I was travelling in Tibet shortly after 9/11, in places which were not in the Lonely Planet. I was using some Chinese maps which a scholar from a University in Melbourne had marked the phonetic pronunciation, and I would go up to a bus station and say in Mandarin 'bus tomorrow' and then point to the map and say the word, and then get on a bus and see where I ended up. I visited an out-of-the-way place called Sershul, which
was reachable on the back of a pickup truck, and wandered around the town. People came from all over the plateau to check me out, and word reached the Rinpoche in the local monastery. A monk was dispatched to invite me to have a meal at the monastery, and I found myself sitting at a table on a verandah, trying to communicate with the Rinpoche and some monks. It was amusing. Later on, a Tibetan visiting from USA to receive orphaned children into care, who was staying at the monastery, told me that, as a rainbow had formed behind my head during the dinner, it was seen as an auspicious sign and I was invited to stay in the monastery. I stayed for a month, teaching English, and travelled in an entourage to Xining. It came in handy to have me on the trip because one of the 4WDs had a flat tyre and the monks scattered across the plateau and returned with pieces of shale. I had been told to stay in the car, but when I saw that, I couldn't resist going out, getting the jack, and replacing the tyre for them. They all gathered around to watch.
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