And into Kham

Over the last few days I have visited some of the tourist sites of Kangding, including the museum, where I spent a happy hour or so talking to the museum owner/director, who had passable English; his brother and his sister, both of whom help him run the museum, but spoke only Tibetan; and a monk, who may or may not have been related to the rest, who also spoke only Tibetan. He was the second Tibetan, 1000km apart, to instantly recognise the name of Tulku Akong Rimpoche, and catalogue the superb work he is doing in this area, particularly in the field of education. I had not realised how famous Rimpoche Akong was. He is certainly very well known amongst Tibetans, and Kham Tibetans in particular.

I then travelled onto a small town called Tagong. This is very much Kham, the part of Greater Tibet I have seen least. It is just starting to be opened up for tourism, and is being marketed as the "Wild West of Tibet". Apart from the fact that it lies in the eastern part of Greater Tibet, this is quite apt. It is a nomad town, so the evening rush hour consists mainly of horses, both ridden, walked, and pack animals returning to Tagong, accompanied by men and women in traditional costume. I am staying in what is now a guest house, but which started life as a Tibetan woman opening her house to visitors. She only provides rooms, but all the rooms are the traditional fully painted panelled Tibetan rooms. There is one cafe/guesthouse run by an American which serves western food, one decent Chinese restaurant; one reasonable shop; and the rest is moderately dismal. I am starting to get really remote - the only way here is by one of the small communal hire minivans that act as a sort of taxi service here, but will only go any where when they have a full van.