The monastic retreat at Takster was incredible. The mountain top retreat was literally built into the mountain with an elaborate system of meditation caves carved into the rocky mountain. The buildings were painted with intricate designs in vivid reds, blues and yellow. From the look out at the top of the retreat I felt like I could take flight and fly with the bird. We ended the outing with a lunch of pig ears, greens, cucumbers, salted peanuts, noodles and other local delicacies with monks from Kumbum Monastery that agreed to be our guide for the day.

Next stop was Trika County . The drive to Trika included another mountain pass over 12,000 feet and a bridge over the Yellow River . Driving from Kumbum to Trika is like traveling to Eastern Montana by way of the Scottish Highlands and Bryce Canyon, Utah. The scenery was incredibly diverse ranging from lush green foothills to bright red cliffs to farmlands to nomadic outposts to new developments and Muslim market towns.

I stayed a week in Serkya village with Kunchok's family, a translator and a Tibetan physician. Although my Tibetan did not progress beyond “please, no more tea and bread”, the trip was highly successful. I spoke with village leaders, village elders, mothers and children. I visited village school spoke with school officials about the challenges of teaching in rural communities and spoke with farmers about the challenges of farming at high altitude.

It is difficult to compare life in Seattle with life of the Tibetan Plateau. The needs of those living on the Plateau are basic and great. Food is scarce, the land is harsh and unforgiving and the winters are long and bitter cold. Yet, everywhere we went people welcomed us with warm smiles and tsampa .