Aba, September 2017

In summer 2015 I come back from Aba with a dream: learn to fly a Paraglider and go back there to fly that sky. The puffy clouds, the light and the soft grassland slopes of that place left me astonished.

    Kham, at the border of contemporary Tibet: a endless pasture covered by tiny flowers, Yaks, sheeps, golden roofed monasteries and white shepherd tends everywhere. A remote concrete-Han style Chinese town. Rich place, populated by a strange mix of Champa Sheppard that exchanged their horses with subwoofer geared motorbikes and post-modern monks chatting theology in Tibetan language via we chat on brand new golden I-Phones. Huge multistory monasteries newly built by donations from very rich buddhist businessman from shanghai and Beijing. The number of monks in town, the richness inside the gompas, the dimensions of the golden buddhas and the amount of brass statues ordered from Nepal is something difficult to describe and made me doubt that how we foreigners see “the Tibetan issue” is a bit too much in “contrasted black and white”. Nuances here are to be discovered.

    That summer I had just realized that My life dream was in-fact not so suitable for me, the sailboat was sold and at the same time my bigger love story was finishing. I subscribed a paragliding course and took and took a heavy adrenaline shower to try to forget the past.

   I remember myself at the paragliding school in central Italy: just a beginner, showing everybody pictures of Tibetan clouds. « I want to fly there... is this sky flyable ? » As every school day, the teacher looks at me with tired eyes that are, silently telling me: « you are just a beginner... this evening, when the wind goes down, you go back to the ground handling field... thats all... » and just to be kind he mumbles « there is a big overdevelopment over that monastery». At that time I started to question myself what was an overdevelopment.

   I suffered a lot in that school: never an interesting answer to my questions, never anybody available to go deeper than, « you are not ready » ... I spent on ground the best flyable days of that summer and missed the best hours of the day. The instructor was busy with tandems but the official version was « the wind is too strong for You ». At the end I decided to learn hang-glider and paraglider together, at least the day was completely full. I left the school earlier than the exam, bought an ultralight harness at Coupe Icaire and went traveling with my A-glider all winter. I come back next spring just to show up enough to get the license. That was the hardest time. Other epic days lost on ground and tensions with the big boss. I never went back to Castelluccio.

    Two years are passed and I am here again. Maya will arrive one week later and I was not able to meet any Chinese “Hike and fly” pilots to make a group; everybody here looks busy to fly High end Wings in brand new swimming-pooled clubs with golf-grassed take offs. I didn't even try to propose the idea to European friends, I have never been able to leave Europe with other people. I go, as usual, alone, usually I met very nice people on my remote way on the mountains, but here, and with a paraglider, I have no big hopes. Birger also destroyed my project just two weeks before i left « no lift at high altitude » « lots of wind up there ».

    E vabbè ! What to do ! project was done, meteo was studyed, everything is planned, after two years I cannot give up, I go. I still don't speak Chinese and, as usual, I will have to roam around Tibetan tents with my white A4 paper, pencil and drawings to communicate, thats' ok, a bit boring, but I did it many times before. The only thing that really scares me are dogs: Tibetan mastiffs are cruel up here. Some times it is just a matter of picking up a stone from ground and their psyche goes quickly back to childhood forcing the huge Sheppard to run away crying like a puppet, but the « stone effect » is never sure and it depends from the family background of the beast witch is always unknown in advance. This would not be the first time that I find myself surrounded by a group of black barking lions ready to kill me. Sticks are useless, and I don't know how they will react to a red paraglider.

   All this I think walking out of the airport. But the story ends here. At the first flight I land near town. Policeman see me from the road and they come in black. Just curious and very friendly but after them others are coming and the “foreigner relation girl” is with them. « Troubles » I think folding the glider. And indeed... forbidden for foreigners to fly here... thats all …

   Stupid Bibo You already knew this: in Tibetan areas don't show up in town …