First of all, im sorry to those of u who tried to contact me on facebook. Those of u who tried to add me and even send me msg on fb, its not that im ignoring u. Just to let u know facebook is blocked here in china. So i will reply all the messages and confirm the friends request once i reach pakistan or kyrgyzstan. Not only fb, sites like youtube and vimeo are also banned here. But suprisingly, google works fine. Im still using our own google.com.my anyway.

The Sky Burial mmm…
One of the customs of the tibetan people is the sky burial. When a person dies, they will put the body on the hills, cut it into pieces, and let it be there. The smell will then attract the vultures to come. The vultures will then surround the body, tearing it into pieces and fly with it into the sky.
It might sound uncivilized for most of us but this is their culture.. their belief. We have to respect that. According to their belief, which is the Tibetan-Buddhism, the body is just like a vehicle that is borrowed from the earth. Its temporary. When a person dies, the soul will leave the body, and it is no longer in use. So, by letting the vultures eat it is like the final act of generosity to the world. Well, theres a similarity between them and our islamic belief. Our body is indeed a temporary thing, our soul is forever. Our body is just like an oxygen mask, we need to wear it while we are here on earth. When we die, our body will return to the earth, and our soul will go to where it came from.
One sad thing tho, the mat sallehs here are so into it. U can see it here in Litang, and this morning they all went to see the sky burial not far from the monastery that i went a few days ago, came back and proudly showing everyone the pictures that they got. I didnt even bother to see it, its not that i dont want to experience it, but i dont want to encourage it. U know, these tibetans in my guesthouse are arranging the trip to the sky burial, and u have to pay a little amount of money to see it. Theyre making money out of dead people! Uhh… never encourage that! Imagine if 1 of ur family member dies, and u see foreigners come to take photos and proudly show them to their friends. Its not something sexy to me… so…

Getting ready for Episode 2 hmmm…

mother nature, fay and me

Fay has been very kind to me. She cooked dinner for me, and we spent time almost the whole day together. Riding for miles and miles together, climbed hills and did some fun language exchange. Went for a shopping in this small town together as i need to get another set of winter jacket. It gonna be very cold on my next route, as im cycling to qinghai province, ill be riding along this tibetan plateau, crossing the Tro La Pass, passing by Chola mountain and Daxue mountain range. My aim now is Xining in Qinghai, as the great Qinghai Lake started to wave at me, asking me to visit her. Thats roughly 1500km away. But i will pass by Yushu, some 700km away. If u still remember on our malaysian news, Yushu was greatly destroyed by earthquake somewhere early this yr, not so long ago. They say there were like over 2000 ppl died from this earthquake, and i plan to see the life condition there.

tibet, the sunlight and fay

fay under the blue sky