I can understand why people love the
Tibetan culture, people are friendly and smiling, the food is amazing, the
countryside is beautiful, and their clothes are hilarious! Final day in
Shangri-La was spent on my assignment, but in the afternoon, with the two
characters that had made my stay full of laughter. We started off with a drink,
and as it was the last time I would egg them on to dress up in traditional
Tibetan gear and sit on the yak down
in the main square, we had a few drinks, and ended up actually doing it!
My gown had the longest sleeves you could imagine. People were taking photos of
and with us. General hilarity ensued, especially when they had turns sitting on
the yak and posing for hundreds of happy snaps from bystanders.
After this we found an Indian restaurant to
eat at, horrible wine, unexpected dishes and more laughter at Matt splashing
spinach curry all over himself, we decide to indulge in one last glass of plum
wine before bed. On our way through the town we passed through the smaller
dancing square, where for the first time we see why it has this name. There
were so many people, in a big circle, moving around in time to some oriental
music. Of course we joined in! The guys didn’t quite follow the steps
accurately, but again, lots of laughter.
Some videos and blurry pictures, then it was decided we needed to calm
ourselves with a hot, toxic, plum wine. This drink has a wrinkled plum at the
bottom of a wineglass, its heated, and smells exactly like nail polish. Tastes
great though, its only about 40% so we very maturely decided to stick to one
glass before goodbyes. The next morning I rose early to get myself to the bus
station. Bought a ticket back to Dali and hey presto I’m on my way once again,
taking pics of the epic farmhouses through the Tibetan influenced countryside,
wondering if I will ever see it again.
