Matt is on the Mend

April 19 - Zhongdian

Matt appears to be on the mend so things are looking better on this side of the world. He ate his first substantial meal today and was very happy about that. I'm happy that he is sleeping through the night again because that means I am too.

We are up in the mountains and it is really, really cold here. We're running low on warm clothes and will be glad to be back in Kunming tomorrow, where it is warm. This morning we went to visit a Tibetan monastery where we were able to go inside the temple and see the monks chanting. Pretty cool stuff. The monks ranged in age from young boys to very old men. There was a lot of laughing and goofing around, even during the chanting (from the young ones, of course). The men in our group were able to visit the kitchens but no women were allowed! We toured the monastery and the village that has been built around it. We also learned some new things about Tibetan culture - according to our guide when the people die they are cut up into pieces and scattered around the fields in the countryside. The size of the bits depends on how nice a person you were...a good person gets very finely chopped while a bad person is left mostly whole. There is one designated chopper for each town. I swear, this is what he told us... Also, in some parts they wrap the bodies and throw them in the river where they are eaten by the fish. In these parts of Tibet the people don't eat fish. Interesting stuff. We also learned that there are three branches of Buddhism in China - Chinese, Tibetan and Thai.

Speaking of culture, we've noticed an interesting occurrence across toddler boys. We have seen many little boys that are about potty-training age with the seam ripped out of the back of their pants and no undies underneath! After careful consideration, we have decided this is to make potty training easier. All the kids have to do is squat down and the pants come apart and they are ready to go. Seems practical but I have to wonder if their little butt cheeks aren't a bit cold up here in the mountains.

No good news on the picture front. I'm working on the Beijing pictures now and it took about an hour and a half to upload 50 pictures. So it could be weeks before the rest of the China photos are posted. Cross your fingers for high speed internet access.