IAN LIPTON

After leaving Xiahe probably a bit too early, our next stop on the journey was Rebkong (also known as Tongren). This brought us to our third province on the trip (Qinghai [ching-hī]) and the last stop before we would get to a major city for the first time since leaving Chengdu. The major draw of Rebkong was not necessarily the beautiful monastery, but festival just outside of town. The Klurol (Lurol) festival lasts for three days and seeks to appease the mountain gods and to

We were awoken from our slumber by the odd sound of "wooooo" off in the distance. We all lay tucked in our sleeping bags for a while before our guide came and got us to start the day. The trek that we were on was not one of their normal treks because today was a special day. Today was the Home God Festival where the nomads celebrate the time when their ancestors decided to stop fighting with each other and lay down their arms. We trudged to the top of the ridge and took in th