Tibetan Home Stay

After our trek through Jiuzhaigou National Park we moved accommodations to a Tibetan Homestay with Andrew's friend. We arrived around 7 pm and were very impressed with the set up. Unfortunately by the time we arrived I was feeling so ill from lack of caffeine that I pretty much went to bed. I was really disappointed because the owner of the homestay made us dinner of Yak Butter Tea and boiled potatoes. I was so nauseous that I couldn't even drink anything. Hopefully I will get the chance to try the tea again sometime!



Here we all are in the main room before I headed to bed.

The bedrooms were really great. We had two very comfortable beds and a basin with a canteen of hot water to wash up. The bathroom was down that hall and was Chinese-style squatters. I haven't talked too much about squatters as I try to avoid them at all costs. They are basically a porcelain hole in the ground in which you squat on your haunches to go to the bathroom. During that night Gemma and I became professional squatter users!

Gemma had a ball at the house. The owner of the homestay had a 12, 11, and 9 year old who spoke mainly Tibetan. Gemma speaks a bit of Chinese, so she would have been able to communicate with the kids a little bit, but everyone was amazed at how well the kids were able to communicate with each other without even speaking.

Gemma and the kids playing a little pool.

Here is the lodge where we stayed.

The inside of the main room. It was beautifully painted!

More of the interior.

A view of the gorgeous snow capped mountains outside the lodge.

A view of the village across from the lodge. This is a traditional Tibetan Village.

A close-up of the village. The colorful flag are prayer flags.

We went for a little walk outside the property the lodge was on and there were three farmers planting trees. Gemma went to check out what they were doing.

I met some boys who were playing basketball and shot some hoops with them. They were really good players!

This boy was so shy, but I finally convinced him to let me take his picture.

Gemma ran back to the house to play with her new friends. The spent about an hour collecting dandelions from their property.

After our walk and a fabulous lunch of boiled lamb and shredded potatoes we headed down the road to meet Andrew. We took a few snapshots of our new friends and said our good-byes.

Here is me with the owner of the lodge. We are planning on coming back to stay with them again in August with Jonny's parents.

Gemma the hiking star!

Gemma and I flew to Jiuzhaigou on Tuesday afternoon with our friends Andy and Penny plus their two visitors from England. Our friend Andrew, who works in the park, personally tailored our trip and what an incredible experience we had in one of China's best kept secrets.

We took taxis from the airport to the park to meet up with Andrew. It was a little over an hour drive through gorgeous snow capped mountain. At one point in the taxi Gemma asked, "What is the white stuff on the ground?". I was a little surprised she didn't realize it was snow, but I guess that will serve me right having a desert baby!

When we arrived at the park we quickly checked into the lodge and met Andrew out front. He took us to an area outside the park for a little hiking. We hiked up a beautiful mountain for about a 1 1/2 to a deserted Tibetan village. The houses were locked up and Andrew suspected that the families hadn't returned from the winter yet. I was so impressed with Gemma's ability to climb up this mountain, which was about 10,000 feet high. She was a rock star climbing with little trouble.



Here is a view of the valley from the top of the mountain.



Gemma, Penny, Andy and I at the doorway of one of the houses.

It was a great start to our little adventure! After our decent to the bottom, which took much less time. We headed to a Western bar and had drinks and a snack before having dinner. Andrew had ordered a goat for us for dinner from a lady who has her grill in the middle of the street. The goat lady (as he called her) barbequed a goat for us and it was absolutely fantastic! We also had a few barbequed veggies with our meal.