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The sights and sounds (and aromas) of Zhongdian have to be experienced to be believed. This town of some 50,000 residents -- nearly all of them Tibetans -- is at about 11,000 feet altitude, in China's Yunnan province about 120 miles or so (via up-and-down and round-and-round roads) from the actual border with Tibet. The people are very friendly, and interesting to see and meet. Temperatures while we were there ranged around zero Centigrade...including often in our hotel room and the hotel restaurant, each heated solely by electric wall heaters (the hallways and lobby had no heat whatsoever). We were slated to leave by plane, but the airport was closed that morning due to a snowstorm so we drove 5 hours back to Lijiang in order to fly from there to Chengdu.
A couple of comments on the photos above:
1. The "chora" is a clockwise walk around the monastery (in our case--probably a half-mile around) or a stupa (in another experience..shorter). Tibetan worshipers go around 3 or 6 or even up to 108 times (we went around once), chanting over and over again their brief mantras.
2. "Attack the landlord" seems to be the most popular card game in this part of China. Two opponents gang up on the third. Losers pay out cash. Excitement reigns among the players and the observers. We loved the game's name, which given today's rampant capitalism seems to be the sole remaining vestige of the communist system.
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