On Wednesday morning we left the campsite around 8:25 am and went straight to the Rongwo Gonchen Gompa. Admission to this monastery was only Y18, the cheapest by half that we have been charged so far, and the monastary was so special. Definitely one of the highlights. Tongren itself is a new town and there is a Muslim area and a Tibetan area. We drove all through it and it was clean and comfortable and the people all very friendly and congenial. The Monastery was a maze of passages, temples, chapels, and monks residences dating back to 1301. It seemed that a lot had been destroyed in the cultural revolution, and/or slowly deteriorated over the years and a lot of the temples had recently been rebuilt and a lot were in the process of being rebuilt. The monks were so friendly and relaxed, there were no other tourists, and if a temple was locked and there was a monk around he unlocked it and showed us over. The temples were stunning. The art work, the treasures, the Buddhist statues, all beautiful colours, intricate designs, and telling passionate stories. The lack of military and police presence was noticeable and probably added to the relaxed charm of the monastery.
By 11 am we were on our way once again heading to Lanzhou . We actually had a great opportunity to see the town and surrounding area twice, as our Chinese guide made a mistake and we did a complete circle around town! It was a pretty drive on tree-lined roads, flanked by canola fields and beehives and passing monasteries, chortens, and mud brick homes mixed among the cultivated terraces and flanked by Sedona-looking hill formations. We wove our way up and down mountain passes dwarfed by the grass covered peaks all around us. Sheep and goats swarmed over the hills….and road… and were magnificent with their wide horns, and sandy-white wool coats. Landslides were abundant as could be seen by the piles of rubble lying by the side of the road. Some cars passed us., VW Passat was common. Donkeys stood idly by in the scrub at the side of the road. We passed through some small communities. This area is a mix of cultures including Muslim and we ate lunch in Xunhua Salarzu Zizhixian, noodles again, but not nearly as nice as yesterday. Also, the restaurant was quite dirty with food shoved underneath the table as we hear is customary all over China . We made a quick trip to the supermarket for ice-cream and potatoe chips. I did mention before the food on this trip was definitely not nutritious. In fact, although we buy fruit and eat lots of veg, I still feel starved of good fruit, salad, fibre and protein – there is lots of fat, and carbs in the local foods. The cramp has eased off so I must be back to the right level of electrolytes. How we take eating a nourishing diet for granted. My other bleat for the day is about poo. I am sick of pee and poo – seeing people peeing, seeing other people’s poo in the gross toilets, and then camping in fields of cow patties, yak poop, and little black poop pellets probably sheep and goats. I am sure all my MON friends will appreciate what I’m saying!!
This afternoon’s drive taxed our list of the worst roads we’ve been on, but the drive was utterly spectacular. We crossed the mountains from Yun Hua to Naisigou and LinXia and the scenery was exactly the way I imagined parts of China to be - high grassy mountain ranges and deep gorges. In the first part, we only saw sheep/goats/yaks, but as we came more into the fertile valley we started to see more people, and farming, and right down in the valley you could see the cultivated terraces on the other side. The whole area is dominated by the Hui Muslims mixed in with the Tibetans and Chinese. The Chinese looking Mosques were really sweet, but there were still Mosques with the middle eastern onion look. At the top of the high pass we passed into Gansu Province , and of course the road was dirt. Pat and Richard will remember the Corduroy Road outside Collingwood. Well, multiply that by 10, add in the switchback bends and the ascent up a steep mountain on a dirt road, and you might have an inkling of what the 100 kms we traveled through the mountains was like. Just spectacular though, and everything around us was so interesting and the people just as curious and friendly! The Muslims do not appear as fundamental as some of the Middle East Muslims in that the women wear hijib but not burka’s and seem more integrated with the men.
LinXia used to be an important terminus on the Silk Road but now its an important centre for the Hui Muslims with their while skull caps and wispy beards. It’s a big market town and we drove the length of the market as we passed through.
We thought our climbing was over and that the last 100 km would be civilized, at least I’m sure that is what Sarah was hoping, as she gets very motion sick. But no, after LinXia we once again climbed up into the terraced mountains, this time on a paved switchback road. Just incredible country side. The green fertile terraces built into the sides of the mountains stood out from the mud colour of the clay. We climbed up and up until finally we were driving along the top of a narrow ridge, looking down on either side to small communities built on the valley floors beneath us. We travelled on after dark around 10 pm until we came to the ferry across the Yellow River where we had visions of making a bush camp overnight because the ferryman had stopped working for the day. But….we are in China , and our Chinese guide was able to persuade, for a little extra money, the ferryman to take us across. After that it was another 5 km drive over a small mountain and down ino Liujiaxia.
Gansu Province is one of China ’s most rugged provinces and also about the 5th poorest. The Silk Route ran right through the long narrow province.
The hotel in Liujiaxia left a lot to be desired. We walked in to be met by little cockroach-looking bugs darting out from under the skirting boards, and one managed to make it up to the washbasin and eyed me as I sat on the toilet. I checked out the bed, it seemed clean and bug free, and I was so tired, I climbed in with all my dirt from 4 nights of bush caps and went soundly asleep leaving Ray pottering around showering and shaving, and the bugs to have free rein in the room once again.
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