Ask and I'll give the nations to you

Day 11: Xiang ge li la (Shangri-la)

I guess the reason this place is so popular is that it's supposed to be like Tibet, but you're not actually there. It's much easier to get to and most of the people there are Tibetan anyway. It's alledgedly called "the last frontier" or "the lost frontier" or something. Somehow my phone receives free weather updates wherever I am in Yunnan, so I got a lovely little text message saying the temp. today would be -13 ~ 15 (C). Yeah. Luckily once the sun came up we didn't need to wear all our layers anymore. (I seriously was wearing just about every piece of clothing I brought with me -- I don't think I would've made it had I really mugged a yak, but nice suggestion, Ben) Last night one of the highlights was dancing around the fire with a large group of people. The dances were simple, so everyone could join in. I decided that's what they do to keep warm around here. It definitely works! (at least for the time) Anyway, it's a nice little small town with seemingly very few people. One of the few things to see around here at this time of year is a monastery for Tibetan Buddhism. It was an interesting (maybe challenging?) experience for us. The five of us girls are Christians, and being in a place that was so bound by these rituals and idols was, well, challenging. I love the people here, and something inside my heart just breaks to see people bowing down before a statue constructed by human hands. It made me really think about the differences between Christianity and other religions. Christianity is the only religion where you don't have to do anything to earn your salvation. Yes, believers try to live in a certain way, abstain from some things and do others, etc., etc., but there is nothing we can actually do to earn our way into heaven. Jesus did it for us, and all we have to do is accept that. We don't have to write our wishes on pieces of paper and pay 10 yuan to have a priest present it to a god. We have direct access to God Himself. And seeing all the people who don't know that or haven't heard just made me....sad. Being a Christian is not about pushing your beliefs on other people, but it is about loving people and sharing the joy you have found in Jesus with them. Sometimes I have so much of it I just want all the world to know about it. Joy and peace. No need for meditation -- Jesus gives it all to me, even when I don't expect it or go looking for it. Maybe especially in those times. Anyway, this trip was a growing experience for all of us.

After the trip to the monastery, we said good-bye to Shangri-la and went down to a small town called Qiaotou (bridge head). We spent the night in this cool little hostel run by a woman named Margo. While it was still light we found the trailhead that would take us through the gorge. The river that flows through the Tiger Leaping Gorge is called the Jin Sha Jiang (golden sand river). Eventually a few other rivers join up with it to form the Chang Jiang (Yangtze). That mountain we climbed a while ago -- Yulong Xueshan (Jade Dragon snow mountain) -- that was on one side of the gorge, and another mountain range is on the other. We're walking on the "other" side. ;)