a breakfast, getting toasted bread and not having any bite for feeling sick, I took a bus to Songzanlin Monastery.

b This is the....................

at 松赞林寺 (Songzanlin Monastery/Ganden Sumtseling Monastery)Then, in no time, I was at Songzanlin Monastery.
These cartoon-style painted depictions of life in Tibetan Buddhist mural was provocative and humorous at the same time. The young man was standing facing the spectacular view all to himself.

c In the dark corner, there is a prayer

This is looking at what's in front of Songzanlin Monastery, the field was vast and in someways, it reminded me of my grand mother's hometown in Japan.
In the monestery.

d Les Monks des Mystique

As I spent time there, seeing these grown men wearing this reddish brown robe praying with tanned skin mystified me.
I saw many monks. I talked to many of them, imagining their life. Then by the time I walked around the whole Songzanlin Monastery, my headache was gone and I was taken by the atmosphere there. Then, I wanted to experience more. So I took a bus back to Shangri La (Zhongdian).

In the bus, monks were very lively, energetic, and bright in their facial expression.


I quite didn't know how to pay the fee and how much the bus fee was since I spoke no Chinese nor Tibetan. So, I ended up giving a large sum of money so they had to give me a change. This abrasive gesture pissed a lot of people in the buss off, making me look like a big unkind tourist. Maybe, they thought I was a snobby Chinese tourist.

e Tibetan Cab Driver Was a Lama

So, back in Shangri La (Zhongdian), I told a man who was sitting in one of the van that I wanted to go to Deqin (德欽) and Yubeng (雨崩) by showing the names of the town and village that I wrote on a piece of paper. That man brought another man, the driver who seemed very excited about the money that I offered for the trip. I was little bit hesitant and skeptical, but I had no choice and not much time left.
So about one hour later, two men drove this van with me in the back. The one on the right is a monk on the weekend, but for money he wears NorthFace jacket and drives a van/cab.

f 金沙江 Jinsha River （長江源流）の大屈曲

金沙江（長江源流）の大屈曲

g On the road in the middle of nowhere

Lama selling 松茸 Matsutake near 德欽 Deqin County

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.