We were slowed down considerably on the road early in the morning by villagers who were ushering their cows to the field. Finally when we were cleared, a soldier stopped us along the way. He wanted to hitch-hike to his camp and so we had to squeeze a bit at the back. All the while he was talking to ZK in Chuan language and so we couldn’t understand the conversation.
After we dropped him, it was a long endurance ride through the highlands. The kind of 高原 that I expected was greens everywhere with horses galloping around. All I saw was yellow grass all around, a bit of disappointed. Hence, I slept for most part of that journey until we reached 里塘 where we broke for lunch.
ZK told us that the 2 places of interest 稻城 and 亚丁, initially in our 16 days itinerary, are not worth visiting. Moreover, the entrance fee is going to be over 300rmb, including the horse-cart ride. We were a bit skeptical because DaCheng and YaDing are known to be one of the most beautiful places along our 318 route (btw, our route is known as 318川藏线). And some people even said that they are the last, truly, Shangri-La of China. Kenneth said that the Shangri-La in Yunnan is man-made for the sake of tourists.
While persuading us, ZK kept saying that his intention was to help us save money (节约), and the scenery there will not be more beautiful then the free ones we were going to see along the way. Even though he did mentioned that the choice is still ours to make, he was strongly against the idea. In the end, we felt that he genuinely suggested that for our good (我处处都是为你们着想), and adopted his change of plan. He claimed that the 2 days spent there could now be put into better use in other more worthy places.
JH was afraid that ZK was going to cheat the 2 days out of us and after some clarifications with him, he promised that he will fully utilized all 16 days. In the end, he wanted us to write on his notebook that we all agreed to the change in plan after discussing, and I signed on it on the behalf of the team. He said this was the correct procedure so that he could report back to his travel coy.
With this issue settled, we went to visit a little monastery called 白塔公园, and I had some understanding of their religion there. The town people would walk around the temple (which is shaped like a white tower) in a clockwise direction. In their hands, they would turn their prayer wheels (转经轮) and chant a six-word prayer (MaMiMaMiHom… but sounds only 5 words, maybe I got it wrong).
At the 2 sides of the temple would be 2 rows of Prayer Drums (转经桶) which the prayers would turn. I was really impressed by their faith in their religion as there were many elderly who were obviously having difficulty in walking but still kept going round.
Other elderly would sit around in the park chatting and turning their wheels at the same time. The wheels had to be turned in the clockwise direction also. We spotted a bunch of kids playing games and singing songs and so we decided to go over and play with them. They were surprised and curious by the approach of foreigners and were a bit shy. Eventually, it was our cameras and DV that won them over and all of them were eager to be on screen.
All except for 1 little boy who all the while would just sit there quietly looking at us, with a half-smile (or half-frown? I couldn’t tell). It looked as if he had a lot of worries but he was only around 4 yrs of age. And there were 3 brothers (I guess so, since they wore similar clothes) who will always take pictures together. I realised this only after I took a look at JH, Kenneth and CCG’s pictures back in SG. The 3 boys were always together in all their pictures. The elderly sitting around were happy that the kids had fun with us.
After spending 30min there, we left to go to another temple. But this temple was hard to find and many of the locals said they never heard of it. Either that temple never existed or ZK got a problem with his pronunciation. Finally, thanks to some local kids, we found the temple. I guess the confusion was caused by the fact that the temple was known as another name to the local. It was a grand monastery with gold-plated (or maybe real gold) roofs but we couldn’t enter as it was under maintenance.
With nothing left to see, we left for our next stop 巴塘. On the way, CCG had to ask the driver to stop as he needed to shit. First diarrhea casualty. And it must be due to the spicy food that we had all this time. We stopped by a grassland area, and while he went to do his business, ZK, JH and Kenneth went to a river quite some distance away to take pictures (and they got really nice scenery from there). I was left to guard the car and wait for CCG.
CCG returned looking better but still was in poor condition and I gave him a pill. We moved off immediately as it was getting a bit late by then. However, our progress came to a halt when we found that the small bridge further up had collapsed. The workers there said the repair team might only come tomorrow morning. So what can we do? Wait? Turn back to LiTang? ZK went to inspect the bridge and after some assessment, he felt that he could probably make a dash for it. The 4 of us got off the jeep and walked across, while ZK positioned the jeep for the dash.
He reminded me of the car stuntman 小黑 and he does look like him. We stood at the side of the road waiting, recording the stunt using my DV. But we didn’t have to wait long as ZK drove across the bridge without much hesitation. It was rather an anti-climax because all that happened was that the jeep dipped slightly and then climbed back and was at the other side of the river in a second. I was expecting his jeep would fly over or something like that. Still there was a risk that the bridge might collapse completely and so we gave ZK a round of applause for his courage. If the jeep really got caught in between the broken bridge, guess that would be the end to our trip.
After getting pass this little ordeal, I thought it would be smooth sailing all the way to our destination. But the road condition is as unpredictable as the weather here. There was major road repair all the way to BaTang, and we could only take the side road (便道) which was just a mud track. This seriously limited our speed and we could only travel at 30km/h at most. At this rate, we were never going to reach BaTang unless we drove at night, which was considered dangerous, and even more so when we were using the side road.
By 8pm, we decided it was too dark to carry on and hence had to stop by a small town (more like a village). It was of poor condition, with mud everywhere and worst of all no showering. After 1 full day of traveling, and no hot bath. It was really torturous. All we could do was to wash our face along the drain using the tap. I put some powder (蛇粉) and wiped my face with wet tissue. 艰苦生活.
We were so tired that we didn’t have much appetite for dinner (esp. CCG who was still feeling sick), except for ZK. After dinner, CCG went up to sleep while the rest of us chatted at the table. I asked ZK if he is a full time driver and how many trips must he make a year to earn a living. He said that he owns a teahouse and a box-making factory, so he was doing this for the sake of passion, not the $. He said it is dangerous if the driver do this just for the sake of $, because he would tire himself out in the end and put everyone’s life in jeopardy. My trust in him grew after hearing what he said.
The rest of the conversation was on girls, his clubbing experiences and a bit on history of China. Then, we rested for the day.
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