Wow! Wow! Wow! This monastery sat at the top of a huge mountain and was splendid! Stunning views (all the way up!!), beautiful colours … speechless!!
Sitting on the mountain top, 1800m above the town (already at 4,500m altitude). Needless to say it was a spectacular drive up!! We zigzagged up through incredible hairpin turns, keeping our eyes closed against the thought that someone might be coming down as we climbed. Couldn’t worry about the down traffic too much, or one would miss the glorious view – thin white ribbons of road below, dense foliage, and the town slowly becoming more miniature with each twist.
We saw yaks grazing in sunny pastures and Tibetans farming and living on steep slopes.
Near the glorious monastery were incredible homes, perched on the hillside. They must have simply stunning views!!! The Chinese have ordered the occupants out – saying there were ‘too many people’.
This million dollar real estate was vacated by Tibetans on demand. Wonder who is moving in?
Thuchen, Guanyin in Chinese, is spectacular!!!!! We stayed in a lovely guest house; delicious spicy meals and great beds!! There was only cold water in our ‘private’ bathroom, but it was only for one night (and was in fact luxury compared to what was ahead!)
Some of us went an hour and a half by car and then swapped to the back of motor bikes to travel high up into the mountains to see the planned RIME meditation retreat site. Simply stunning – the drive up and the valley itself … The bike ride was pretty full on (understatement!) but amazing!!
We found that we were easily puffed with any exertion at that altitude. 4,500-5,500 m up – was a challenge!
That evening we strolled out, cameras in hand to explore the town. To our amusement, we were the tourist attraction and entertainment for the night! The photos we took of people caused huge gales of laughter and in some cases, hysteria! They were certainly beautiful, friendly people and absolutely fascinated by us. So much so that we had to give up any sense of personal space as some curious souls came right in close for an extended stare!
One topic of conversation between the locals in the restaurant was how to manage the fly population. Being Buddhist, they had no intentions of killing the flies. Would love to be able to send them some traps to collect and then release the unwanted critters outside. Pest strips on the doors would be a good idea too!
We travelled the Diwen Expressway to Barkam. Known as the ‘Tunnel region’, there were 27 tunnels under mountains. Not all tunnels were labelled with their length, but we estimate that there was about 60km of tunnel. Amazing engineering feat! Between the tunnels were bridges over lakes, raging rivers and hydroelectric power generation. 2km bridge between tunnels 5 and 6 there was a 2 km long bridge. From each power station, there were dozens of power lines out over the mountains.
Really enjoyed the English signage – West Sichuan expressway ‘Have a pleased journey’ and warnings to ‘Don’t overtired and drive.’
Once we reached Barkam, there was a challenge getting rooms. The issue seemed to be that the Police are worried about monks protesting the Chinese presence by setting themselves alight. They didn’t want us to see it or for monks to decide to do it because we were there. Given the sensitivity of the situation, we did a frantic photo shoot – capturing as much as possible!
The part of Chengdu that we found most fascinating was the Tibetan Quarter. The beauty, colour, culture … all provide a strong contrast to the rest of the city. Just LOVED it!!
June 2013 saw me taking up an amazing opportunity to be part of a scouting trip through eastern Tibet. Part of a team scoping a documentary, I had an AMAZING 2 weeks with my camera!! In the next blog posts I will share some of the highlights!
These images are taken in and around Chengdu. We Westerners are very much the minority here. There is a high degree of local curiosity, and as always I am impressed by the power of a friendly smile to win one in return! We are certainly being watched with great amusement.
Chengdu has signs up everywhere ‘Tourist City – Number One Tourist destination’ (in English interestingly). We have found very few locals with English and there aren’t many English speaking tourists about the place! Perhaps they are appealing to Chinese tourists??
There is certainly a sense of pride in the city and with the plastering of panda images, manicured high rise apartments of 15-20 storeys, pampered (often shaved) pooches and fascinating sights – there is plenty to see.
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