a weekend away from the city

A couple of us spent this weekend away from Chengdu and out in a Tibetan village near the town of WenChuan. It was about half a day's drive from Chengdu...and the trip was quite windy and bumpy. We entertained ourselves either by sleeping or by playing simple word games. There were 11 of us in all. 2 of our program administrators, Li Juan and Pang Laoshi, Pang Laoshi's daughter, 2 graudate students who work as assistances in our program, the driver, and Tabitha, Sarah, Matt, Ben, and me.
Everything outside of the city is so different...one of the most noticeable things is the sky. It's hard to find blue skies in Chengdu. Once in a while you'll see it peek through the dense smog and clouds...but out of the city, the sky is absolutely amazing. We stopped to eat in a town on our way to our final destination. I don't know what it is...but the food here is just always so good. For dessert, me and Sarah each bought this pastry from a street vendor. It's sort of like a pancake mix that's been cooked in this pan and then you add all sorts of sweets in it. I got whipped cream and chocolate whipped cream. Very sweet...but very good. We arrived at around 3 in the afternoon. The roads now were no longer paved so the dirt road made us all a bit car sick. The best part of our entire trip, besides the scenery, had to have been our trip up the mountain and then down the mountain. We took tractors. They hurt so much...especially if you are sitting at the inner most seat cause they rails jam themselves into your ribs and legs from the weight of all of the other people sitting along your side. But it was so much fun. All of us couldn't help but laugh. Imagine a wooden roller coaster but no hand rails or anything...and the seat is wood. Yes...very dangerous...but one of the best rides in the world!
The Tibetan village we stayed at had a population of 180. Their main souces of income come from both selling napa to buyers in Chengdu as well as tourists like us. Well...I take that back. I suppose we were tourists...but not in the usual sense. In the past few years, this place has had more and more outside visitors. Some people have felt that this place was becoming too much of a tourist place...but by the looks of it...tourism has been kept out for the most part. Most of the visitors are like us...people who know about this place from word of mouth and then decide to come and visit via our own transportation. Others come here to camp out on this plain up on the top of the mountains. *there's a picture of this plain up on the top of the blog entry* We would have loved to have camped there overnight if we knew about it and actually brought camping gear. However, we didn't so we spent the night in a villager's house.
Here, I want to add a small section about ethnic minority and Han majority interactions. The reason why I thought this trip was so great was that we were visiting in a way that's not so traditionally touristy. In my opinion, it wasn't as exploitive. However, there were times during this trip that I still felt uncomfortable with...that is...how some of the people in the city treat minorities. With anything that is done...there's this expectation that it gets done. Man...I dont really know how to explain this. It's just that sometimes...Han people can really treat minorities as subordinates. Yes, we are paying them for a meal and for lodging...but that doesn't mean that one should treat them as though they are "servants" and service is demanded. I don't know. Does what I'm saying make sense? I'll have to think of something and try rephrasing this later. I don't know. I think the best part of being here in China is having the opportunity to embrace someone's culture and strive to learn something...rather than go in, snap pictures, and then leave.The next morning, me and Sarah got up early to watch the sunrise. However, despite it being 7, it was hard to actually see the sun because it was still behind the mountains and there was a layer of morning fog around. So...we decided to head down a portion of the mountain by foot and see if we could find some of the locals to chat with. Several people were already out tilling the soil and gathering napa. One of the ladies we talked to said that they began to plant in May and that they harvested in October. However, this year was a bad year in regards to climate cooperation...so they are relying more on tourism to provide them with their financial needs. I snapped the picture above as we were heading back to our lodgings.
We headed up the mountain a bit later that morning to visit the Tibetan temple. The only person there that early in the morning *8 AM* was an elderly Tibetan lady saying her prayers. This temple actually has a Lama from Tibet...however...he doesn't come to the temple until 10. We walked around and talked to the lady some. She said that the temple had only been there for about 30 years. Behind the temple, we visited the resting place of one of the previous Lamas.
Overall, the trip was great. Hopefully, I'll find myself in more of these places...and stay longer than just 2 days.