After all of our adventures the day before (read about them here!), and especially after all of that crazy driving, my friends and I were pretty worn out. We had two days in Kangding (康定) , and we decided to relax a bit, especially on the first day.

I told my friends that I didn’t really want to drive anywhere. We decided that driving anywhere within 30 minutes of where we were would be ok, and anything outside of that radius could wait for the next day or next year. Timothy did some research and also checked the map and found several places that looked interesting.

So we decided that today would be our “P” day. If you’re familiar with the Myers-Briggs Personality test, you may know the difference between “P” personalities that are more of perceivers and don’t always like to plan a lot of things and “J” personalities who are judgers and like to plan things quite a bit more. I’m definitely a J. I like to make lists for the day, and I like to have a plan when I travel (although I enjoy spontaneity on occasion—if it fits with my plan). Jaye and Timothy are also more on the J side of things. Deciding to have a P day was a bit of a stretch for us, but we all agreed to try it and see what happened.

As we got breakfast and wandered around the little village a bit, Jessica saw a collection of buildings further up the side of the mountain. They were red brick buildings with white trim just under the roof and orange roofs with pointy corners. They looked really cool, and we really wanted to see what they were. We started driving toward them and parked when we got to the end of the road (at some kind of restaurant).

There was a field on one side with a path through the field, so we decided to follow the path, hoping that we weren’t going anywhere we weren’t supposed to go. We found another road on the other side of the field and followed it along. We were still at a pretty high altitude, around 2,500 meters (about 8,200 feet), so I started to feel short of breath after walking for a bit, especially since we were going uphill. But it was nothing like the day before, and I was thankful for that.

After wondering if we were going the right way and thinking about going back to try to get the car and drive up, we finally found ourselves in the village. Nothing seemed to be open, but we wandered around enjoying the view and the cool buildings and taking some pictures. I looked down the side of the mountain and saw a path leading away from the village and into the mountains. That looked like something that I wanted to explore, but we decided to save that for later. We never did make it over to that path, and I forgot about it, but it’s always fun to dream.

Photos by Timothy:

As we wandered up further into the village, we still thought it was odd that there were no people, but the buildings were really cool, and we enjoyed looking at them. Then we saw an older man further away from the main part of the building in a small collection of other houses. He waved us over, and I thought, oh great, he’s going to tell us that we aren’t supposed to be here. But we dutifully walked over to where the man stood in front of a line of houses.

When we reached him, rather than lecturing us for coming up here, he invited us into his home. “Please, come with me!” he urged us, motioning us through a gate and into a small backyard area behind his small, one-story home.

The small grassy area was walled in with a knee-high wall, and it looked out over the village down below and the mountains all around us. It was quite warm in the sun, but he had a table with an umbrella covering it. At the table, his grandson was working on his English homework.

“Come on, talk to the foreigners. Practice your English.” The grandpa urged his grandson.

Jessica and I asked him a few questions, but he didn’t answer us. I assumed he was shy or maybe not confident with his English. I encounter this kind of situation pretty regularly, and I feel sorry for the kids who don’t really want to talk to the random person when their parents or grandparents push them forward. But I also want to give them a chance to talk to me in English if they want to. So I tried to ask this boy some simple questions, but when he didn’t seem interested in talking, we switched to Chinese.

When we talked to the grandson in Chinese, he was more than willing to chat, and he proved to be exceptionally companionable. The grandpa gave us some paper cups and poured us some hot water while we sat in the shade and chatted. Pretty soon, the grandpa brought out some white scarves and we all took pictures together. I’m not exactly sure what the white scarves represented, but I think it was a show of respect and friendship.

We found out that the village with the cool roofs that we had just been exploring was a Tibetan Buddhist school, and this grandpa was a caretaker (at least if I remember right). The school was on summer holiday at the moment, and that’s why it was empty. That’s also why the grandson was home. His name is 扎西阳宗 (Zha Xi Yangzong). They were part of the Tibetan minority in the area. In fact, many people in this area are part of the Tibetan minority. Or perhaps I should say that here, they are the majority. We chatted for a while longer, and then Yangzong wanted to take us out. We weren’t sure exactly where we were going at first, and I thought at one point that they talked about sending Yangzong with us in our car. I didn’t feel very comfortable with that, and I wondered how the grandpa could be so trusting of us, these random people that he just met. Timothy and Jaye added the grandpa’s WeChat so we could stay in touch if needed, and we headed out with Yangzong.

But Yangzong was just taking us up the mountain a bit more. He showed us around the Buddhist school and told us about his uncle who was studying there. He seemed to really admire his uncle. We talked a bit about his life at school and his family, but I was struggling a bit to follow the conversation. Yangzong’s Chinese was easier to understand, but his grandpa had a heavy accent that was a bit hard for me to follow.

Yangzong took us further up the mountain and I was huffing and puffing as we climbed. I admired how easy it was for Yangzong, but I guess he had lived here for most of his life. We stopped at a collection of trees that had Tibetan prayer flags strung between them. From here, we could look down on the village. It was beautiful.

After we dropped Yangzong off back at home and wished him and his grandpa goodbye, we headed back down the mountain. Our P day was going quite wonderfully, and we all felt refreshed after our exploration and chat with the locals.

