In which we change wheels, go shopping, celebrate two birthdays and enjoy some lovely meals.
After lunch, we parked up close to the park on the edge of which the Giant (or 'Grand' as they call it) Buddha sits. Juli and I saw it last time, but I don't remember the park nor all the temples, pagodas, other buildings and gardens in it. We bought a ticket that let us wander through the park and took our time exploring some of the sights there, because we knew we wouldn't be needing the time to climb down (and up again afterwards) the hundreds of steps from his head to his feet, just the big toenails of which are large enough for six people to stand on at once.
Now, we were meant to bush camp this evening, which, as you know, has not proven to be our favourite aspect of this bit of the trip, so you can imagine our enthusiasm when George (our minder) announced that he knew a man at a monastery near Emeishan that has cheap guest accommodation and would we like to stay there instead of bushcamping. (I don't think George likes bushcamping either.)
We arrived at the Baoguo Temple and Monastery after dark. I helped the cook group (one of whom had done his back in helping with the wheel change that morning) set up the kitchen in the monastery's car park and get our meal ready, while Juli went into the temple to find our rooms. I have to say, I felt a little uncomfortable walking through a working monastery past where monks and lay Buddhists were chanting and banging instruments and so forth and staying in guestrooms intended, I imagine, for visitors to come and learn about and practice Buddhism. It was clearly an act of worship and not a concert and I felt like an interloper. Then again, I'm never that comfortable around organised religion or overtly religious people. Juli, on the the other hand, had a different take on the experience:
The next morning – Corinne's birthday – after waking to the sound of more chanting, this time to a rapid and urgent drum beat that started at 4.30am, we had a quick breakfast and left before sunrise to continue our drive towards Lijiang.
It was misty and drizzly all day which meant we couldn't see any of the (probably) stunning scenery as we drove through more long tunnels (one more than 10Km long) and over endless viaducts. Will drove on long after the sun had set on increasingly poor roads through very un-picturesque mining towns. As we past huge refineries with blazing gas flares and monstrous power stations, it was like driving through the set of some dystopic, futuristic sci-fi movie.
We ended up camping just off the road on a piece of muddy waste ground the truck had trouble getting into because it was so slippery and having a quick supper of fried eggs and tinned tomatoes on toast. Juli just wanted to sleep on the truck, but last time she did that, she got no sleep and had a terrible bad back the next day. We did put the tent up in the end and it was probably just as well, as it was still damp from the last time we'd used it and getting a bit whiffy. I managed to dry the inside with toilet paper, but it rained in the night, so the outside stayed wet (and went away again wet the next morning). Not happy campers. If she'd had a pair of ruby slippers, Juli would have been clicking her heels and saying 'There's no place like home.'
Days 104 – 106 (Chengdu to Lijiang)
After a delayed start to change another flat tyre, we made our now expected slow exit from the city and headed off on our way towards Lijiang. First on the itinerary, however, was the giant standing Buddha carved out of a river cliff at Leshan. On the way into Leshan, Will spotted somewhere to buy a replacement battery for the truck, something he's been looking out for since three more of the utility batteries – the ones that power the fridge, run the internal lights and allow us to charge all our 'essential' 21st century gadgets as we go – went the foul eggy smelling way of the first one. Since it was more or less lunchtime and there was a street cafe nearby, We tagged along with Feng (our British-Chinese truckmate) who proceeded to translate and negotiate for us a most delicious lunch of noodles in a spicy pork sauce and all manner of side dishes for a highly reasonable sum. I'd have to say that for Juli and me, thanks to Feng, sitting around a table with our truckmates, enjoying this impromptu but excellent meal on the side of the road was one of the highlights of our second visit to China.After lunch, we parked up close to the park on the edge of which the Giant (or 'Grand' as they call it) Buddha sits. Juli and I saw it last time, but I don't remember the park nor all the temples, pagodas, other buildings and gardens in it. We bought a ticket that let us wander through the park and took our time exploring some of the sights there, because we knew we wouldn't be needing the time to climb down (and up again afterwards) the hundreds of steps from his head to his feet, just the big toenails of which are large enough for six people to stand on at once.
Now, we were meant to bush camp this evening, which, as you know, has not proven to be our favourite aspect of this bit of the trip, so you can imagine our enthusiasm when George (our minder) announced that he knew a man at a monastery near Emeishan that has cheap guest accommodation and would we like to stay there instead of bushcamping. (I don't think George likes bushcamping either.)
