Zhongdian

We are now very deep into the ancient Tibetan Kingdom. The area has been carved into provinces, of which only one is now known as Tibetan, but the area still looks and feels like Tibet. The women wear the Tibetan dresses, and the villages have the Tibetan stupas and monastery.

We talk with one Tibetan woman on the street. Forgetting the strict ban on speaking the Dali Lama’s name, when we hear that she is a Buddhist, we tell her that we had attended his recent teachings in Dharmsala. The Dali Lama had been sick a year earlier, and rumors spread that he had died. With strict government control of information, this was the first that she heard that he was alive! Her face suddenly lit up with the most immense radiance, and then equally quickly she realized how risky it was to be on an open street with the name of the Dali Lama mentioned so her face instantly lost color, her posture sagged and she left without a word. We are sure however that she would quietly let others in the village know that their spiritual leader was still very much alive.

We stay the first night at a backpacker jaunt, with many other travelers. However, we have a problem.  We routinely keep 2-3 weeks of local cash on hand and restock at banks or ATMs (yes, even here in deep rural China) every week, so we have a runway of 1-2 weeks if we get stuck. Then we also have VISA card, travelers cheques, and the universal greenbacks as additional backup.

In New Dali, the ATM was not working, but we still had plenty of money so pushed on. Then we extended on hike in Tiger Leaping Gorge longer than planned, and spent a little more. There was still little worry, since Zhongdian is a larger village –it is county seat. We arrive and the banks are closed for May Day. No problem, we’ll check tomorrow. The next day the bank is still closed. In China there are several banks, but only the Bank of China is allowed international exchanges. The other banks are open and sympathize with our plight but cannot wire an ATM or bank withdrawal  We check around to the hotels that cater to more up-scale western tourists. They can accept travelers cheques, or exchange greenbacks for local currency. However, they can only provide those services for guests at their hotel. We are spending less than $5 at the backpacker jaunt down the road, but figure we could have one upscale night and consider the increase rent to be just a kind of ATM fee. We query about the price -- $70 a night! Yikes, we live off of that much for a week or two! We walk out considering additional options.

The next day the bank is still closed. We find out that it will be closed all week for the May Day holiday. That’s a problem. We circle around to a few more local businesses to see if anyone will exchange the travelers cheques or greenback and come up dry. The next day is Friday and we are just about out of cash. We do not have enough cash to get through the weekend until the banks open on Monday. Rod is calculating the options –we have a tent and just enough money (27 cents) to buy some rice and hike into the hills for the weekend.

Fran is not at all comfortable with hiking into the hills. She is scared. She heads back to the hotels that cater to the western tourists. In Asian Buddhism, it is very unusual to show frustration or anger publicly  Instead the spiritual teachings are to be able to remain inwardly calm (not just stuff it). If they see others in stress, then it is very uncomfortable and they try to help promote calmness. So here we have a culture clash. Fran was getting scared and frustrated, and the Tibetans were trying to he help her calm down. Since they were not helping her with the real problem (exchange the travelers cheques!) she only got more frustrated, which made them focus even more on calming her down.

Returning to one hotel to plead for the third time, Fran goes bezerk! The desk clerk explains again that she cannot help, while she scans the lobby and manager’s door. As she continues to say she cannot help, she pulls out $20 in local currency. Fran hands he the US $20 bill and takes our travelers cheque. The clerk continues to repeat that she is sorry she cannot help, as we tuck the money into our money belt and leave. She likely took considerable risk to help us.

Rod leaves with great memories of Zhongdian, a beautiful Tibetan village high in the mountains that the Chinese government is renaming Shang-ra-la to promote tourism. Fran leaves with considerably different memories and has no desire to ever return. Sad.