It would be a long bus journey from Lijiang to get there and it was not clear where I would stay once I was there.
The guidebooks did not show anything, but it was not certain why it was off-limits. Perhaps it was a route, albeit circuitous to Tibet. Perhaps it was because the society who lived there was matriarchal.
Regardless, I had been spending more time with minority groups, both in Burma and Thailand, and this seemed like a new diversion from the Mao-fashioned Han Chinese to see some colour.
This time, with a Tibetan promise and the mother focus there was an added edge.
“So how can I get there?” I asked.
September 1988
ဆယ့်လေး. Reporting from Rangoon Part 2 十六. The Mao Cap