this was the second picture i took of loverboy. i showed him the first and he took off his sunglasses to look at the photo. he wasn't pleased with it, and so i took another, which he put his sunglasses back on for.
15 June, 2005
our driver
this was our three-wheel tractor driver, the one with the speakers in the back. notice the tiny pictures of chinese ladies pasted all over his cart, as well as his windscreen.
waiting for the bus
in these little towns the movie star effect takes place, where everyone within reasonable distance suddenly hears about the lao-wais and comes to check it out. just imagine if an antelope wandered down your street, you'd probably do the same. of course, the people were very friendly (i'd want to pet the antelope too).
need the green
keely practically ran into the field since we hadn't been surrounded by anything green in two weeks.
rapeseed field
this was one of those surreal moments when life eclipses itself and you find yourself in heaven.
gong gong ce suo
we took this photo before we knew it was the toilet. you go into one of the two doors on the second floor, and then bat flies away from your ___ while you aim for the ground.
dranang temple
usually only lit by candles or the light from the entrance, the temples are dark cool places, perfectly for prayers and meditating. when i walked around it alone, there was a deep drum beating and the doors were shut. i came back with the ladies and we were ushered inside where monks' robes and pillows were still laying around the various meditation benches. it is small, local and has a wonderfully warm radiance.
bodhisattva
temples typically have a buddha in the center surrounded by bodhisattvas, which are amazing to look at. small bills, jiao, are placed everywhere as gifts/offerings.
dranang monastery
the guidebook says only about 8 monks currently reside here. a friend of ours is massively interested in a monk who heads this monastery and does dream meditation. apparently it is also one of the only monasteries to include women in its lineage tree and did so many years ago.
school's out
just before we left, a school let out and all the kids came traipsing down the street shyly smiling and waving "hello".
farming on main street
i suppose i shouldn't be suprised in a town with only one street to find a farm whose walls are on main street. the town or village is not so much a commercial center, but is more a collective of residential places that also serve as tea houses, stores, and farms.
whitewashing
always at work, locals are constantly building, destroying, or repairing some structure or another.
fairly wild west
all of tibet so far is fairly dusty, but these sorts of towns remind me of the american images of the wild west in the 1800s.
main street
after talking in the chakang, sarah and i had to go find timon, who was wandering around town. it wasn't too hard to find him, the only other whitey. he was playing pool with some locals, on the only street in town.
rickshaw blurring
our driver had rigged up a stereo system in the tractor ricshaw, so we could bounce along to the bumpy road and the music together.
where are we actually going?
yes, we did just hop off the bus on the side of the road, with no town in sight. then we had to figure out how to use the cell phone. we are development experts, i swear.
reclaiming the desert
when traveling around tibet you can't help but notice the massive desert reclamation projects underway, which basically translates as: tree planting. mostly one kind of tree, but i haven't figured out what it is yet. it grows well in sand with little surface water. i'm guessing they have deep roots since there are successful groves of trees all over, but mostly near the rivers.
14 June, 2005
nyangma-ing
ah, the nyangma. traditional tibetan dances performed to massive sound systems, and not infrequently dry ice smoke. while sitting at your table, budwiser and coors light girls in mini-skirts come up to get their commission on beer sales. after the traditional shows, it turns into a techno disco and people get very drunk and VERY friendly.
night pool
keely loses so badly that she has to teach the tibetan boy how to say in english "i'm killing you".
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