monika benova

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Nangqen to Jiqu, oh yeah_cn

june 2ol2, Xangda/Nangqen, Qinghai

former Nanqgen kingdom independent from both Tibet and China now is part of Nothing and All…like many others got swallowed and is going right down the throat or lies in someone’s stomach already

stayed with Myjyur – tibetan 20 yr old girl that addressed me in cyber cafe in english! …yes, one of those less rare here – educated under the wing of Dalailama’s facilities in Dharamsala and as mum went visit her other daughter so had the house that has been split for few renminbis in half as the road would have to run thru their kitchen and parent’s room all for ourselves…whole town belonged to dogs, so most of time spent at “home” cooking, westernizing Myjyur’s desktop with music and movies from behind the shade of red flag while listening to Michael Jackson

at the end while giving me her passport size photo she reminded me that we are friends and I should come and stay again on my way back

hitching a ride was easy, only blond on the side of the road…again, this time police checkpoint officers did the job of questioning all passing thru theirs lowered ramp for me…while I sipped salty yak tea in earthquake recovery tent

stopped little young man with a big band aid running across half of his forehead…good driver though, not sure why that band aid and if, definitely no idea why sooo big…was  like boarding mouse’s vehicle in search for the Gruffalo, on the back of his bike overtaken by motorcycle diaries Buddhas I only wished I could stop and walk that vastness, infiltrate those little hill mud houses hiding under the grassy hilly carpet…

destiny-ation is Jiqu, sneakily lying at the border with Tibetan Autonomous Region…in the time of self-emanation news on daily table expected controls, but managed to hide yellow hair and don’t peek out of imaginary “lair”

hopefully eternal beauty of this place will help heal cries coming from southern “neighbors”…