After leaving Lijiang, I went downhill for a while and then uphill for a long time. Unlike the other villages I had visited, this one was made of logs and was built like a log cabin.
The dress of the villagers was also clearly different, they wore thick Samui cloth with hems up to their ankles, beads around their necks and cloth ornaments on their heads.
I could see that the ethnic group inhabiting the area had changed.
In addition, the temperature was dropping and without gloves, my hands were cold. There was a rest stop for the buses, so I went in to get some water.
The staff seemed to be bored and when they saw that I am Japanese, they said “here, here” and gave me a seat by the wood burning fireplace.
The fireplace was so warm that once I got close to it, I couldn’t leave. I wrote in my handwriting,
“How many metres above sea level is this? ”
He immediately wrote “3300m” on a piece of paper.
“What, 3300m? ”
I asked again to be sure, but the answer came back “3300m”.
I was already over 3000m above sea level.
It was difficult to get away from the fireplace,
but when I ventured out of the rest area, a group of men beckoned to me,
“Come here, come here! ”
They were building a fire outside, so I said
“thank goodness”
and crossed the road. The men seemed to be working here, processing wood.
There was a covered storage area and I asked if I could sleep here. They said “yes”.
It was getting dark and cold, so I was about to leave the tent when he gestured
“Come here, food, food”
and led me to a hut built right next to the construction site.
When I entered the room, there was a fire burning and a light bulb hanging, but no light.
A young man brought out a bamboo tube, I thought it was a water tobacco, which I often saw in Yunnan,
but it was not. He put butter and hot water in a bamboo tube and put it in a small diameter bamboo tube, and moved it up and down.
I had heard of this Tibetan drink, butter tea. He offered me a bowl of freshly brewed butter tea, and I approached him with trepidation.
I can’t see the color in the light, but I can smell the butter in the steam.
I take a sip. For some reason it reminded me of Sapporo ramen soup, perhaps because of the butter.
Despite the butter in the soup, it was surprisingly light and warmed me up.
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