First full day on the Tibetan Plateau and we arrived at a town higher than Lhasa in elevation.
Not a smart move for two out-of-shape office workers living at sea level our entire lives. Within 24 hours we moved from an elevation of 500m at the Ancient Town of Shangli to 3700m at a small Tibetan settlement known as Lhagang / Tagong. Good thing we'd been taking Tibetan Rhodiola as a herbal remedy to combat altitude sickness.
But we hardly felt any effect from the altitude -- or perhaps we're just full of adrenaline, having finally arrived in ethnic Tibetan territory after a grueling 8-hour bus ride from Ya'an the previous day. There was something exotic in everything we saw, heard and smelled, and I was just happy that months of planning had paid off.
For foreigners like ourselves it takes a certain degree of luck to enter this pristinely beautiful region in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. This is Western Sichuan, a traditionally Tibetan annex in a primarily Han Chinese province. Political volatility can spark and travel restrictions can pop up any moment. We were careful to avoid the Tibetan New Year when political unrest tends to intensify, but even so we're never sure about our chance of arrival until we finally arrived.
Leading the way on this day was a most honest and dependable Tibetan driver, who went by the Chinese name of Gao as well as the Tibetan name of Abu. Finding a good private driver wasn't easy: all I could do was to randomly pick one out of a small list of drivers recommended by Chinese bloggers. We ended up hiring about five different private drivers on our trip, and Gao Shifu was among the two that I would recommend to fellow travelers.
Through 250km of winding mountain roads Gao Shifu would deliver us from the ethnic Tibetan town of Dartsedo / Kangding, over the saddle of Mount Zheduo to Xinduqiao, then up to Lhagang where we're stopping for a late lunch. In the afternoon we would journey north and settle into a village guesthouse overlooking the canyons of Danba for the next couple of nights.
Lhagang. Tagong. Whatever you call this dusty semi-nomadic settlement, it's probably been here since prehistoric times, arising out of practicality for herders of the surrounding steppes to congregate and trade their flocks. To this day it still exists as a market town for several nomadic clans nearby, even though times have changed and the caterpillar fungus has overtaken yaks as most valuable commodity.
Since time immemorial this has been the homeland of the Khampa, a distinct branch of Tibetans known for being fiercely independent from both Lhasa and Beijing throughout history. Hints of their ferocious warrior genes can still be spotted in the physique of the dagger-carrying males, but it's mostly the genuine warm smiles of the women that welcomed us.
One peculiar sight in town was the clever use of parabolic reflectors for heating water, which is especially important at such high altitudes where water takes much more effort to boil. Archimedes would be proud.
Gao Shifu took us to his favorite roadside restaurant, conveniently located on the townsquare opposite the Lamasery. The driver usually gets a small kickback from the business he brings, a practice we're fully aware of and accept as the local custom. Besides, prices here were definitely cheaper than in Chengdu.
These wild mushrooms were in season as we visited in late autumn. We ordered three dishes and a soup to share between the two of us plus Gao Shifu -- taking care of the driver's meals is another one of those unspoken rules of hiring a private vehicle in China. Though if the trip goes multiple days, drivers are often able to negotiate with the hotels / guesthouses to get his own room for free in exchange for bringing in business.
Seeing that the back of the restaurant doubled as a store for the local specialty of yak jerky, we decided to order some Red Braised Yak Meat for lunch. The meat wasn't as tough and fibrous as we expected, and carried a stronger beef flavor compared to the Albertan beef that we're used to in Canada. At RMB 50 (CAD$8.7) this heap of yak meat was already the most expensive dish of the day.
Under cloudless blue skies we wandered into the courtyard at one of the best known lamaseries outside of Tibet Proper. The 1300-year-old Lhagang Lamasery is not only a treasure house of medieval Tibetan art and fabled relics, but is also home to about 200 lamas and boarding students.
Khampas from all over the region arrived to worship in their most respectful and extravagant outfit of wooly Chuba. Out in the courtyard resident teenage lamas juggled to balance Buddhism studies versus tuning their old motorcycles or playing with apps on their phones. These are all facets of a fascinating culture to which we, and the Western world in general, have very limited exposure unfortunately.
