Description
The horse drivers have gathered to form their caravans. Some are small, with only ten, twelve horses or mules, others count up to three hundred beasts. With the green Gold now on horseback, they will head north and climb over twenty mountain chains as well as cross four mighty rivers, including Yangtze and Mekong rivers. They will make stopovers in lonely villages hanging from the spectacular mountain sides in these lost parts of China. Often cut off from the rest of the world for as much as six months in the year, the villagers have developed remarkable skills to produce for themselves everything they need for their survival. For them, a crossing caravan is a welcome opportunity to reconnect to the world. Nature is so harsh and savage, yet so beautiful and spectacular that a universal spirituality has nested itself in the hearts of the men and women of these lost valleys and mountains. Buddhism is omnipresent: temples, stone prayers and other places of worshipping are everywhere. When our horse drivers leave these green parts of Shangri-La to confront the endless Bandga grassland in majestic altitudes, we understand that we are about to enter yet another completely different world.
