Labrang Panorama
This shows the (new — remember how friendly I said Tibetans are!)
friend I spent most of my second day with, on the mountain behind the
monastery at sunset. We’d already completed the full circuit of the
“pilgrim’s trail” all around the complex, and I wanted to get into the
hills above and do some hiking and watch the sunset and see the
complex from other angles. In the next sets of shots you’ll see
pilgrims on the dusty trail behind the temple, where the buildings
come too close to the mountain face to permit more prayer wheels to be
placed there, and many other shots he or I took as we wandered around
all afternoon and early evening.
Labrang, Mountain Valley
I wanted to end my essay on Labrang with this shot. It’s unusual, but
I’m proud of it. Enjoy.
Xiahe Mosque
In that big long monologue I subjected you to at the beginning of this
piece, I mentioned all the mosques. As I noted then , I did manage the
get just enough juice into my batteries to take a few photos in Xiahe
and of Labrang. This is the Xiahe Mosque – the only workable shot I
have, from all the lovely Mosques I saw throughout the regions I
traveled in. Note both Arabic and Chinese writing on the front, and
the crescent at the top of a very Chinese styled minaret.
Shapotou Dunes & Mountains
Essentially, what was Shapotou desert research center – founded to
figure out how to prevent the desert from its continued growth into
previously productive regions – has grown with the addition of what
amounts to a desert amusement park. You can rent slides and slide down
the dunes (reminding me of riding the dunes at White Sands outside
Alamogordo with my nephew and niece), you can hook yourself into a
harness and fly down a high wire from the top of the dunes to a
platform across the river, and so on. Or you can ride these rafts,
that attach a wooden infrastructure to sheepskins. And when I say
sheepskin, I mean it literally: these wooden platforms are lashed on
top of what look nine dead, hairless sheep. Rather an odd feeling, but
yes – never one to shy away from new experiences, I can now say that
I’ve both ridden the high wire high above the Yellow River, and rafted
on dead sheepskins down it. And, as you’ll see, ridden horses through
its dunes with some friends from my guesthouse.
(so much world, so little time....) 