Things can't go all smoothly in long travels. Sometimes you get stuck in a bus rattling like a monkey cage, buzzing around the precariously good roads en route to Jiu Zhai Gou in the Aba Tibetan Prefecture akin to a bee on honey vodka. The boys at the back will be holding back for maybe, three hours before they lit up their cigarettes below the "no smoking" sign. We were just busy listening to the gossip between the two ladies behind us, salivating over details about their mother-in-laws and the vices of marriage.
The town was a dump. I'm not going to cut it sweet and sugar it up. It's like watching a bad rerun of a cowboy flick gone wrong. Really wrong. There was no positive vibe about the surroundings. Yes, you see fake set-up of "minority / Tibetan" villages with their prayer flags billowing in the wind, waving on the arrivals. It was like everyone moved at a pace befitting only the lowly motivated individuals, working on a cause that they didn't believe in. It was, in short, bloody depressing.
The town was a dump. I'm not going to cut it sweet and sugar it up. It's like watching a bad rerun of a cowboy flick gone wrong. Really wrong. There was no positive vibe about the surroundings. Yes, you see fake set-up of "minority / Tibetan" villages with their prayer flags billowing in the wind, waving on the arrivals. It was like everyone moved at a pace befitting only the lowly motivated individuals, working on a cause that they didn't believe in. It was, in short, bloody depressing.
Looking around, it felt like the Fourth Reich happening all over again in the 21st Century. Forget about the smiley photographs on the billboards, the shops and the park posters. There was concrete development in the form of cranes lifting broken piles of bricks and stones, new roads laying out like serpents snaking into the lives of the people who formerly lived here freely. Where did they go? I didn't see them around those "villages". I saw Han Chinese trading dead animal fur stoles, Tibetan souvenirs, really expensive snacks, and just hoards of loud posse of tourists.
I do think that there is always two sides to any story. A country divided, a bad marriage, someone being fired from his job, a polluted environment, animal testing. But you seriously doubt your own integrity when you see that you become numb to just published headlines on the surface, like just take in whatever Big Brother wants you to believe? That you succumb to weatherproofing? That you just run away from looking at yourself in the mirror?
I do think that there is always two sides to any story. A country divided, a bad marriage, someone being fired from his job, a polluted environment, animal testing. But you seriously doubt your own integrity when you see that you become numb to just published headlines on the surface, like just take in whatever Big Brother wants you to believe? That you succumb to weatherproofing? That you just run away from looking at yourself in the mirror?
Everything had been so fabulous since we left for China. I especially missed the times we spent in Chengdu and in a weird way, it was like crashing down to Earth after a galactical rendezvous in the best rocket you dug up from your own backyard - that it was time to see the uglier side of post-recovery. From what? Maybe from just a really prosperous city that was the way as it was. Chengdu was completely a developed city but it didn't "pretend" to be anything ethnic. Jiu Zhai Gou was like swallowing bad vomit. They (as I mean the authority, and in some subliminal level, the others like the non-minority) acted like they were doing everyone a big favour.
The park was deserving of its World Heritage status. Entrance fee was steep but the entire day spent in the natural surrounding was like taking in a desperate gulp of air when you caught yourself drowning in thick viscosity of lies. But look hard enough, that line was there. It read "... the Forestry Department and the Ministry of Culture intervened and raised the standard of living of the Tibetan people who did not appreciate the beauty of their natural surroundings ... ".
What is exactly development? For whom?
What is exactly development? For whom?
At the end of the day, who did you steal from? It's not taking a dollar out from the purse. A father will never have his son sees his heritage as it was. A teacher will never be able to speak of the true syllable. A child will never understand his nomadic past.
How much is a steal? How far will we stop? How much will really be enough?
How much is a steal? How far will we stop? How much will really be enough?
