Home » Tibet China » Tibet, part III

October 2003 - August 2004

Tibet, part III

Brett Voegele
2005-11-19 14:02:35

Displayed times (last time: )

the stands and instead sat on the infield. First up were the shooters, who would gallop, twirl a long rifle above their heads, and then try to regain control of it - and their horse, in time to make a shot on a target. Nobody scored a hit, but they seemed to still be having fun - as was the crowd. Next up were the riders galloping along a line of white khatas. They'd lean as far off the horse as possible in order to drag a hand along the ground to pick up as many white scarves as they could - earning about $1.10 for each successful grab. Again, this portion of the program wasn't without mishaps, as riders fell off their steeds or ran into other riders.

That afternoon there were song and dance performances on the stage which, as a backdrop had a painted picture containing Tibetans in traditional outfits, a Tibetan tent, mountains, cattle grazing on the grasslands, a rainbow, an image of an ultra-modern train, and a large Chinese flag.

As Nagchu is in an area of grasslands, I'd decided the ol' plastic-and-rope shelter wasn't going to cut it, so I'd opted to rent a tent. That night while we were out and about it started raining, so we high-tailed it back to our shelters. The rain/hail stung my face as I ran, and I was soaking wet by the time I ducked into the shelter. For the next hour my tent was basically doubled over by the wind, and the heavy rain blasted it's way in through the rain fly and tent. When it let up I realized that my tent was now worth much more, as it now contained an indoor pool with over an inch of water. I also had to push some of the walls back into position, as they were being collapsed by the accumulation of hail. It was an extremely long, cold, wet night - probably my worst ever in a tent.

Shotun Festival

The Shotun, or yogurt festival, got under way bright and early at 4 AM one morning as I hopped a bus ...