Preetam Rai

There are some mysterious places in this world. I call these places "here be dragons" places. Medieval European map makers coined this term. They used to attach this comment to some places on their maps. Places that they were unsure of (most of the far east). There is a map on my wall. I stuck some "here be dragons" labels on them. One such place on my map is the place where the borders of Tibet, India and Myanmar meet. This is where the mysterious Shangri-la is supposed to be.
One September morning, I trekked up a misty hill. It took about two hours. All along the way I could hear Tibetan shepherds sing. I could never see them, just hear their singing. I reached the top and found this little girl. Her mother was barbecuing some yak meat. I tried some along with some rice wine. The wine was strong, I became a poet (apologies to Li Bai).

Hey little Tibet girl,
happy-shiny like a pearl,
you will not talk,
just play with that yak,
and that dress so pink
please follow this link.

Counting sheep

The loneliest shepherd

The shy, curious, puzzled, happy, smiling childhood friends

Lets play all day, never go to school.

More images from Kunming and other parts of Yunnan

A temple in Kunming

Grassland kids expert at horses

The misty walkway

Wildflowers

My home

Waterfalls

An Yak train

Colour girls

The Market

Black Dragon Lake

The walk up the Bita sea

Old Lijiang

More Wildflowers

The grasslands

My childhood friends

The monastery up the hill

The tea plantations

The temples in Lijiang

Under the world so high

The last doll

Lunchtime on the way to Zhongdian

Tiger leaping gorge

Another childhood friends

Little baby yangtze river

Lijiang street market

Inspecting the goods..bee hives