... newer stories
Mittwoch, 15. Mai 2013
Langmusi 郎木寺
highpeak, 17:45h
We left Xiahe very early in the morning to take the only direct bus to Langmusi. After a crazy 4.5 hours bus ride (seems the driver was a future reincarnation of Michael Schumacher and overtook with his 40seater everything from trucks without seeing whats coming in front to Audi A6L, name it...) we arrived in a rainy small town and got shocked about the condition of the main road here:
We managed to keep more or less dry (but not clean) and checked into the best hotel (consider it 2 stars) and started walking around. Langmusi is half on Gansu Province side and half on Sichuan Province (actually Sichuan side roads look better, seems they have more money) and has two monasteries on both ends of the town.
The vibe here is quite nice, sleepy town with Tibetan monks and pilgrims, Han Chinese and Hui (muslim or Uighur), laying on 3300 m altitude, embedded between high mountains, almost an alpine feeling.
The weather good was gracious with us and in the afternoon the clouds opened for some blue sky and sunshine, so we went for a walk to the monastery
and from there further to a small town outside, through nice landscape. Could even spot groundhogs (Murmeltiere) from a near distance and see locals on their round around the monastery.
We stopped for a photo shooting with members of the local FC Langmusi
and got the necessary blessings from a nice monk on the street.
By the way, seems the manager of our hotel is also a monk, very gentle and it seemed he was the only one there who could speak decent Chinese (at least for my understanding). Only problem here was that it seemed he had different understanding about hot water in the shower than us weak Western guys, but on the second day after friendly discussion with him, also this problem was solved.
On the 2nd day we awoke with heavy rain outside, but anyhow, after a nice breakfast in a local restaurant run by a muslim family (fantastic apple pie!), we started a hiking trip into Namo gorge.
Directly before entering the trail we encountered a big gathering of the monks, sitting on the grass, singing and playing all kind of instruments, while a big fire with a lot of smoke was burning beside them.
Quite impressive, even if we did not get the meaning or purpose of this event. We continued walking up, crossing the small river running down the gorge several time before we arrived on a bigger grass area and followed the way up. Fantastic land scape again and we got lucky as on the way back the rain stopped and again blue sky with little sunshine opened up.
We closed the day with our mandatory green tea session and culinary highlight of the day: Yak steak!
Tomorrow morning again a long bus drive, heading more south to Songpan.
We managed to keep more or less dry (but not clean) and checked into the best hotel (consider it 2 stars) and started walking around. Langmusi is half on Gansu Province side and half on Sichuan Province (actually Sichuan side roads look better, seems they have more money) and has two monasteries on both ends of the town.
The vibe here is quite nice, sleepy town with Tibetan monks and pilgrims, Han Chinese and Hui (muslim or Uighur), laying on 3300 m altitude, embedded between high mountains, almost an alpine feeling.
The weather good was gracious with us and in the afternoon the clouds opened for some blue sky and sunshine, so we went for a walk to the monastery
and from there further to a small town outside, through nice landscape. Could even spot groundhogs (Murmeltiere) from a near distance and see locals on their round around the monastery.
We stopped for a photo shooting with members of the local FC Langmusi
and got the necessary blessings from a nice monk on the street.
By the way, seems the manager of our hotel is also a monk, very gentle and it seemed he was the only one there who could speak decent Chinese (at least for my understanding). Only problem here was that it seemed he had different understanding about hot water in the shower than us weak Western guys, but on the second day after friendly discussion with him, also this problem was solved.
On the 2nd day we awoke with heavy rain outside, but anyhow, after a nice breakfast in a local restaurant run by a muslim family (fantastic apple pie!), we started a hiking trip into Namo gorge.
Directly before entering the trail we encountered a big gathering of the monks, sitting on the grass, singing and playing all kind of instruments, while a big fire with a lot of smoke was burning beside them.
Quite impressive, even if we did not get the meaning or purpose of this event. We continued walking up, crossing the small river running down the gorge several time before we arrived on a bigger grass area and followed the way up. Fantastic land scape again and we got lucky as on the way back the rain stopped and again blue sky with little sunshine opened up.
We closed the day with our mandatory green tea session and culinary highlight of the day: Yak steak!
Tomorrow morning again a long bus drive, heading more south to Songpan.