We had lunch near the hotel and then rested a bit. But I still wanted to explore a bit more. Timothy found another spot that he thought looked really interesting, so Jessica, Timothy, Shirley, and I set off in the car. Jaye stayed behind so she could do some work.

As we drove down the road in the afternoon sunshine, with trees shading the road and fields on both sides that disappeared into the mountains, I wondered at the beauty of the land. It really was incredible! We passed a field of lavender and wondered if we should stop.

But we decided to keep pressing forward to try to find this place that Timothy had seen on the map (I can’t remember what it was supposed to be). But when we finally arrived at the location, there was nothing there. Or whatever was supposed to be there was closed. A bit disappointed, we had no choice but to turn back.

“But this road is already beautiful!” I said. “I mean, I think that this drive is already worth it!

“Should we stop at the lavender field on the way back?” Jessica suggested.

“Sure!” We all agreed.

We pulled into the parking lot for the lavender fields, and Shirley scampered ahead to the ticket booth. Jessica, Timothy, and I followed more slowly, and by the time we walked up, Shirley announced, “It’s supposed to be 30 kuai (about $4-5), but I convinced them to let us enter for 20 kuai because there are four of us.

After a quick conference, we decided that 20 kuai was an acceptable price, so we entered the lavender fields. A puppy followed us, and Shirley spent most of the time playing with the puppy.

The place seemed to be a popular place for pictures, and there were some tacky decorations, but overall, it was beautiful. The scent of lavender wasn’t very strong, and I was a bit disappointed about that, but the purple flowers with the green mountains in the background was especially beautiful. It was around 6 p.m., so the sunlight was also perfect. At first it was a bit cloudy, but then the sun came out for a bit. The sun didn’t set completely until around 8 p.m., and the golden hour was long and gorgeous.

We wandered around, enjoying the beauty, playing with the animals. Along with the puppy, we also saw some horses, but we didn’t get very close to them. We also found some dandelions and enjoyed blowing the seeds into the wind. Sometimes it went better than others, but it was so much fun.

Photos by Timothy:

We had such a fun time wandering around with friends and enjoying the beautiful place with beautiful weather and wonderful people.

Jaye joined us for a delicious dinner, and I was happy that I didn’t have to drive at night again. Then Yangzong’s grandpa texted Jaye.

“He’s asking us to come back in the morning.” Jaye told us.

“Uh-oh.” We had thoroughly enjoyed our P day today, but we all decided that tomorrow was going to be a J day. We had a bit of driving to do, and we all agreed that driving at night was not the best option. So we made a very detailed plan for the next day so that we could leave on time and have enough time to get out at two scenic spots that we wanted to see along the way. This plan allowed us to arrive by around 5 p.m., and in my mind I adjusted that to 6 p.m.—something would surely come up. But we didn’t think we would have time to go see our new friends again the next day.

“How about we go see them tonight?” Jaye suggested.

“That’s a good idea! We could buy some snacks for them as a thank you for taking us around and sharing their culture with us.” Jessica added.

I glanced outside. It was already nearly dark. That would mean driving at night. But it would be fun to see them again, and they lived just nearby.

Everyone looked to me for confirmation. “It’s up to you,” Jaye said, “you’re the one who has to drive.”

“Sure, let’s do it!”

We went to a nearby convenience store and loaded up on fun snacks and then hopped in the car. Timothy found the directions to the village so we wouldn’t have to walk up like we did the first time.

The main road was fine, but then we pulled off the main road onto a dirt road that led up the mountain. This road was a disaster. There were potholes everywhere, and the road was narrow. I hoped we wouldn’t meet another car. We bounced along, and I apologized to everyone, but no matter how much I tried to avoid the potholes, we had no choice but to run into more. Plus, since it was dark, they were hard to see.

We finally made it to the parking area and hopped out. I wasn’t looking forward to the return journey, but for now, we had a surprise visit to make to our new friends. When we reached their gate, we called out to them, and I hoped that the surprise visit was a good idea. But a moment later the grandpa came out and happily welcomed us inside. This time he took us into the little room of their home. There wasn’t a lot of space inside, just a couch and a bed, but he welcomed us in and tried to give us more water to drink. We gave him the snacks we had bought, and he thanked us by giving us some other snacks. We all took one because sometimes letting someone give you something is the kindest thing you can do. We chatted for just a bit before saying that we had to go.

The road was just as miserable trying to get out, but thankfully, we and the car all made it back in one piece, and we were all very happy that we had gone.

I’m so thankful for the local people that we met on this trip who shared their lives and themselves with us. There were so many kind people, and I’m glad that I was able to meet them and see their lives. Every once in a while, Yangzong’s grandpa will send a message to Jaye or Timothy, and they usually share it with the rest of us also. On Sunday, he sent a video of their yard and the surrounding mountains. When we were there in August, everything was green, and in the afternoon, it was a bit hot, but now, at the beginning of November, everything is covered in white. Snow covered the yard, the fence and the surrounding mountains. The snow and the views are quite beautiful, but I’m also thankful for my warm weather in the south of China.

We all loved our adventures for the day, and we all agreed that none of them were things that we could have planned. Sometimes God has little gifts for us that I could never have imagined but are so wonderful. Today was one of those days.