July 2011

We arrived 4 hours after and there was no village for us to stop. Wudu is just another big city, all brand new dreaming of a Cote d’Azur destiny along the river banks. No identity, only noise, heat and dust. China is a huge construction site. No stone will be left unturned. They are building everywhere. Railway lines, tunnels, dams, hydroelectric stations, gigantic housing estates, schools, hospitals, roads. Electricity and water is reaching the remotest place. One can imagine what it is to feed and connect 1 billion people. They don’t stop any day of the week.

We have seen Langmusi well before it changes. It will! Already the 3 000 people village is trying to absorb the influx of the local tourists and the main road is being lined up with souvenir shops, restaurants, cafés and hotels paving the way for more. We had breakfast at Lesha Café where breakfast is served 24h. Yak seems to be omnipresent, yak yoghurt, yak mac and yak dumplings! The monks and nuns look at the few foreigners just like we watch them. Who is watching who? The village surrounding the monastery is more interesting and authentic than the monastery itself.  In a few years one will barely recognize Langmusi. May be a Siem Reap in becoming.

Toilets in China fall in different categories. The convivial open one where conference can happen. The private conversation type with half height separations allowing chatting. The individual type with private cabins but no doors where one can only show an amicable face. The VIP ones with cabin and doors.

I am always puzzled by the number of Tibetans living outside Tibet. All the clichés concerning them explode into pieces. One will not believe that we can be woken up be drunk monks, that they can gather together in restaurant private rooms to have large eating parties, that they ride motorcycles. In fact Tibetans are immediately associated with Buddhism and piety. We can hardly think that they can be just human like all of us.

We decided out of the blue to stop at Li Jie, one hour before Zhouqu. Small village where we were looked at as UFOs. Our walk in the village started with the 2 of us and ended in a whole group of children wishing to take photos with us, an old lady insisting to show us where to sleep, another one asking if we had dinner. We are in deep rural China. People are welcoming and curious. I guess no foreigners had stopped here for years. The hotel was surprisingly comfortable and of good standard. But the reception girl could not figure out our papers and the police wanted more information about us. At the restaurant food was served to us with photos and signs and the waitress was very helpful with useful information for the next morning bus to Zhouqu. Li jie is a small village cut in two by the river with one half “favoured” by the road. Transformation is happening fast and we will not recognize it in a few years.

Bus travel 3 hours and a half. Unusual number of mosque minarets and domes and some even oddly sitting on Chinese roofs. Some splendid traditional villages nestled in far away valleys. This is where we want to be

One street village and a Tibetan monastery, Labrang. More than 50% Tibetan and the rest Han and 10% Hui. It is the largest monastery in the world outside Tibet. This city was closed until March last year. Hotels and guest houses are being built and more tourists are coming in. Built since 1709, it is still active with all the monks in saffron robes in large presence in the city. It is surprising to see them with mobile phones and Nike shoes.

We had dinner with Julien and Isabelle. We tried some Tibetan dishes with yak meat and tasted momo – dumplings with yak meat. Strong flavor and not may favourite.

Huge city of over 4 million with its Hui areas with stronger Han predominance. We only spent time to visit the new Gansu provincial museum with theme exhibitions on the Silk Road and prehistoric sites discovered in the province. The Silk Road exhibition is excellent presenting each aspect by theme and showing the extent of communication between east and west.

80 days since we are on the road and the joys and feeling of discovery are giving way to fatigue and anticipation of resuming a “normal” comfortable life. Not waking up at odd times to catch a train or a bus. Not planning the whole day on where the toilets will be. Not having to walk for 1 or 2 hours before finding a place to sleep. Not having to wash and wear the same clothes every day. Simple things but all taken for granted in our every day life.