Xiahe

Three others and I woke at 5am to participate in the walk with the monks. Xiahe is home to the famed Labrang Tibetan Buddhist monastery, one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries outside of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The town is populated largely by ethnic Tibetans. 

The monastary is huge covering dozens of city blocks and is surrounded by a high wall with many gates. The walk around this wall is called the Kora and consists primarily of countless prayer wheels and a few open temples. 

The prayer wheels are round drums, made of wood and or copper and brass. They are mounted on turntables that can be spun manually. They are painted with colorful Buddhist images and prayer scripts. 

We got in line with mostly town's people and a few monks and walked the circuit.  Some touched and turned every wheel softly chanting prayers and

bowing before temples, grave markers, and other religious images and sites.  Other dropped to the ground prostrating themselves repeatedly. 

The architecture and carvings of dragons and other religious images were beautiful. The gilded domes and spires were unique. The smell of incense was overwhelming in the temples. 

The local people have very dark brown skin and black hair. The women wear their hair in long neatly braided pigtails. Many wear men's fedora hats. If I didn't know better I could easily have been in Peru or Bolivia with the hats perched high on their heads and the long colorful woven dresses. 

In the morning during the procession I was asked by our tour leader to not take photos. We were the only tourists doing the walk. We soon spread out and I was alone. It was a quiet and peaceful two mile walk around the complex. 

Later in the morning we returned for a full guided tour of the monastery and I went back to capture some of what I had see. 

We toured three college buildings on the monastery-medicine, philosophy, and theology. The shrines were elaborately decorated with flowers, food and yak butter lamps. 

We were there on time for the lady morning prayers. One thousand monks chanting and playing drums and bells. Very unique sounds and smells. Our guide was a 23 year old monk with excellent English. There was money scattered over every altar in every shrine. Guess who the wealthiest inhabitants are in this village. 

In the afternoon I shared a private car with a fellow traveler and we visited the Heavenly Lake of the Good Fortune. 40 minutes out of town and 12,000 feet high was a small lake with a huge good Fortune shrine and bonfire. Thousands of prayer flags streamed up the mountain sides and millions of good fortune paper loitered the entire area. Amazing. 

 

 

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Tippy-toes into Tibet

We started our sixth day without wifi by enjoying a traditional Gansu style breakfast at our Liujiaxia hotel:  rice porridge, grilled peppers, green beans, kim-chi, hard boiled eggs and steamed wheat buns. Interesting!

Today we traveled to Xiahe for two days as close to Tibet as we can get without a visa.  This quaint village, high up on the Tibetan plateau, sits in the far southwestern edge of Gansu province outside of the autonomous border. The population is predominately Tibetan.  Kinda like sneaking up to a neighbors fence and peeking over and through the cracks.

To get here we had to cross the Yellow River once again, we were told this time by ferry.  Departing Liujiaxia we followed the river and its stunning orange and yellow cliffs. We crossed a bridge in serious need of repair-yikes, there were several one foot separations in the pavement looking straight down to the water!

Crossing over another bridge and the river again we found ourselves on the opposite shore of the reservoir and headed in sorta the right direction. Every time we passed a work crew Tao would stop and ask for directions.

The road followed a huge ridge some  8500 ft up, twisting and winding our way still sorta in the right direction. The two lane road was in good repair which eased my anxiety over the steep drops on each side. It was however foggy and cool. Threading our way across the top of the world had its moments. Yikes!

Terraced pastures stepped their way up the steep slopes and the hills were alive with thousands of alpine orchids. Thanks to Amelia I now know how to spot them!  We passed through many small Uyghur villages with simple mosques and houses.

Four hours later we were out of the mountains, down to a river and in a good sized town where we stopped for lunch.  The meal was vegetarian and excellent. We were more than well fed for $4 each.

We continued past big and small towns following the river through a hugely agricultural valley. Eventually we began to climb again. The houses started looking different, each with the same colorfully painted borders and ornate carved portals. There were lots of prayer flags and totems.

Eventually we were in the middle of a massive mountain highway project and it was so going. Sura was acting up and losing power so there was some concern.

The sun came out, the road signs began being in Tibetan script and then we lost power. We pulled into a truck lot, popped the cab, and attracted a bit of attention. Dave changed the fuel filter and checked the hoses.

Back on the road we limped along a bit more until Sura conked out just 3 km from our destination.  The lads jiggled this and that, she turned over a few times, and we made it into town. Looks like a fuel pump.

PS:  Never did see that ferry!

