cce blog

xiahe: monks play counter-strike, too!

finally, some time to sit at the wangba ("internet bar") and mention that i'm in china now. after flying into beijing, then catching a flight to meet up with michael in korla, then taking a 36-hour train down to lanzhou, we've finally arrived (by 7-hour bus) in Xiahe, a Tibetan town in Gansu province, home to "the largest Tibetan lamasery outside of Lhasa" (according to the guidebook). this wangba in particular happens to be full of monks surfing the web and playing videogames.

so far the weather has been pretty harsh. it wasn't as cold as i thought it'd be in Korla, but the train ride through gansu's "hexi corridor" looked forbiddingly blustery and snow-covered -- evidenced by the neat pile of snow that blew in onto our train's windowsills. we arrived after midnight in lanzhou only to sleep a few hours and catch a morning bus here. luckily, the long underwear and fleece-lined jeans (courtesy of L.L. Bean) have really been helping in this regard.

the itinerary seems to include more long bus rides until we can make it to Chengdu, in Sichuan, where at least things will be spicy enough to distract us from the cold.

i have to run now, but i'll end with this lovely video of monks playing videogames (with michael talking to them).