Chapter 15 Zoige Grassland: Lunch with Tibetans

Different from the softness and subtlety of the Jiangnan water town, the Ruoergai Grassland has the boldness and toughness of the Northwest man. Under the rough outline, there is a plump and delicate girlish temperament hidden. This piece of scenery is beautiful and unique, with beautiful sunshine and green grass, just because of the simple and colorful ethnic customs.On the left side of the road, you can see many yurts curling up with cooking smoke. The strange thing is that the right side is completely uninhabited, only herders and herds of cattle and sheep. We drove the car to a yurt on the left, only to find that there were Tibetan dogs tied to every door.Seeing us getting out of the car, the watchdog barked.Guan Yuan, who is familiar with dog nature, wanted to ask for directions, so he locked Sen Sen Yuanyuan in the car to avoid a fight.At this time, the hostess came from not far away.She doesn't know Chinese, and we don't know Tibetan. After trying to communicate with hands and feet, I realized that she was saying that the dog at the door doesn't bite people, but she didn't understand a word we said.On the contrary, she became very interested in Sensen Yuanyuan in the car.Seeing her running away to call someone, we were afraid of causing trouble, so we had no choice but to move on.

It was already afternoon, and we were all hungry. Guan Yuan suggested to find an open space on the right side of the road, boil some noodles with gas, and make a cup of coffee to refresh ourselves. Good idea!Just like going on a picnic, just go. On the grassland on the right there is only one lame herder on a horse, looking after a large herd of yaks and sheep.We found a place and were going to let Sensen Yuanyuan out to play for a while, and we also took advantage of the time to eat on this piece of grass without Tibetan dogs. As soon as the cloth was laid and the gas tank was ready to be lit, the lame shepherd rode over.Guan Yuan suddenly became interested and wanted to ride a horse for a walk.I asked, "Can you ride?" She nodded and said that my aunt had a ranch in Zhangye, and she would go there once a year.The herdsmen obviously don't understand Chinese, but they understand our body language and eyes.He got off the horse with empathy and helped Guan Yuan to ride up.The horse recognized its life, and the herdsman had been galloping the horse just now, but now Guan Yuan rode on it, but it just lowered its head to graze, refused to take a step, and managed to walk a few meters away.Guan Yuan had no choice but to turn around and come back, which was a pity.

After dismounting, we turned on the gas tank to boil water and invited the herdsman to sit down and have a snack.As soon as he sat down, another young Tibetan came over and asked us, "Traveling?" Haha, it was exciting to finally meet a Tibetan who could speak some Chinese.He also sat down, and in the next few minutes, two Tibetan girls leading the children and several other Tibetans surrounded him.The lonely grassland lunch suddenly became lively. The two girls are very beautiful, with fair skin, dressed in Han nationality.The young Tibetan said that the two girls were his cousins, and he was already the uncle of the seven-year-old child at a young age.Guan Yuan and I were shocked.He said with a smile that Tibetan girls usually get married at the age of sixteen.

His name is Gonpo. Although his Chinese is not very good, he can at least communicate easily.He told us that the grass in the Ruoergai Grassland is not as good as before, and the rats are seriously infested. Every year, a large number of mounds are piled up, destroying the grassland.Now, the grass is short and not abundant enough, so they have to keep changing places to graze. The Kampot family likes Sensen Yuanyuan very much. The other members do not speak Chinese, but they just smile kindly and sit around our lunch cloth.Gonpo handed over the seven-year-old's little dirty cloth doll and said, "This doll is for you in exchange for your dog!" Guan Yuan and I laughed, what do we want this doll for?He said to the child again: "Go with them! Go play elsewhere." The child bit his fingers shyly and shook his head desperately.

Guan Yuan and I shared the snacks we brought in the car with them one by one. It felt like sharing sugar when we were young.At first they were very embarrassed, even though it was some rare urban food, they would still hold it back, and only accepted it with a smile after we enthusiastically shared it. The lame shepherd took out a bottle of white wine from his arms, and several men took turns drinking from the bottle. I suddenly remembered that I had brought two packs of dried betel nuts, so I took them out as if doing something wrong, and said to them with a smile, "Try this and see if you get drunk!"

A few Tibetans took a small dried betel nut and looked at it again and again, probably thinking that this thing could be intoxicating.I tore off a small piece and stuffed it into my mouth, saying: "Just eat like this." They looked at each other, and Kampot stuffed the betel nut into his mouth, chewing it, and said to the person next to him: "Sweet." !” Haha, they were fooled.Several people threw betel nuts into their mouths, and then saw their brows wrinkled, and they took turns drinking the white wine that had just been stuffed into their bosoms. Gongbu rinsed his mouth with white wine and said, "I'm not used to it! Let's drink a bottle of white wine that costs a few dollars! It's warm."

After eating instant noodles and pouring coffee, two hours passed quickly.We took pictures of the Kampot family and promised them that we would send them back after developing the pictures. Before leaving, they also asked Sensen Yuanyuan if he would sell it.Haha, Tibetans are really not as scary as in the legend.The Kampot family is very kind and kind. We packed up our things and prepared to leave, and they dispersed again, returning to the places where they had been. It is said that Zoige Grassland has been a traffic fortress since ancient times, and thus has become a battleground for military strategists.The Red Army also walked through this grassland during the Long March.In history textbooks we see the sad days when the Red Army was on the verge of extinction on the grass.So long persistence and fighting, so many sacrifices, but now there is no trace left on the grassland.

Today, the local people in Ruoergai are still very proud to say that this is the place where the Red Army marched through!Their yaks and highland barley rescued the Red Army in the grasslands in difficult times. According to them, Ruoergai means "the place that yaks like" in Tibetan.Tibetan language is really simple and appropriate, there are not so many metaphors and hints, no extended meaning, only the most authentic expression.This is also like the Tibetans we met along the way, whether they are the residents of Labrang Monastery or the herdsmen of Zoige Grassland, they are all simple and innocent.

Saying goodbye to Zoige Grassland is to reach Tangke before the sun sets. Unfortunately, when we arrived, it was already drizzling, there was no car on the side of the road, and no tourists were seen on the road. The clouds in the sky were very low, which made our hearts feel stuffy. Because of the rain, there were no ticket sellers.We sneaked in, climbed up the long ladder, and met two people with professional cameras in the small pavilion in the middle. They were reporters from Lanzhou TV Station. They wanted to take pictures of the sunset. Unexpectedly, it started to rain. "I originally wanted to wait until the rain stopped, but it has been a long time, and it seems that today is not going to happen." Their words immediately dashed our hopes.

Under the gloomy sky and in the drizzle, the nine bends and eighteen bends of the Yellow River add to the bleak atmosphere.Here, it seems that autumn has entered earlier than other places. I met a Tibetan who came down from the mountain and told us that there is a place to stay nearby, so we can come back tomorrow. Guan Yuan and I had no choice but to leave angrily and find a nearby place to live.I regretted it all the way, I would have played in Zoige Grassland for a while if I knew it earlier!