14/09/2009
After Yunnan, on to western Sichuan and its high grasslands, Tibetan culture. A 12-day drive along various parts of the tea road towards Tibet. For Tibet proper (meaning the T.A.R.), we need four permits to drive around, and that takes time, so I’m first doing the Sichuan side and then, after a couple of days in the capital, Chengdu, flying to Lhasa to pick up another 4WD vehicle. In fact, flying tomorrow, as the first of our permits has just arrived by courier at the hotel (can’t fly without).
High grasslands means around 4,000 metres, reaching 5,000 metres on some of the passes. Surprisingly (for me) beautiful, and at these altitudes the light can be spectacular in the thin air. An easy to remember fact is that at 5,000 metres there’s approximately 50 per cent of the oxygen at sea level, which you definitely feel if you go running up a hill after a yak caravan or chasing the light…
The triangular pattern on the hillside is a field of prayer flags.
And always, of course, the yaks…
Herding yaks west of Kangding — so much better in front of the camera than in the form of rancid yak butter dissolved in tea.
In the far west of Sichuan, by the Tibetan border, is the Scripture Printing Library at Dege, the most renowned in Tibetan Buddhism, where everything, from paper-making and ink-grinding through to carving the wooden blocks and printing them is done on the spot…
In the courtyard, workers clean and soak the freshly carved blocks in red pigment, prior to printing.
And outside the same building, something a little different. I’ve been involved with the Sony Soccergraphy project this year, and the deadline is approaching. Football is not a national obsession in China, so we decided to take a football with us.
To the puzzlement of pilgrims and locals walking the circuit of the building in the late afternoon, a boy and monk make tentative steps at the beautiful game.
A few days later, we cross the 4,000 metre-plus grasslands near Litang, home of Khampa nomads. The football proves an immediate success, and despite some early confusion over the use of hands (basketball seems more familiar in China than soccer), I think we may have sown the seeds of interest…
Leaving cattle, yaks, horses and goats to look after themselves for a while, our new recruits get the fever.
Probably the first Khampa nomad team on the plateau (well, not me, obviously). We left the ball and a pump with them. Image © Fred Kranich
