<$BlogRSDUrl$>

Reflections on a Wandering Life.....

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Shepherds in the Canyon 

Tibetan women spreading yak dung on the ground to dry.
Had breakfast with some Tibetan shepherds this morning when I was hiking out of the canyon. I bought some yak butter from them, or tried to. The guy I talked to remembered me from 2006. He refused to take any money. I'll have to try again tomorrow. That stuff is pretty good on Leisha's banana pancakes. The shepherds live a very efficient life. They don't have to pay rent, because they live in tents. They cook will small stoves that burn yak dung. I stopped at a place in town that sells these stoves, and they are not expensive. And if they yak dung is dried properly, it's actually a pretty clean burning fuel.

Talked to a government official today who was sent here after the Tibet riots. He told me that the restrictions I had noticed were directed at groups, not at individual travelers like me. Interesting. That is just about the opposite of what I had concluded. I told him what had happened to me in Lanzhou, and he said he thought those folks didn't understand the policy properly. He also told me that he thought I should be welcome because I supported the one China policy. He had heard me say last night in discussion that I thought Ma Yingjeou was using wisdom in his approach to this policy--supporting reunification, but laying down specific conditions, i.e. issues that needed to be resolved.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?