Visitors are allowed to enter the heavily curtained sanctuary hall after taking off their shoes, and it's just unspoken that ladies should never wear anything too revealing ... not that anyone would in this cold climate. Photography seemed to be unallowed officially, but we saw a group of Chinese travelers asking the custodian for permission to take non-flash pictures and we simply followed suit. But it didn't matter -- the mystique inside was just impossible for me to capture on camera.
Venerated inside were 1000-year-old statues adorned with the most vivid colors and wrapped in gold leaves. The Sakyamuni statue is said to be an exact copy of the one inside Potala Palace, meaning that for the Khampa of the surrounding region a visit here is almost as effective as a long pilgrimage to Lhasa.
These images were taken exactly 2 weeks before the 2014 Kangding Earthquake. Little did we know at the time that the region would be devastated and some of the Lamasery's priceless murals and statues would be forever damaged. While Lhagang was quite close to the epicenter, luckily the area was so sparsely populated that only a handful of houses collapsed and casualties were few ... as far as Chinese earthquakes go.
North of the Lamasery the valley opens into wide alpine steppes and gentle rolling hills where Tibetan cowboys and their nomadic clans roam. Twice a year they would return in full Khampa attire for equestrian games and festivals in the shadow of the white Stupas. Herding is still the principal way of life in this eastern part of Kham territory.
It's a wild and romantic lifestyle, one that has enticed a few Westerners to forego material comfort and settle down in the nearby plateaus as modern day hermits. There's also the Khampa Café and Guesthouse in town which is owned by an American and her Tibetan husband. With a relatively mild climate (for the Tibetan Plateau!), close proximity to resupplying in Chengdu, less political hassles than in Tibet Proper and a unique and colorful tribal culture, I can see the appeal of moving here for a cheap retirement.
There's also the appeal of breathtaking sceneries in the shadow of the venerated Zhara Lhatse, better known by its Chinese name of Yala Snow Mountain. While its full Tibetan name roughly translates to Mountain of the Eastern White Yak, we did not encountered even a fully beige one through our travels.
From Lhagang we set out again in the northern direction towards Danba, passing by a peculiar rock formation known as the Stone Forest of Bamei at about the 50km mark. We did not stop for long periods anywhere as Gao Shifu was slightly anxious to arrive at Danba with a couple hours to spare before sundown. At the time we didn't know why.
We did make one more stop in Bamei when our van climbed over a 4000m mountain saddle with a sweeping panoramic view of these Khampa steppes. You won't find even sheep at this altitude -- stocky Tibetan steeds and wooly yaks are all the locals can breed in this extreme climate.
Closer to the county boundary of Danba we had a glimpse of the mountaineers' route into the holy mountain. Not to be confused with the Yala Peak of Nepal, the jagged crest of Yala Snow Mountain is extremely technical and I'm not aware if anyone has succeeded in reaching the summit.
As the afternoon wound down our driver became increasingly concerned about his safe return to Dartsedo that night. "We are different from the Han Chinese," warned Gao in the most serious tone, "Absolutely do not travel on these roads after dark." He recounted stories of 21st Century motorcycle bandits that echoed myths of Khampa warriors of old, their Tibetan daggers ready to prey upon anyone trespassing their ancestral land. So according to at least one Khampa this ancient land is still the lawless wild west of China, even in 2014.
"I'll be safe as long as I make it back to Lhagang before sundown," concluded Gao, "Just don't travel at night north of Lhagang."
We said goodbye to Gao Shifu soon after entering the canyons of Danba, transferring to a different van prearranged by Gao so that he could return safely to Lhagang in time. From here we still had to take the bumpy potholed ride to our guesthouse in the Village of Jiaju, which turned out to be another adventure in itself ...
On Tibetan Roads - Part 2: Lhagang Lamasery to Danba Canyon
Reviewed by Laura
Published :
Rating : 4.5
Published :
Rating : 4.5
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar