Rose a little later than usual having adjusted itinerary to lighten today.
Went 1st to the Tendol Gyalzur orphanage, where the kids put on a show for us and Sonny (Tendol’s son) explained about the orphanage to us.
Then into town for local beer//ginger honey tea at So Ya La (the orphanages restaurant) and on to Ringha village to start walk to tiny Dabaosi Temple with five wisdom Buddhas and only one small pupil on the whole site, seeking guidance from Palchen only on his multitude of gadgets. Very enlightening.
On through the increasing wind back to our hotel.
Relaxing afternoon and early evening reading, reviewing photos etc.
…and took several snack breaks with biscuits, bananas and chocolate. Some of the walking was easy, summer is quite hard, About five hours in all.
Yunden was purportedly there to “learn the ropes”, but I got the impression that Palchen was worried that we “old folk” might not be good for high hill walking and wanted some back up bulk for just in case. I suspect that my tipping money was plenty of compensation for Yunden who seemed very happy with his day.
Searched in vain for combination locks in New Town & debated changes to the itinerary for tomorrow.
Back to lovely base by 15:00.
Sat out for a while before I got cold.
Massage by “Su Wu” [I think that must be one of Daisy’s pseudonyms], then hot tub etc.
Dined in à la cart restaurant, enjoying duck salad, yak burger with coleslaw and some chips, lamb shank Mongolian style.
In the high hills of Yunnan Province, in South-West China, on the lower reaches of the Tibetan plateau, you don’t expect much in the way of cricket experience, least of all playing the game, but when you travel, stuff happens.
I reported this extraordinary event on the King Cricket website, where I write occasional pieces under my nom de plume, Ged Ladd. Janie and I have called each other Ged and Daisy since the mid 1990s.
