Editor's note: Kesang Tashi is a Tibetan who lives in New Hampshire, while Douglas E. Wilford is a native of Ohio, who lives in Lhasa. Tang Yue spoke to them to discover the pros and cons of their unusual lifestyles.

Although the two men have never met, they have something in common - they live in the lands of each other's birth.

Kesang Tashi is a 70-year-old Tibetan born in Shangri-La, while Douglas E. Wilford is a 49-year-old from the US state of Ohio.

US expat Douglas E. Wilford with an employee at his Summit Cafe in Lhasa. Li Zhou / for China Daily

Tashi attended college in the United States in 1966 and now lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, with his wife and two children.

Wilford first traveled to Tibet in 1998 and has lived in Lhasa since 2005 with his family, including an adopted Chinese daughter.

Both are businessmen. Tashi sells traditional Tibetan rugs in the US, while Wilford runs two cafes in Lhasa.

China Daily's Tang Yue spoke to the pair to discover why they chose to live and work in their "second hometowns", how they understand each other's culture and reflect on life, from what Tashi calls an "analytical distance".