Gushon Village

From Weixi I went north to Deqin, the capital of Deqin County in the far northwest corner of the prefecture. Yanzong agreed to go with me and we set out at 8 am on the six-hour bus ride. We got into town in the early afternoon and decided to walk up to the village in the hills above the city and spend the night with a family.  She thought we should buy some fruits and vegetables and bring them up the hill and give them to the villagers in return for letting us sleep there. Sounded strange to me but I went along - hey, she's from here.  

So we picked up some cabbages and apples and hot peppers, a watermelon; about 50RMB worth of fresh produce and trudged up the hill.  Deqin is a similar altitude to Shangrila, about 10,300' and the village, Gushon, was 1000' above that. After a heart-thumping, sweaty hike straight up the hill, we ended up at Yanzong's youngest brother's wife's mother's house.  Her mother-in-law.  A very friendly, portly, Tibetan lady, the mother-in-law fed us blender-churned butter tea from bowls with hard chunks of sour cheese at the bottom. She set out a dish of zanba, toasted barley flour that you spoon into your mouth and then wash down with tea before it cements your jaws together. Weird, but nice.  Biting into the cheese I almost broke a tooth; I decided to wait for it to soften in the tea.  Even after sitting in hot liquid for ten minutes it was still tough to chew.  

Mother-in-law's house was large, clean, and quite beautiful, especially in contrast to the smoke-filled homes we entered in Weixi.  There was a cast iron wood stove with a chimney.  The back wall was a huge cabinet with  dishes, buddha statues, a commemorative plate featuring Mao's face, candles, and fake flowers.  There was also a big cauldron filled with water in its own little nook, with shiny ladles of different sizes, used only for water.  And the teapot sat in an ornate ceramic warmer filled with glowing coals.

We asked about buckwheat but this village hadn't planted it in fifteen or twenty years, because the elevation is too high, Yanzong says at almost 4000 meters the highest elevation village in Yunnan. In this village they grow mainly wheat, barley, potatoes, and forage turnip. We walked around a little and talked with some other villagers, were invited in, ate grapes and soft cheese dipped in sugar, and asked about farming.  One elderly man explained that buckwheat made the cows sick, so they stopped growing it.

So not such a great research site for ol' Fagopyrum, but it was cool to stay with the family.  The mother-in-law was really sweet, and  also in the house are her son and grandson.  The child's mother runs a shop down in the town and doesn't come home every night.  After a great dinner featuring wild mushrooms, Tibetan ham and barley wine, the grandson entertained us with his drawings of farm animals.  This mostly consisted of the boy asking what he should draw for us, and someone saying "pig" or "sheep" and him going  to his little table and laboring over the drawing for some minutes.  The he would show off the picture and everyone, especially his grandmother, would tease him about how skinny the cow was, and where are the udders?  He would squeal and laugh, and then rush back and draw another one.