RIDING ALONG (Zhong Dian)

WE HIRED bikes and rode about 7km out of town. As we peddled up and down mountains, busloads of Chinese tourists from the big cities looked at us as though we were mad. We were Westerners - surely we would travel everywhere in a convertible - flaunting our superiority. Our destination was the local Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, 8th largest in the world, with 700 monks.






Hitler apparently borrowed the Swastika symbol from Tibetan Buddhism, and two giant ones greeted us from the ground paving as we walked in.

I can't write any more - it's too sad on so many levels.