  So I have tried to write an update in 3 different towns over the past 3 days,  and have been very unsuccessful. nbsp;  Computers here are pretty ghetto,  especially after being in Japan. nbsp;
 Its getting very annoying.  & nbsp;  The trip from Langmusi back to Chengdu took a day longer than Chengdu to Langmusi. I finally saw why so many people say travelling around these parts can be really difficult. nbsp;
 Busses are unreliable,  and the roads are terrible. nbsp;  But,  as they say in japan,  shyou ga nai!
nbsp;  ( it cant be helped)  & nbsp;  My journey started in Langmusi at around 6am.
nbsp;  I was supposed to catch a bus to the next " town"  ( actually,  it was just a fork in the road,
 with 2 restaraunts,  a " hotel"  and a small shop. nbsp;  After waiting for about 2.
5 hrs and watching a few sheep and yak heards make their way down the street,  I came to the conclusion my bus wasnt comming. nbsp;  The helpful lady at the hotel assured me that the bus to Zoige at the next town would wait for me,  and I should just get on a taxi. nbsp;
 Of course,  there were no taxi drivers. she said they were all asleep now. nbsp;  Wonderful! nbsp;
 Finally,  an hour later,  we ( there was a german couple in the same sitaation)  got a ride to the " town"
and you guessed it,  there was no bus waiting for us. nbsp;  On top of that,  10 minutes later,  the bus I wanted to take to that fork in the road shows up,
 dropping off another traveller that would turn out t obe my companion for the next few days. Kato- san from japan. nbsp;  & nbsp;
 To our luck,  there was a young chinese couple from chengdu that spoke excellent english. nbsp;  They told us the next bus was going to come around 1pm. nbsp;  Instead of just hanging around ,
they invited us to check out this local horse race in the village down the road a few minutes. nbsp;  Kato- san and I went,  while the germans ( an older couple)
 stayed behind.  & nbsp;  This horse race was honestly very uneventful and not to exciting. nbsp;  It was,
 however,  really cool just hanging around all the local townspeople,  watching and listeniging. nbsp;  The race itself had multiple heats of 5 riders. none of the races were close.
but the winner got 5 bushells of Horse Tea ( or something to that effect) nbsp;  Sweet!  & nbsp;
 Before the race people slowly gathered in the field. the men in their oversized tibetan jackets on their Honda motercycles,  the children in their school jumpers with snot running down their noses and icecream popsicles in hand,  and the women in their colorful ethnic dresses. nbsp;  As soon as I pulled out my camera,
 the little kids went nuts!  They could not get enough of it. being in pictures or taking them. and when they say my digital camera they were truly astonished. nbsp;  The instant feedback really got them going.
nbsp;  Even the women would get into it,  but generally were much shier than the kids. nbsp;  I laughed and played with them as the kids went from pose to pose. very fun.
 & nbsp;  After a few hours of that we decided to head back to make our 1pm bus. we got there just as the bus arrived. nbsp;  Great!
nbsp;  All we had to do was grab our bags from the hotel we left them in and we were on our way. nbsp;  No problem. nbsp;  Except,
 the young female monk who ran the place was at the horse race festival with the keys. and we were stuck. again. nbsp;  Shyou ga nai! nbsp;
 Next bus,  around 4pm.  & nbsp;  Now we decided to chill at the fork in the road and get some eats. nbsp;
 Lke I said in my last post,  this area is Truly Tibet. and all the local fare is tibetan. nbsp;  We started out our lunch with Suyou- cha,
 Tibetan Yak- butter Tea. nbsp;  This a drink that Tibetanas have all the time. gives them energy supposedly. nbsp;
 It is made from ( you guessed it.  yak butter,  horse tea,  and some rice- based flour-
esque stuff. nbsp;  It is sweet,  and has a strong buttery taste. Ill pass. The other stuff we tried was Zamba.
a playdoey substance made from the same ingredients as the tea. it tastes like a mixture of soil,  playdoe,  and yup,  yak butter. Kato-
san and I looked at eachother and decided the best thing to do was to dig into the 40cent beers and plain old noodles. much better.  & nbsp;  After lunch Kato- san started strumming on his guitar,
 attracting the attention of the whole fork- in- the- road. nbsp;  It was really cool seing the tibetans get down to some Japanese music.
nbsp;  Music truly transcends all cultural boundries. I wish I could play the harmonica or something.  & nbsp;  At around 5pm the bus to Zoige finally showed up.
it was the dirtiest smelliest bus I have been on yet. nbsp;  The guy sitting behind me was spitting out his lungs for the entire ride too ( on the floor of course. I am sure I caught some type of cold on that bus. nbsp;
 Curses!  & nbsp;  We got to zoige at night. found a cheap hotel,  and had some grub.
nbsp;  The locals got a kick out of us sweating and coughing as we tried to down their local spicy cuisine. ha ha ha. After spending the night we planned to catch a direct bus to Chengdu. so we got up an hour before the bus departure time ( 6:
30)  thinking we could get our tickets no problem. nbsp;  Nope! nbsp;  Sold out literally 1 minute before I got to the ticket window.
nbsp;  Wonderful! nbsp;  Our other option was to go back through Songpan. nbsp;  Time is so valuable when you travel that it really sucks having to back-
track a few days. but,  shyou ga nai! nbsp;  So we got on the bus and made the journey back.  &
nbsp;  At songpan we were lucky to get a connecting bus to the small town of Maowen,  set deep in the mountains along that fast moving river. nbsp;  Maowen is not even an afterthought in all the Chjina travel books,  but it was quite nice staying there.
nbsp;  I think it is home to the Qiang minority group,  but I really am not sure. nbsp;  They looked and dressed completely different than the Tibetans. nbsp;
 Their dress was almost persian- like. nbsp;  They had big head turbines and colorful vests. very beautiful. nbsp;
 Our hotel was the grimiest dirtiest hole in the wall I have ever stayed in. nbsp;  The toilet caused me to almost lose my lunch from the past week a few times. dry heaves are the worst!  & nbsp;
 We cruised around town that evening. and had dinner at this small outdoor stand. nbsp;  It was a mixture of frying and grilling skewered stuff. from eggplant to horse tripe. I think.
nbsp;  It was really cheap and really good. lots of people just hanging around and eating. nbsp;  And even a good old fashioned drunken fight broke out with yelling,  and broken beer bottles and crowds.
very cool :  & nbsp;  The next morning we finally got on a bus to Chengdu. what a journey. nbsp;
 We got to Chengdu before noon,  and the first thing I did when I got to the hostel was take a shower. It is amazing how different the weather is. just 2 days earlier I was freezing to death and now in Chengdu it was hot and humid. nbsp;  The other shock came from all the western clothing people were wearing.
nbsp;  The last week I had been surrounded by small minority cultures in their colorful clothes and old traditions. the change is actually really shocking.  & nbsp;  ok.
next update gets its own page.  & nbsp;  & nbsp;