... link (2 Kommentare) ... comment
Montag, 13. Mai 2013
Xiahe grassland
highpeak, 16:32h
After visiting the monastery yesterday we decided to visit the nearby grassland in Sangke. A short taxi ride for 30 RMB took us the 17 km to the place. As written in the Lonely Planet guidebook its a very touristy place, reminding me on the yurts for tourists in Hailaer and Yakeshi in Inner Mongolia. Luckily yet the tourist season has not started, so it seemed we were the only guys there and the "tourist circus" with horse riding, yurt dinner, etc. was not opened yet.
After looking around we found a short trail which was leading us through the fields and grasslands and we started to walk back to Xiahe, passing sheep and yak herds and the nomads guarding them, just wonderful.
Somewhen the trail ended (option was to take this bridge)
and we continued our walk through some vegetable fields, before we decided to follow the last kilometers the main road. In total, walking today was 20 km, tiring, but absolutely worth to see and experience the grasslands in this way.
Tomorrow we will head more to the south to Langmusi, which is already quite close to Sichuan Province. Seems some rain is waiting for us there, better to turn some more of the prayer wheels and pray for sunshine to continue hiking.
After looking around we found a short trail which was leading us through the fields and grasslands and we started to walk back to Xiahe, passing sheep and yak herds and the nomads guarding them, just wonderful.
Somewhen the trail ended (option was to take this bridge)
and we continued our walk through some vegetable fields, before we decided to follow the last kilometers the main road. In total, walking today was 20 km, tiring, but absolutely worth to see and experience the grasslands in this way.
Tomorrow we will head more to the south to Langmusi, which is already quite close to Sichuan Province. Seems some rain is waiting for us there, better to turn some more of the prayer wheels and pray for sunshine to continue hiking.
... link (3 Kommentare) ... comment
Sonntag, 12. Mai 2013
Xiahe 夏河
highpeak, 17:19h
Took the next bus from Tongren to Xiahe in Gansu Province, a great 3 hours bumpy ride, but in a great landscape. We started from about 2500m and climbing up some passes to almost 4000m, passing yak and sheep herds, before descending down to Xiahe, which is still on 2900 altitude.
The towns we passed during this ride looked more like middle age style, just houses built from clay, sometimes bricks.
Xiahe itself is developing very fast, high rise buildings popping up like hell, but the old street leading to the Labrang Monastery old looking style.
After checking into a small hotel we tried our first Tibetan food, mome (yak dumplings), yak yoghurt and Tibetan milk tea, a bit special which I felt in the afternoon..
We made a big round circling the monastery,
climbing up a hill with a good view down to the whole area and keeping us fit (even if gasping for air in this level). We were passing monks on their pilgrim round, prayer flags (prayers are written on it and than attached to these lines)
Afterwards a small guided tour through the monastery with a young monk, who explained us the basics in English, so we got a rough idea about the space.
Famous tibetan buddhism schools for astrology, philosophy and art (like dancing and preparing butter sculptures for holy festivals):
Than enjoyed the afternoon with some green tea and Markus found the first beer in a running fridge since 1000 km (for sure he took his chance to celebrate this event). As soon the sun hides behind the surrounding mountains it gets pretty chilly here, so I again preferred the tea instead of beer for dinner (this time he as well, hehe).
Tomorrow we wanna head out to the graslands, depending on the weather and also the tiredness of our feet.
The towns we passed during this ride looked more like middle age style, just houses built from clay, sometimes bricks.
Xiahe itself is developing very fast, high rise buildings popping up like hell, but the old street leading to the Labrang Monastery old looking style.
After checking into a small hotel we tried our first Tibetan food, mome (yak dumplings), yak yoghurt and Tibetan milk tea, a bit special which I felt in the afternoon..
We made a big round circling the monastery,
climbing up a hill with a good view down to the whole area and keeping us fit (even if gasping for air in this level). We were passing monks on their pilgrim round, prayer flags (prayers are written on it and than attached to these lines)
Afterwards a small guided tour through the monastery with a young monk, who explained us the basics in English, so we got a rough idea about the space.
Famous tibetan buddhism schools for astrology, philosophy and art (like dancing and preparing butter sculptures for holy festivals):
Than enjoyed the afternoon with some green tea and Markus found the first beer in a running fridge since 1000 km (for sure he took his chance to celebrate this event). As soon the sun hides behind the surrounding mountains it gets pretty chilly here, so I again preferred the tea instead of beer for dinner (this time he as well, hehe).
Tomorrow we wanna head out to the graslands, depending on the weather and also the tiredness of our feet.
... link (0 Kommentare) ... comment
... older stories
