It was – in the exact words uttered earlier tonight on Australian television – “an analog, off-line experience”.
On the morning of 19 October 2019, the valley floor on which we stood was almost twice as high as Australia-proper’s highest peak.
The peaks above us were a deal higher, again.
…and yes – rather more than a thousand, mostly-vertical metres away from us – wild yaks were making their way across a snow-blanketed alpine meadow.
When the pandemic has eased, and Pelican Yoga returns to normal, I will devote a post to Yeniugou/ Wild Yak Valley.
The aforementioned wild yaks are visible in one of that future post’s multiple images.
(if you wish to see and know more about this extraordinary place on the northern part of the Tibetan Plateau, right now, click here)
For most of our small group – and we were the only humans within our eyes’ sight – that morning’s weather was “poor”.
If maximising the number on one’s “bird species checklist” was one’s primary goal, then it surely was “disappointing” weather.
However, for those who relish ever-shifting light and weather, most especially in dramatic, high altitude, wild places, the conditions were “ideal”.
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Today’s music is a beautiful evocation of a mountain valley, albeit Japanese rather than Tibetan.
Riley Lee – Texan-born, Japanese-trained, Australian-resident – was the first non-Japanese musician to attain Dai Shihan (Grand Master) rank in the shakuhachi tradition