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Bingling Si Caves

I woke early for coffee by the creek waiting for the rest to awake. After a simple cereal breakfast we set off for Lanzhou, the Yellow River, and the Buddhist caves of Bingling Si.

Crossing the Yellow River (more appropriately brown) we entered a tributary canyon and wove through cliffs carved with hundreds of caves used by ancient monks for prayer and solitude.  There were numerous graveyards and Buddhist headstones as well. The canyon floor was cultivated with terraces of corn.

It was a cloudy day with scattered sprinkles-helped to clean the dust out of the air and cool things off.  We reached the Liujiaxia Reservoir on the Yellow River and checked in to our local hotel. After a quick stroll for lunch we were off the see the caves.

The Bingling Si caves are over 1600 years old, now protected by the lake, UNESCO, and the Chinese government, and accessible only by boats.

We boarded a speed boat that sat ten and headed out across the huge reservoir. Little did we know that it would take 45 minutes to get to the site.

Once landed we walked the paths and catwalks admiring the frescos and carvings. The mountains and the grottos were fantastic with the wind and water carved caves and peaks.

Next we boarded jeeps and drove up into the Yellow River Canyon. We followed the river bed for several miles before reaching a Taoist Temple.  There we met the resident monk who gave us a really nice tour. He spoke very good English.

Another terrific ride back, one hour speed boat ride, an amazing shared dinner, and a full night's rest ended this adventure. Whew!  Totally blown away!

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Travel Day

Today was a travel day. We made breakfast in the parking lot of the hotel and departed around 8am. Once again a beautiful super highway lay before us with the snowy Tibetan Plateau to our west. Miles of cultivated fields stretched out to the horizon. At 5,000 ft elevation it was warm.  It was still desert, but with only short stretches of unclaimed land in between the developed areas. Every, EVERY, city we passed was a maze of cranes and construction. Apartment buildings going up dozens at a time, all within a few feet of each other, it seemed.

We continued southeast climbing finally onto the lower Tibetan plateau after lunch. At 10,000 ft the hills were green and we started to see the first small flocks of sheep and herds of cattle since leaving Kyrgyzstan. It's nice to finally be out of the desert. The temp was a pleasant 80^, and we guessed our camp tonight would be cool.

En route we passed a huge solar farm that must have had a couple thousand panels. Greenhouses started to show up, all facing south and built in a "lean-to" fashion, each having two covers, a clear plastic drape and a second heavier blanket on top of the plastic.

The small villages were a collection of similar designed courtyard buildings, all the same color (yellow or mint green) and all with the same painted border, Tibetan we surmised, although our guide said there was no special significance. Hmmm?  A quick Internet search proved him wrong once again.

Okay, okay...I can hear all of you from 14,000 miles away! 

So...we got off the freeway and began hunting for our LAST bush camp of this trip!  After an hour we settled on our favorite China location-a garbage dump, complete with a brown fast flowing river, :-)

We even had a chance to try out the new toliet commode invented by yours truly.

As a thank you Tao cooked us a traditional China dinner. What do ya know, finally something he REALLY knows how to do. Okay, okay, I promise...last time. This is a trip of patience and tolerance. I will begin that now.  BTW. The meal was really delicious.

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Bonus Time

I've grown to learn that although our local guide is a nice fellow, he is absolutely clueless about most everything we do. He has done a good job of making hotel arrangements but when it comes to directions, he's at a total loss.

Getting back into town we had free time.  In the two and a half hours on my own the following became available:

*  Five major monuments and statues.
*  Several beautifully landscaped parks with water features and gardens.
*  A rehearsal of a local Chinese opera. They were playing in a sculpture garden. The instruments and singing were great.
*  The sculpture garden itself.
*  City Hall-the mayor and his staff were outside taking photos. I stopped to watch and one of the aides came up to me, asked where I wad from and then introduced me to the mayor (who spoke perfect English) and we took a photo together.
*  Botanical garden. The yellow lilies were fabulous.
*  The Dolphin Tower is a meteorological tower in full operation. For $5 I got an English speaking guide, 15 stories up with a panorama of the city, and a whiskey sour cocktail in the bar. 
*  Stopped by a "gentlemen's club" to ask why these clubs all have Santa Claus faces on their doors. Answer:  Santa means a "happy ending" is available. Worry not, I didn't stay.
*  Visited an honest to goodness real (hot damn) grocery store and bought some-OMG-ground Columbian coffee! Not bad for a few hours on my own with "nothing" to do!

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