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"Dege, Kham Province, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture" ?Posted by devon on Sunday, March 21, 2004
For the past few days, I have been travelling towards the end of the earth.
It became evident some time after Kangding, where concrete, chinese people and lower elevations gave way to impossibly high mountain ranges, handbuilt dwellings that seem to have risen themselves from the earth and rugged, nomadic looking people wearing the most elaborate costumes that the human mind could devise.
I have been going up and up and up, and correspondingly, the feeling of isolation and timelessness has been slowly creeping into my conciousness.
This is another place, another time, not part of a reality that I thought existed.
In fact, Tibet seems to be the place that I dreamed of before I left on my trip, but have spent the last year conivincing myself was not a reality. Progress, and westernization, I thought, had made inroads everywhere, effecting even the most far-flung hilltribe in Thailand, or generating greed and want in even on the most isolated island in the Pacific.
But Tibet is different. They have easier lives and material wealth screaming at them through the windows, and thumping loudly on the door, yet they take nothing.
So in a few minutes, I continue my uncertain journey towards this strange, mysterious kingdom on the rooftop of the world.
I will be out of contact for 4 days, at which point I will hopefully reach lhasa.
Wish me luck,
TTFN.
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