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Sky Pearls and the Yang Ba Jing Springs
Tuesday, May 3, 2005-9:00 PM
It takes almost two hours to reach the Yang Ba Jing springs from Lhasa. Our guide, Xiao Dong, told us the two-lane highway we took to get there was one of the best in Tibet. The bus, however, was not, and maybe that's why our ride was so bumpy.
Our group budgeted two hours once we got to the springs to look around. Two hours would have been an appropriate time if you planned to go in, but since we didn't have our swimming suits and didn't want to shell out the money to go in anyways, we were left to our own devices to entertain ourselves.
Loads of Tibetans from a nearby village converge on the springs and the tourists and the tourist's money every day. Xiao Dong told us that they might not be as poor as they look. I don't know how true that is, but the kids who were there begging for money and food didn't arouse the same feelings of sympathy that the kids in Guangzhou do. They looked almost like they came to the springs just to meet foreigners, and if they got any money that was just icing on the cake.
The adult's (as well as a few children's) primary method of earning money was offering horseback rides. Natasha has never ridden a horse and wanted to try.
She negotiated a price of five renminbi and mounted a little horse. The Tibetan woman with the horse walked the horse a few feet. Every time Natasha asked to walk a little further, the woman asked for a little more money. In total, Natasha got to ride the horse around 30 or 40 feet.
On the way back we stopped at a store selling expensive Tibetan antiques and souvenirs. It must have been a nice store, they had their own living Buddha.
His job was to sit in the corner of the store and, when anyone bought anything, they could bring it over to him and he would bless it.
The chief product at the store was "sky pearls". Not sure if that's the proper English name for them though.
They explained how to tell the difference between real sky pearls and fake ones. Since real sky pearls can sell for upwards of 1000 renminbi, Natasha and I stuck with the fake ones.
I couldn't understand from the Chinese exactly what the sky pearls were. They're some sort of fossilized sea life that was left behind when an ocean that covered the Himalayas long long ago disappeared. The Tibetans found them and used them to decorate some of their religious artwork.
Each sky pearl has a simple geometric design on it: maybe a pattern of circles or triangles or a jagged line. Apparently these designs are all natural, but I can't figure out how nature could make designs like that.
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