We arrived at the Baoguo Temple and Monastery after dark. I helped the cook group (one of whom had done his back in helping with the wheel change that morning) set up the kitchen in the monastery's car park and get our meal ready, while Juli went into the temple to find our rooms. I have to say, I felt a little uncomfortable walking through a working monastery past where monks and lay Buddhists were chanting and banging instruments and so forth and staying in guestrooms intended, I imagine, for visitors to come and learn about and practice Buddhism. It was clearly an act of worship and not a concert and I felt like an interloper. Then again, I'm never that comfortable around organised religion or overtly religious people. Juli, on the the other hand, had a different take on the experience:
Apart from just huge excitement at the prospect of having a bed and not having to see where Will would stop for the night, the idea of staying in a monastery was marvellous. We were given tickets as if we were visiting but it was after dark and all the temples were being closed up. We still had to make our way through each courtyard as you do when you visit during the day, but when we got to one of the temples with five huge statues of Buddha, we were taken through side doors to the guest rooms. These were quite sparse but clean and there were toilets and showers at the ends of each side corridor.
As Nick said, when we arrived there was a late service happening with chanting and drumming and bells. There were a group of elderly women praying with the monks. I love the sound of this and sat and listened quietly for a while. After supper, outside in the car park, we came back in to bed. Most of the lights had been turned off but there were still candles lit and I think it had a magical atmosphere.
At 4am the monks rose and began their early prayers. This sound echoed through the whole place and woke us up. We lay in bed for a while listening then Nick had to get up to help with breakfast and I went again to watch the monks. Another wonderful experience. When we left it was only just getting light and so the photos of the event are not very good but I have the pictures in my mind. Apparently you can stay for as long as you like so maybe one day another trip for a week or so would be good, then we could see a bit more of the day to day running of the place.
***
The next morning – Corinne's birthday – after waking to the sound of more chanting, this time to a rapid and urgent drum beat that started at 4.30am, we had a quick breakfast and left before sunrise to continue our drive towards Lijiang.
It was misty and drizzly all day which meant we couldn't see any of the (probably) stunning scenery as we drove through more long tunnels (one more than 10Km long) and over endless viaducts. Will drove on long after the sun had set on increasingly poor roads through very un-picturesque mining towns. As we past huge refineries with blazing gas flares and monstrous power stations, it was like driving through the set of some dystopic, futuristic sci-fi movie.
We ended up camping just off the road on a piece of muddy waste ground the truck had trouble getting into because it was so slippery and having a quick supper of fried eggs and tinned tomatoes on toast. Juli just wanted to sleep on the truck, but last time she did that, she got no sleep and had a terrible bad back the next day. We did put the tent up in the end and it was probably just as well, as it was still damp from the last time we'd used it and getting a bit whiffy. I managed to dry the inside with toilet paper, but it rained in the night, so the outside stayed wet (and went away again wet the next morning). Not happy campers. If she'd had a pair of ruby slippers, Juli would have been clicking her heels and saying 'There's no place like home.'
***
Up and away again before sunrise on not so good roads through misty murk, again.
Late morning, we got another puncture, though fortuitously just down the road a bit from a tyre repair shop and cafe, so, while some of us set about getting the punctured tyre off, another gang got a couple of the spares down. Unfortunately, the spares turned out to be unusable, so were donated – with wheels – to Mr tyre-and-cafe who set about repairing the freshly punctured one, which turned out to need and old patch replaced at the same time. While that was going on, Mrs tyre-and-cafe was doing a roaring trade in pot noodles. At one point, nearly all of us were squeezed into her tiny cafe, sheltering from the rain, which had come to join in the fun.
Tyre repaired, re-inflated – that's a whole other tale – and reinstated, we set off again. By now, the rain had stopped and the sun was out, which meant we could at last enjoy the fabulous mountain scenery. Mind you, it also meant being able to see the sheer drops to the side of the mountain road as we twisted and turned up and over the top and down into Lijiang.
Originally, we were scheduled to spend a third night bushcamping in or on the way to Tiger Leaping Gorge on the other side of Lijiang, do some hiking then come back to Lijiang the next day for two nights. However, having weighed the cost of the diesel for the extra three hours there and three more back versus the cost of an extra night's accommodation, a vote was taken and the group elected to stay in Lijiang for three nights, with those who wanted to hike taking a minibus to the gorge. No need to state which way our vote was cast.
