Jung - Mar 4

Jung

Mar 4 - Drop Off Lungtan In Jung

- Picked up Lungtan at 8:30, he showed us the house of the sixth Dali Lama before driving to his mother-in-law’s house in Jung. She showed me a butter churn and we had butter tea. I did not like the taste but drank copious amounts to be polite, especially after Lungtan said that it was customary to consume three cups of butter tea (which is consistent with the book, “Three Cups of Tea”). His mother-in-law is quite photogenic, hope the pictures turn out. More relatives including children turned up, showed them my pictures from US and other places I have been. They are all fascinated by my laptop as well as the pictures on it.

- Bhupen pushes me to leave as the weather is deteriorating. Bhupen brought two lengths of rope to be used like chains in the US. The weather did get bad enough that we needed to tie the rope on. On the other side of the pass, we stopped for tea and Bhupen and Radju cut the rope off and left it in the middle of the road where it fell. We saw one truck which crashed through the safety barrier and almost went all the way over. It was stopped by the spare tire under the truck catching on the cliff edge.

- The butter tea has left me without appetite. I would not have consumed it if not for Lungtan (rather, I would have tried it, but not consumed 4 cups).

- Radju was surprised that I did not appear scared, even though the roads were slippery and it was snowing and we saw a truck hanging over the edge. Bhupen said most people get scared under those conditions but I explained that growing up in Canada, I learned to drive on snowy roads and they did not bother me. In fact, I expect I am better at driving in snow than Radju, but why go there....

- Bhupen arranged Yak Thukpa for me at dinner along with millet wine to drink. The Yak tasted a bit like liver at first, then mellowed. It was black (perhaps because it is smoked?) I watched them make the millet wine. They have a mash made from millet which is left to ferment for a week or so, the longer it sits, the stronger the wine. You then add hot water to this and let sit for a few minutes. Then filter it, in this case they used a plastic burlap sack, pushing it down into the mash and the liquid rises into the bag, from which it is ladled out into glasses. It is very cloudy and has a slightly sour taste. I drank about 3 glasses of it before I could drink no more. I like California wines better, but the experience is special. It is doubly special as the woman serving the wine is Bhupen’s aunt and I am sitting in her bedroom, crouched over a small wood stove, while the rest of the family is watching an old Bollywood movie with the sound cranked up.

- The family in the room next door is incredibly noisy, singing, playing games, talking. They sound very happy, except for a few animated outbursts. I listen to my ipod and work on updating the blog text.