05 Jul 11: Xia hé, China

One street village and a Tibetan monastery, Labrang. More than 50% Tibetan and the rest Han and 10% Hui. It is the largest monastery in the world outside Tibet. This city was closed until March last year. Hotels and guest houses are being built and more tourists are coming in. Built since 1709, it is still active with all the monks in saffron robes in large presence in the city. It is surprising to see them with mobile phones and Nike shoes.

We had dinner with Julien and Isabelle. We tried some Tibetan dishes with yak meat and tasted momo – dumplings with yak meat. Strong flavor and not may favourite.