Lijiang is very pretty and quite touristy, especially so when we were there around Chinese National Day, a major holiday here. That evening – which should have been our turn to cook – we went out to explore the old town and ended up sharing a traditional Naxi hot-pot meal with some of our truckmates. You start with a large bowl of pork ribs in a spicy sauce to share, and when the ribs are gone, the bowl (including remaining sauce) is heated and used to build a sort of brothy soup into which various other dishes are added according to your preference. Again, Feng led the way and helped us choose and order all the various dishes and we had a great time sharing a delicious meal.
Days 107 & 108 (Lijiang)
We got up pretty late this morning and, after a quick bite of breakfast, I put our laundry in while Juli went for a haircut. When she came back we set out again to explore the old town, which is a rabbit warren of tiny lanes and alleyways, now populated almost exclusively by identikit souvenir shops, inns and restaurants. In an attempt to escape the crowds – very few western faces, by the way – we headed up hill towards a pagoda, which dominates the town bellow, for a bit of quiet calm. We discovered that, far from being some ancient temple of a similar vintage to the old town, although it looks old, it was in fact built in 1997 and the inside is mostly given over to an art gallery. I guess they decided that what their almost-perfect olde-worlde tourist town needed was a touring landmark above it to light up at night.
***
After all our walking the day before (and some particularly noisy late-night arrivals to the hostel) we had another lazy day, or rather I did; Juli went out again with Corinne – a very bad influence, I've decided – in search of a clothes market, while I stayed at home, fetched our wet tent from the truck, put it up to dry, collected our laundry, folded our laundry, put away our now dry tent and blogged. A man's work is never done.
That evening, we went out for a veggie meal with Adam (vegetarian) and Corrine (not a vegetarian, but used to going veggie) plus Sandy (also a vegetarian) at a steak restaurant we went to the previous evening that also does Chinese food and has an extensive veggie menu. This was followed by yet more late night shopping. I tell you, these tourist towns are positively hazardous to your wallet.
Days 109 & 110 (Lijiang to Dali)
South a bit from Lijiang is Dali, which sits by a lake and also has a picturesque old town, this one walled. Though not far on the map, the drive was slow and largely uninspiring through heavy traffic, so we didn't get there until the afternoon. After checking in, we set off to find the bank to draw more cash (thanks to all the clothes shopping in Lijiang) and the post office to send off some parcels, then back to the bank to draw more cash, because the posting had been so expensive.
After a bit of aimless wandering through the old town – bigger, noisier, not as quaint and even more touristy than Lijiang – we got into a bit of a 'traffic' jam as pedestrians and small, motorcycle-based, three-wheeled pickup trucks competed with each other for right-of-way through the narrow streets, made even narrower by tables set in front of a cluster of restaurants on opposite sides of the road. Eventually we gave up and sat down at one of them only to be shown menus written entirely in Chinese. (This is a tourist town, remember.) In the end we got up and plunged back into this river of men and machines, heading for the other side of the street and another cafe with English writing out side it. This turned out to be a good call and we were soon enjoying our choices, watching local life pass by from safe distance.
This day was Feng's – I'm sure she won't mind me mentioning this – 23rd birthday, and that evening we assembled downstairs at the hostel – Juli looking particularly lovely in a full-length, Chinese-style, navy-blue dress purchased the same day – to walk to a very smart restaurant which had been recommended to Feng by the hostel's receptionist. Feng had reserved a private room for us and pre-ordered a selection of dishes – her favourites, of course – to be followed by a birthday cake (organised by Gayle that day) in the shape of a Panda's face, complete with chocolate-button ears and nose. Yet another great meal and evening, all thanks, again, to Feng. She'll go far, that girl.
***
Brunch this morning at yesterday's teatime refuge followed by shopping for our deferred cook duty tomorrow. We thought we'd got away without having to cook due to the last minute extra night in Lijiang on our originally scheduled cook night for which we had already shopped. However, we were soon disabused of this happy thought and had to replace the now perished food. To make matters worse, the gas ran out during the last cook group's breakfast duty, so we will have to cook on wood as Will won't buy anymore gas. Still, this should be the last time we'll have to do this, and Adam and Corinne have said they'll help in exchange for reciprocal help when their turn comes around.
So now, here I am, sat on the floor (Juli's hand washing is hanging in front of the desk) of our very nice private en-suite (we upgrade where we can) hostel room writing this post while Juli is out taking more photos of pagodas. Tomorrow we begin a four day (three bushcamp) journey to Luang Prabang in country number 21: Laos. Not that I'm wishing the trip away, but after that there are only two or three more bushcamps to Singapore and cruise luxury. (One day at a time.)
TTFN – N
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