The landscape from Chengdu into Kham is constantly varied and interesting. From Chengdu to Kangding goes ov er one of the most scenic and spectacular passes I have encountered. It is a high pass (approx 5000m). Unlike passes to the north, it is covered with vegetation right over the pass - starting with semitropical vegetations and becoming more temperate as the altitude increases. There are masses of crops of all sorts
(one of the local plums/peaches is fantastic. It is incredibly juicy; the flesh is tightly attached to the stone; the skin is bright, almost strawberry red; it is impossible to eat gracefully or without juice going everywhere, fingers, hands, arms, clothing and seat; with a taste exactly mid way between that of a plum and a peach. But absolutely delicious.)
There were also multiple sites containing bee hives - usually 50-80 at a time (and Chinese beekeepers seem to wear exactly the same clothing and use exactly the same equipment as English beekeepers).
Once over the pass I was into a series of vallies and passes, gradually getting higher, and presenting new vistas at every change from valley to valley. These started off comparatively small and got deeper and narrower as I went on. The first series was almost a continuation of the pass though at a lower level. Then came the high level grasslands, followed by a series of valley systems, all different, but all recognisably forming part of the overall landscape. In turn these gave way to Alpine like steep gorges with sharp edged, high mountains plunging down to the rivers in the valley bottoms. On from Kangding, and getting very remote, this system of vallies eventually led to the gompa vallies. These are vallies that are very reminiscent of the Lake District - if all horizontal dimensions are multiplied 100 fold, and all vertical dimensions 10 fold. They are where the majority of the Gompas (monasteries) have been built. In a given valley, and these vallies can extend for over a hundred kilometers, there might be a stupa, a gompa, or a temple every five to eight kilometres on both sides of the valley.
All in all, a very beautiful landscape, of infinite variety, and increasingly remote.
Yet another stream is that of Buddhism and Tibetan culture. Chengdu is a very large Chinese city which is a major transport hub and which has always been seen as the gateway to Tibet. Nontheless it is purely Chines and there is no Tibetan influence to be seen. It is the provincial capital of Sichuan (Chinese local government structure goes, in descending order of size and importance: province, prefecture, county) and is the most modern, western, consumer based city I have encountered in China. Kangding, a prefecture capital, is about 50/50 Chinese and Tibetan. Most of the Tibetans live in the Tibetan quarter, which is older, poorer, and located on one of the steep sides of the valley rather than the valley bottom, where most of the Chinese live. There are a number of temples and monasteries, all of them that I saw with a substantial Chinese influence in their internals and iconography. One of the temples was supposedly a temple where love and relationships would be sought - the main element of the temple was a partially nude female figure, with in front of it a standing, one third size, nude adult male Buddha figure. Though both figures had been draped with muslin they represented no aspect of Buddhism I have previously encountered. Many of the businesses and property has been taken over by the Han Chinese. There is a superb Tibetan museum, and I spent over an hour talking to the English speaking director of the museum, his sister, his brother, and a Tibetan monk, none of whom spoke English, so there was a lot of translation going on.
TaGong was pretty solidly Tibetan, though on one of the main Chinese students' tourist routes. There are a few Chinese shops, but not much other visible sign of Chinese influence. The Chinese authorities are on occasion very visible - armoured police columns running through the town. There is a very old monastery (founded about 600CE); together with a number of other monasteries and nunneries close to the town, and a Tibetan school. There is some traditional Tibetan costume worn, but not a great deal. Moving onto Ganzi, this town, a county capital, showed very little Chinese influence. The majority of the people appeared to be Tibetan, with most in traditional costume. The Kham men were their usual selves - displaying their costumes, their beauty, their coral, turquoise and amber jewellry, and their hair; while letting their women do all the heavy manual labour. A very substantial number of people seemed only to speak Tibetan - spoken Chinese was very scant. This extended to the bus service which is controlled by local government, and so would be expected to do all its dealings in Chinese. In fact not only were all the dealings conducted in Tibetan, I had the impression that the bus station staff did not speak Chinese. There were a lot of monasteries, temples, and stupas, in addition to Tibetan medicine hospitals and other Tibetan institutions.
The final strand brings together culture, religion, politics, charitable work and my activities in the UK. When trekking, and talking to the Tibetan guide, it was evident that Tulku Akong Rimpoche's (the founder of the Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Scotland) is very well known. His name evokes immediate recognition in Tibetans, and also evokes mention of his charitable work focussed on education. When I got to TaGong, I had problems with my foot, as so for the first couple of days did not do a great deal. On the third day, wanting something gentle, I went to have a look at the Buddhist school behind the town. When I got there, I thought I recognised the new statue of Guru Rimpoche at the school, As a result I did some checking when I got back to the guesthouse I was staying at. It is indeed the first of the 15 (?) statues that Akong Rimpoche has committed to place across Tibet. In checking up on this, it was apparent that Akong Rimpoche's name was as well known here as in Amdo. This means that his name is known over an area of at least one million square kilometers. The reaction to his name here, his homeland, was initially the same - commenting on his educational charitable work. The follow up reaction was a little more complex than in Amdo. Every body lauded his educational work, then mentioned the fact that he had spoken at the Chinese governments celebration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Tibet by the Chinese. I could not tell whether these comments were intended to be complimentary or condemnatory. I assumed that the comment had implications that were hidden from me. There was then one more reaction - comments that building statues was a peculiar use of an educational charities money. This reaction only came from Westerners resident in TaGong.
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