that faraway

April 8th, unless i caught amnesia, dare me not forget that journey. 7 hours of trembling bus ride on the winding highway engraved on the surface of mountain, taking me to the most remote area in this kingdom of mountains. i knew their existence through documentaries on discovery, and only faintest thought exsited in my mind that i would one day visit the place, the Lake Lugu.without the roads, or rather paths it will remain extremely unaccessible; even with the roads, the speed limit could only be 40, not to mention the greet from falling rocks..anyway, that was how we got there, what the driver may consider as making a living, we call it thrills.
we checked in the hostel on Lige peninsula, the one marked by the arrow called La ke's house. the place was quiet, all you could hear was the water washing up the shore, and this is where the mosuos call home. the ethnic minority group has a very small population base of 50000, the matriarchal family system is exactly what the crew from discovery channel wanted the world to know, and the "walking marriage"...i'm not very interested in that though, since humanology isnt my major and i consider it rude to probe into people's private life. so, when those beijing folks eating their toasted wild boar and asking the young house keeper bin mar, whether he has walked into any fine lady's room, they were merely consuming his privacy to satisfy their curiosity..i dont understand why the women seemed more interested or arose by the topic on the dinning table, well, shut the fuck up beijing lady, how nice shall it be if i asked "have you been slept?"..show some respect and table manner, the tradition of theirs isnt a cheap joke of ours.
that is our young house keeper La ke bin mar, only 18...i must admit, the mosuo guys are handsome, high proportion of them are.
his name is er che, 19. we walked into the hostel ran by his cousin ge ruo, wanted to have a couple of drinks. he was kinda shy infront of girl, nevertheless as a boy filled with hospitality in heart. he came over and talked to us, mildly drunk due to the afternoon drinking session. we requested for legends about mosuos, so he spoke like how his grandmother told him years ago when he was still a kiddo cuddling in the arms of hers:

"thousand years ago before the Lake lugu was created, the greedy chieftain commanded the people here, a young boy was asked to do all the laborious work and not given any food as reward. one day, the boy found a cave at the opposite side of mountain where, to his astonishment, a giant fish blocked the entire entrance. he then cut small pieces of meat from the fish, and the wound instantly recovered itself, he was so delighted as then he would not have to worry about his grumbling stomach. days after days, instead of getting weaker, the boy was full of energy, and nobody knew his secret source of food till the greedy chieftain asked his henchmen to follow the boy. how could the chieftain forgo the chance to possess the treasure, so he ordered his men to bring the fish home. it took all the men in the village to pull the fish out of cave, water flooded out as the fish was removed, annihilated the entire village and the people, of course including the greedy chieftain, but surprisingly also the boy. only one granny was spared from annihilation as she jumped into the pig trough when she saw the flood coming, and she became the ancestor of all mosuos. when the furious water calmed down, Lake lugu was formed."

he was so immensed in the story, and he's handsome ain't he? all his brothers and cousins are. late in the night, we dinned in his place. the area was still black-out because the lighting struck the power line previous night. as i walked through the yard in darkness, i raised my head and i swear that was the most clear night sky with countless stars i've ever seen, i didnt reach for my camera as i knew it wouldnt be light-sensitive enough to capture what i saw and was so dazzled at the moment, reluctant to step away from the yard, not a single split second.

it's er che's cat, in mosuo native language, it's er che's "holee"..and we asked what's hello, it sounded like "nokia", but in fact a more accurate version is "norjia", i forgot what's thanks...
it was about to rain when we rented the boat, that wouldnt dampen the spirit for a sail. it looks like a hole in the cluster of cloud, but the water was calm.

the auntie asked if i could give her a hand, i gladly picked the paddle up, and rowed with her. she sang the folk song of mosuo while we headed for camel hill where we could get a comprehensive view of the lake, and sure we did. we chatted abit with the auntie, mother of two. the older boy is in P6, always the top in class; younger girl is in P3, not as good as her brother, but not doing bad in the class. i could feel the proudness in her tone, she raised them up, alone. perhaps that's the greatest comfort she wants.

on the camel hill, sunshine on the right, rain drop on the left...of course not forgetting the rainbow
she said, the kids will one day leave this place, but she will stay. afterall, they've been living in the old house for a few hundred years.

to be continued...