Joune

Monday, October 06, 2008

Maerkang

Like in most of western China, the contrast between the modern chinese settlers towns and the traditional, culturaly tibetan, nearby villages is striking..

Maerkang is as ugly and unwelcoming as the area and nearing villages are beautiful.

Maerkang

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Birthday cakes?

These traditional houses are typical of the region of Maerkang.. the white "icing" and cutout terrace make them look like giant birthday cakes with one slice already gone!

Tibetan roads...

We're not in official tibet yet.. but getting closer..
I was only starting to experience the mountain roads; every now and then we had to get off the bus and walk a bit, so the lighter empty bus could manage accross mud..

At the retaurant

Jamming

Over the valley

Cyber monks

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Langmusi nomads

I was hiking in the valley near Langmusi when i met this family of sheperds. They instantly welcomed me into their tent and offered tea. I have no clue how we managed to communicate but we did somehow. They had a small guitar-like instrument so i tried to play something. Then i asked if i could take some photos.
They lived there, two brothers (i guess) and their wives, and a kid, in these tiny tents, with no floor, sleeping on mats laid directly on the humid ground. I felt cold.
The moment was magic.. they were so nice i didn't want to leave. But soon the difficulties of communication made it awkward for me to stay any longer.
They wanted me to send them the photos but they couldn't write their address and neither could I..

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Xiahe

First stop out of Beijing and i felt like i was in Tibet already.. that's when i started to realize that half of China was actually Tibet.

Buddhist tourists visiting the main temple in Xiahe.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Remember the raft ?

Just to re-sync with the trip; here's where we are: on the "Raft of the medusa".. 22 hours of packed hard-seat train between Beijing and Lanzhou..
More country side coming soon!