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Published: August 7th 2007
The bus trip to Litang was disappointing in that we were subject to allocated seating for the first time (meaning we were ejected from the prime seats we'd nabbed and ended up near the back of the bus). Movies played constantly throughout the journey, but before midday we'd arrived and checked in to the Crane Guesthouse, which did laundry with a 4 hour turnaround.
The Tibetan influence in Litang is very clear, in terms of longer hairstyles, clothing, facial hair, many cowboy hats (a great combo when in conjunction with shades and a motorbike), decorated motorbikes (with hardly a moped in sight), taller people, some really dark skins, and people wandering around with hand-held prayer wheels. In fact there's a higher percentage of Tibetans in Litang than there is in Tibet.
Litang is also more than 4,000m above sea-level (higher than Lhasa) and I found myself struggling for breath in many situations. Even when lying in bed, every 6th or 7th breath would feel insufficient so I'd have to take an extra-deep one - meaning I didn't sleep so great. This wasn't helped by a 24-hour stomach upset.
The many stares, "Hello"s, "Ni hao"s, and even the occasional
"Tashi delay" we received indicated that not many Westerners come through here. We paid a visit to the Changqingchun Ke'er monastery, supposedly home to 1,000 monks (most of whom must have been in hiding), but otherwise people-watching was our main activity.
Dull but possibly useful info Getting there: Take a bus from Xiangcheng to Litang. There is just one, at 6AM, costing 62 yuan and taking about 4.5 hours. You would be advised to buy your ticket as far in advance as possible - I don't think the "tickets go on sale at 2:30PM the previous day" guff found in certain guidebooks (e.g. the RG) is true.
Stayed at: Crane Guesthouse. Cost 100 yuan for a double with ensuite - the shared facilities looked grim and were insect-infested. The laundry is the fastest in the west. Would stay here again.
Notes: i. Beware of false begging monks.
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