Click on an image to enlarge. The healing water site of Ba Mei village. The healing water site of Ba Mei village. 'The butter water' in Ba Mei village. 'The butter water' in Ba Mei village. 'The butter water' in Ba Mei village. The lama in charge. A village high in the mountains. Pristine water at 14,500". Pristine water at 14,500". Betsy's comments about these photos: Our first stop was in the town of Ba Mei, a village that has survived because of an ancient spring. Legend has it that a thousand years ago, a Bon monk—a practitioner of the religion that pre-dates Buddhism—arrived at the site and threw three stones. Where one of the stones landed, a spring bubbled up. It is said to be able to treat 360 kinds of diseases if the following procedure is followed: The patient puts their head under a stream of water (which flows from a pipe) three times, washes their mouth with the water three times, and takes three sips. During the two hours we spent talking to the monk in charge of the site, five people came to use it. The monk told us that during the Cultural Revolution, red guards tried to burn down the massive tree and it began to bleed red blood. This so frightened the guards that they fled in terror. The legend of this spring tells of a very poor peasant woman who was herding sheep with her young son (he later became the 11th Dalai Lama) and she was starving. Her son pointed to some water trickling out of the side of a hill. He said, “Mother, drink this water it will give you strength.” She dismissed him, but he insisted. She drank some of the water, and it did indeed make her feel as if she had eaten. Located near the Hui Yuan Temple, an hour’s drive from Ba Mei, this spring has been named the butter water in homage to the Tibetan national beverage, Yak butter tea. This was sweet-tasting water that, to our amazement, did fill us up. The site was so beautiful and quiet and the water so indescribably pure that our guide, a young monk, and our Chinese driver felt compelled to clean the site of all paper, plastic, and cigarette butts—something that had never occurred to them to do before. I could only assume that this small site was a reflection of a healthy water system that nurtured the whole valley, which appeared to be economically stable and productive. However, as there are rich coal veins in the surrounding mountains, this ecological and economic health is precarious and could rapidly be destroyed by mining. We bottled this water and drank it for the next four days as we continued up the mountain. On the fifth day, beautiful mountains and a large monastery finally came into view after a long drive along treacherous roads bare from logging with mud slides on all sides. The Lama in charge told us that the valley's water supply was contaminated and they had to pipe in water from further up the mountain, now the best water in the valley. THe mining companies were seeking his permission to mine. Though he knew that the company would discharge toxic chemicals into the water system, he had no concept of what rights the villagers had or how to insist that the operation be ecologically responsible. THere are rules and regulations that require this, which are seldom enforced. The Lama offered to have his young monks drive us further up the mountain on motorcycles. When the road became too precarious for the bikes, we continued on foot for an hour and a half at 14,500 feet. Finally, prayer flags began to appear signaling our arrival at the spring. THe local people believe that if a person allows one drop of blood to enter the water, or permits their yak to graze within 1,200 feet, they and their entire herd will die. In this way, the healthiest water in the valley has been kept pristine.