Day 13: Shangri-La

Woke up in the morning and was surprise to see the taiwanese whom I met in Lijiang the other day. Now, together with him is another taiwanese (lets call him Mr X) who is on a bicycle tour. X is planning to cycle into Tibet from here. As we all know, there are some unrest in tibet now due to the happenings before the olympic games. Since then, tibet has been closed to foreigners. So is western Sichun as the majorities there are tibetians. As such, he is taking a gamble and might be asked to turn back by the authorities upon reaching tibet province border. Remember John? The guy whom I met in Nanning. He was asked to turn back by the police when he was in Litang, western Sichun Province. The police made him bought bus ticket to head back and kept watch over him until he board the return bus. It is this strict now. Nevertheless, X still wants to give it a try. Let's hope that he make it through.





Took a group photo before he lefted. The girl in the photo is another traveller we met in this hostel.



Goodluck Mr X.



There are different kind of breeds of dog in this hostel but the dogs do not seem to draw a line between themselves. They help to feed each other's puppies. How nice. We humans should also be like them. Regardless of race, language or religion and even nationality, we are one world. One world one Dream right? No war. World peace!! :)



I spent the whole morning relaxing, doing nothing much and had breakfast with the Japanese guy and the girls from Israel. Was surprise to hear that in Israel everyone, including the girls have to go through 2 years of army. Then in the afternoon, I visited the Patotso national park. The japanese guy, Ryosuke, also has the intention of going there and so we went together. I pillioned him on my bike.



Pictures taken in the park.











I saw a little girl quietly reading her book in the park.



And beside her is a cute little goat.



Oh no, she caught me taking photo of her.



More photos taken in the park.











Isn't it beautiful?



YEAH!! My Signature shot!! That's me flying.



Then it started to rain.



Poor dog, looking so gloomy in the rain.



We braved the rain to take more photos. Can you tell that we are cold?



Hey look at that.



It took us a few hours just to go one round. Some more pictures in the park.









Taking shelter.







In the shelter, we met a family from FuJian and so we started to chat. It was mid autumn festival aka mooncake festival today. As soon as she found out that I am travelling alone and am far from home during this festival, she gave me a mooncake so that I can at least enjoy this festival even when I am far from home. No mooncake during mooncake festival is like a Xmas without present, Xmas tree, Xmas carol and Santa. How thoughtful of them. They also gave Ryosuke a mooncake. Thank you so much.



After the park visit, we made our way back to town. Not far away. Only about 20 over kilometers. The good thing about riding in highland is that the roads are long and straight, and that there are not much cars around. We went really fast and were screaming our lungs out like we had never scream before. Boy the feeling was great. Then we decided that we should stop by the road, take a little time off and have some fun.









The road is so empty that I can do this.



Once back in town, we went to visit the Ganden Sumtseling Gompa, a 300 years old Tibetian monastery, the most important in southwest China.



Old houses beside the temple



An yak outside the monastery.



The entrance



The monastery



The way up



As I was climbing up the long flight of stairs, I bumped into a young monk who was carrying 2 pails of water up to the monastery. According to him, he does this quite a number of times per day It must be tiring for him.







Photos taken in the monastery.































The view from the top.





Soon the sun begin to set and we headed back to our hostel to meet the 2 girls for dinner.









We had the local speciality tea. You can either have it sweeten or salted. We went for the sweet one.



And our main course - HOTPOT!!! Yeah!!! Finally I get to try it.



And after our main course, it's time for dessert. Mooncake ofcourse. How can we not have mooncake during mooncake festival? I took our mine and shared it with them. I also explained to them the orgin of this festival and the legend behind it. Oh, the girl in purple is someone whom we met in the monastery earlier in the day.



Having mooncake for the first time.



She likes it.



She doesn't.




Me having the mooncake.



Ryosuke having the mooncake. According to him, the Japanese also celebrates mooncake festival. However the Japanese mooncake is kind of different as compare to the chinese, he still likes it though.




After we ate to our fill, we spent some time chatting in the restaurant. Hila and Heyn, the 2 Israel girls taught us the words for happy new year in Herbrew. Man it was very difficult to pronounce. They are trying to make a video of people of different nationality saying Happy New Year in Herbrew and then compile them together and send it back home to as a greeting for the people of Israel. Interesting isn't it. I am sure the people will love it. Greetings from all over the world. Ryosuke and I tried our best to pronounce it. Quite different. Dont believe me? Tried it. The words are : SHANA TOVA VE HAG SAME'AH.
We had lots of fun trying to say it right. Lots of laughters during the flimming.

After the video fun, we footed our bills and went back to rest for the night. The restaurant owner was nice enough to invite me to stay back for the mooncake festival celebration with them. I would really love to but I had to get up early the next morning and so I can only kindly rejected it.

I had lots of fun with them and I am definately going to miss them. So I decided to give them a gift. I had brought along some friendship bands which I bought from Nepal sometime back. Nothing expensive, just something for them to remember. In return, Hila gave me an Israel coin and Ryosuke gave me an Japanese coin plus a Talisman.



Farewell photo. Ryosuke and Me.



This is our dorm. Dont you think that it looks like a suna room?



Now, as I lied on my bed. I am still thinking where should I go tomorrow. Should I head back to Lijiang then towards Lugu lake, or should I try to head into western Sichun where the unrest is. The risk is that I might not even get into Sichun province and get send back to where I come from by the police, but if I make it through, it would be very rewarding. I heard that the secenery is great. Hmmm..... Where should I go?



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