poama shan

on day 2 in dardo (the tibetan name of kangding), we decided to take it easy and climb poama shan, the mountain that rises above the city. we walked down the sichuan-tibetan highway until we reached a group of women who were selling juniper and incense, two key ingredients to buddhist prayer. patrick's book said the path to the mountain was through a lamasery, and it seemed we were on the right track. i bought some incense, and we walked up the stairs.

we entered a door, and were greeted on one side by about 8 prayer wheels. these are large golden cylinders filled with tibetan chants written on rolls of paper. as one spins them, it is supposed to transmit the dharma as if you were reading it. the woman ahead of us spun each of them gently, and i followed suit. we came upon a courtyard where a bunch of women were watching one of their own stoke a fire. they had large sticks of incense, about as thick as your finger, and they were lighting them on a what i'm guessing was a juniper fire. i excused myself, and asked them for help. they let me in to light my incense, then an old woman took a small branch of juniper in a cup of water, and sprinkled the water on my smoking incense. then they told me to put it above the courtyard, in a bowl where the remains of many sticks of incense could be seen. i added mine, and we continued our climb.

by the time i was done with the incense, a group of six chinese students had begun to climb the mountain as well. they passed through the lamasery without ceremony, and climbed ahead of us. they shouted hello and were quite friendly. at one point, a boy asked if he could have his picture taken with patrick. patrick gracefully granted a photo-op, which i then exploited. i made him put up the asian v, which is ever present in any posed picture in china. oh, it was wonderful. note the expression of glee on patrick's face.

the climb was gorgeous, with prayer flags draped across the trail every which way. we hiked higher and higher up steep stone steps, occasionally taking a photo for an excuse to rest. soon we were able to see the entire town, and the y shaped valley it inhabits. off to the south we could see anang temple, a buddhist monastery we would visit later that day. as we climbed we could still hear the incessant honking of the drivers in the city. i was convinced that we would never be able to climb high enough to escape it.

soon we left the beautiful views of the valley as the trail moved into the woods. after a while, i was surprised to find myself free of the honking. it was glorious. the path became less step, and we passed stone piles that seemed to be altars, or perhaps graves. either way, it was a solemn area, and fortunately, patrick and i had walked slowly enough to be alone and quiet at that point.

as we neared the top however, the quiet was ended by speakers pumping tibetan music. we reached the top to find a small camp set up. people offered food, rides on horses, and of course, the requisite dress up like a tibetan and have your picture taken. i declined all three options, and went instead to a small square, with a buddhist shrine in the center of it. there were more tibetan dress and shoot places, but i ignored them. here was a beautiful monument to enlightenment. of course, directly behind it was power lines, but who cares? i mean, who doesn't like meditating under power lines?

after walking around a bit, i heard a hello, and soon my karma for making patrick take that picture had returned. a group of students were excited to see me. after a short conversation in broken chinese and english i walked away. they quickly called me back, and asked if i would take a picture with them. i first took a picture with two girls, then the other girl wanted one, and then the guy wanted one, and then the first girls wanted another. i felt like a reality tv star. i had done nothing of import, but these people wanted to be seen with me. ahhhh...fame...that fickle beast.

we hiked down the short, albeit a bit more treacherous, way and we finally reached the bottom. while there was more peace and quiet on poama shan than at mu ge cuo, the chinese tourist need for entertainment had lessened the experience just slightly.