Day 65

  Xiahe, China
Friday, November 16, 2007

Day 65

As we got the early bus from Lanzhou we were strolling in the main street in Xiahe already by 11:30 am. I would not say it was a very comfortable ride but it was not a terrible one either. The landscape was amazing and observe our driver break all possible traffic rules was also entertaining. In some point he was driving the wrong way honking the horns like crazy trying to be noticed by all drivers in the opposite direction!

Even though Xiahe is not located in the autonomous region of Tibet it's clear that it's not a Chinese city (in opposition to Lanzhou for instance). People are different and also is their attitude towards the environment and other people. They are a lot less destructive and aggressive and they also seem less shallow. Even though it belongs to China, the Greater Tibet Area is a ethnically and culturally different nation and this becomes clear from the moment one steps off the bus.

Once in Xiahe we headed to the Labrang monastery, the main tourist magnet in town (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrang). It was not difficult to find it as it seems that the whole city orbits around the monastery. Actually not only the Labrang monastery but many other religious buildings/institutions including a plethora of smaller monasteries and temples and a nunnery.


As it was low season the experience of being practically the only westerners in town was fantastic, but it also had it's bad side as there was no tour to go inside the Labrang monastery. But I would say that the experience of strolling in the narrow unpaved lanes among the buildings that make the monastery being surrounded only by monks and local pilgrims was really amazing. To take the pilgrim's road and follow the locals spinning the praying wheels was almost unreal and, in my humble opinion, my richest experience in China. While observing people there I felt like an idiot for worrying about getting a job after my trip is over. For a while I felt like I all my troubles had disappeared. It was like living in a trouble less state. Great!

At night we met one of the monks who lived in the hostel where we were in and he accompanied us to a local restaurant. The restaurant was next door to the Tsewong's cafe (http://www.tsewongs-cafe-xiahe.de) where we had breakfast in the morning and they had delicious Tibetan food and a great atmosphere. It was almost like visiting far away friends as the restaurant and the owner's house were kind of mixed in the same building.