The high refers to those who are like him, coming from elsewhere in China for an extended break and are high from either drug or some other form of escapism. He took drugs too (weed at first, then acid). After tripping on acid he decided that he found his faith.

I don’t like the book for the suggestion that taking drugs as a short cut to finding faith – he suddenly found his faith after an acid trip. For that it is a thumbs down and after the book, I don’t like the guy enough to read another of his book. In the 1 year he spent in beautiful Dali, with all that nature and history and  all he could think of naming is a pun on drug taking?