"Oh, Who Are the People In Your Tibetan Neighborhood?"

One of the pluses about living in the Sichuan province is the heavy Tibetan influence.  We wandered through the Tibetan section of Chengdu many times.  It was always a photographic gold mine.

We didn't make it to Tibet this year because our passports got hung up in Beijing, darn it.  I was sorely disappointed because Tibet is tiptop on my list.  Next year.  Nepal as well.  Perhaps it will be healed by then.  Such a dramatic turn of events there.

I prefer to think of these shops as the Chinese Deseret Book--your one-stop shopping for all things Buddhist.

I probably ought to crop my pictures, but I love to look at the whole panorama.  The streets of China tell the whole story!

This center guy is a dead-ringer for one of the BYU China teachers, Jack Rose.

The Gap for monks!

These colors are actually very soothing, don't you think?

Oh, if I had room in my suitcase.  I can so see my mother or Aunt Norma or Aunt Dorothy lugging this thing home and making it the centerpiece of a Christmas dining table.

Graven Images 'R Us!

I purchased one of these back baby carriers and sent it home.  Hope to see a grandkid in it.  Actually I'm looking for an adult version so that Paco can transport me around in a few years...

I have found the Tibetans to be absolutely beautiful, as evidenced by this striking young lady.

This jewelry seems to have stock market qualities.  Sometimes when I go I can get bargains, but when I go back a week later things have tripled!  My favorite necklace (which I thought I could just breeze back and find again) was sent to Chile with my sister Norma on a mission there.  She may have gotten the last of the breed!!

Worlds of mystery...

Among the three things we were instructed not to discuss in China that start with "T" is Tibet.  It is politically charged.  You don't see them in my pictures, but policemen abound in this neighborhood.

I would have liked to interview this dad.  I wouldn't ask him anything political--just one question--HOW DO YOU KEEP THAT LACE SHAWL SO WHITE????????????????????