DAY 2 Sunday 24 April – Ringha

We woke to a view of pines, freezing fog and snow on the mountains. Breathless after a few yoga moves, we decided on a day of taking it easy. 

The lack of oxygen at high altitude causes an increase in the breathing rate, the heart beats faster, and according to Wikipedia, food digestion efficiency declines (does this mean we will not want to eat after 1 week here or will we just grow very large?)




It did not stop us with a breakfast of local noodle soup with greens, mince and chilli and fresh fruit /yoghurt desert. Sarah dressed for the occasion :)

We eventually started our sightseeing quite late, donning our Macpac waterproofs (in a light drizzle) that seemed to blend in nicely with prayer flags and saffron-coated buddhist monks.

At first, we only managed a snail’s pace walk around the hotel complex (lots of old Tibetan farmhouses purchased, dismantled and then relocated and rebuilt in this river valley in Ringha).













We loved all the doors.

Our farmhouse villa with Jo on the steps.

Next a stroll to the local Gyalthang Ringha monastery past the pigs and cows, to the grand entrance complete with local one legged rooster in the gateway.

The monastery was active with locals visiting to pray whilst we stood around and admired the murals and the architecture and sculpture.

 

It was very atmospheric;

We have never seen so many prayer flags around a temple.

Our small walk continued back into the village past yaks, cows pigs and chickens and off to the next bridge.

The hostess the night before had recommended a guided walk by the river to acclimatise. 

We decided to try this (having found no English speaking person to help us this morning we wandered by ourselves) and marched across mud flats to the other side of the river eventually ending up opposite the hotel again.

Snow is still on the surrounding hills and it was bitterly cold by the river in the light rain.

The grass has just started to grow green again and the land is still frozen under a light surface of mud. We imagined how beautiful this place would look once winter has gone. Apparently it is sunny and hot in July and August – the most popular visitor months.

A relaxing rest day, planning and discovering to some frustration that China has just clamped down again on internet services you can access. All content must now be hosted on a server inside China. How to cope without Google, Facebook, iBooks and iTunes? Even with a functioning Yahoo search engine you cannot see the sites suggested. So be it.