Blog 6 - China 2
20.7.10
Big day on the roads again, and are horrified by the drivers. They are just suicidal. A semi trailer sideswipes us, but fortunately just collects the mirror on my side! The bang was enough to make me think we had lost half the truck! Stunning scenery thru the mountains, with cloud above and below us. 10 hrs trip to LIJIANE – another beautiful Old Town, and is our favourite “Old Town” so far. We had 2 days here, enjoying the markets, timber architecture, cobblestones, etc. Was hit by earthquake in ’96 & Chinese Govt impressed that Naxi style architecture survived, so rebuilt in cobblestones and wood, rather than concrete. We watch the Naxi people dance, and the men have very elaborate headgear. This race is matrilineal – the women have control! Affects language too – ‘stone’ plus female = boulder, but ‘stone plus male = pebble!
Naxi Dancers
John and friend
A pretty gorge which we hike & camp at 3800metres high. The guys have bought & fitted air horns, as the winding roads are just so dangerous without a warning signal (they feel like Big Boys with Trucks, now!!)
Birang Xiagu Gorge
Rocky Mountain high
Our burping truck (has to go last, belches worst!)
Big day on the roads again, and are horrified by the drivers. They are just suicidal. A semi trailer sideswipes us, but fortunately just collects the mirror on my side! The bang was enough to make me think we had lost half the truck! Stunning scenery thru the mountains, with cloud above and below us. 10 hrs trip to LIJIANE – another beautiful Old Town, and is our favourite “Old Town” so far. We had 2 days here, enjoying the markets, timber architecture, cobblestones, etc. Was hit by earthquake in ’96 & Chinese Govt impressed that Naxi style architecture survived, so rebuilt in cobblestones and wood, rather than concrete. We watch the Naxi people dance, and the men have very elaborate headgear. This race is matrilineal – the women have control! Affects language too – ‘stone’ plus female = boulder, but ‘stone plus male = pebble!
Naxi Dancers
John and friendTIGER LEAPING GORGE
A spectacular 16km gorge, 4kms deep – but closed for 12 month! (Why did our so-called Tour Company not know this???) Disappointing. Oh well. So much to see, we won’t lose sleep over it! Up to 3300mtrs today.
ZHONGDIAN/SHANGRI-LA
ZHONGDIAN/SHANGRI-LA
Our first yak! And Kym gets hit with altitude sickness! Most of us have taken preventative tablets, and I have suffered from it before, but he had hoped to “weather it”! From here on, we hover between 2800-4800, so all hoping we will be OK.
I stumbled across the book The Lost Horizon, written by James Hilton, and set in this area. From this story, the Chinese Govt decided that this area was the area referred to in the book, and now Zhongdian is officially Shangri-La! It was a 1 yak town 4 yrs ago – now full of tourists and no yaks!
I stumbled across the book The Lost Horizon, written by James Hilton, and set in this area. From this story, the Chinese Govt decided that this area was the area referred to in the book, and now Zhongdian is officially Shangri-La! It was a 1 yak town 4 yrs ago – now full of tourists and no yaks!
We were told we had crossed the imaginary Tibetan border, (but we hadn’t - nowhere near yet!) and saw our first yaks – some black & fringed with white. Then we saw an all white one, but mostly black. Many local people wear their traditional dress.
We visit the largest Monastery in SW China, housing 600 monks. I got blessed by 2 monks and now sport a wooden bracelet and a necklace! (Doubly blessed – I knew that, already!) No photos permitted inside, of course, but the colours and statuary are stunning.
We are constantly, day & night, besieged by the Chinese who want to see inside our trucks! They climb the steps and just walk in – up to 8 at a time, and we are shooing them back out! We have to lift the steps at night, or they climb up to peer in the windows! Find then generally very pushy & rude, but the English speaking ones are much more pleasant.
Curious Crowd
Tibetan style homes now, large, 3 stories usually – the lower for storage & stock, middle for living, top (we couldn’t understand why it had no windows!) is for the Buddha. Stunning timber carvings on many.
LIJIANG
LIJIANG
Another gorgeous old town, and the Outdoors shopping... Gore-Tex jackets for around $70 (Aus around $300). Don’t need though, so don’t buy, but would love to! We find a European restaurant, and EAT MEAT!! But eyes bigger than stomachs now, and Chinese looks good after all!
A pretty gorge which we hike & camp at 3800metres high. The guys have bought & fitted air horns, as the winding roads are just so dangerous without a warning signal (they feel like Big Boys with Trucks, now!!)
Birang Xiagu GorgeWESTERN CHINA
Still heading west to Tibet, and what a drive! Quite a good road, although a couple of delays with bogged trucks – we are learning Buddhist patience!! Up and over at 4700 metres, clouds above and below. Spectacular scenery ranging from craggy mountains, to open tundra plains, to massive rocks, and glacial ponds, rushing streams, and more. We have all adjusted to altitude today, but the trucks don’t have that luxury. They struggle with the incorrect oxygen/fuel ratio, and not something we can adjust, so they belch and burp their way down the mountainsides!
Still heading west to Tibet, and what a drive! Quite a good road, although a couple of delays with bogged trucks – we are learning Buddhist patience!! Up and over at 4700 metres, clouds above and below. Spectacular scenery ranging from craggy mountains, to open tundra plains, to massive rocks, and glacial ponds, rushing streams, and more. We have all adjusted to altitude today, but the trucks don’t have that luxury. They struggle with the incorrect oxygen/fuel ratio, and not something we can adjust, so they belch and burp their way down the mountainsides!
Rocky Mountain high
Our burping truck (has to go last, belches worst!)
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