Warm(er) at last!!!!

---

/Lelde/
Celamies agri atkal jau! Rits (plks.06.00) mus sagaidija ar specigu un biezhu autobusu taureshanu - ta vinji signalize iemitniekiem, ka ir atbraukushi un gaida pasazhierus (ta ka Langmusi ir mazs miestinjsh, tad vinjiem nav atsevishkju autoostu, bet autobusi bazejas uz galvenas ielas stura - tieshi tur, kur atradas musu viesnica😊)
Atkal jau pa nakti bija lijis, celji dubljaini ungaiss auksts! 7.00 musu autobuss uzsaka celju uz Zoigi - mazu ciematinju, kur mums butu japarsezhas cita autobusa(kas attietu gan tikai nakamaja rita), lai tiktu uz velamo apstashanas vietu - Songpenu. Viss sanaca necereti labi, jo izradijas, ka biljetes uz nakamo reisu jau izpardotas un tad nu mes ar vel 4-iem kjinieshu turistiem sametamies minibusinjam un tikam uz Songpenu jau shaja pasha diena!!!
Sheit ir ljoti skaisti - mums abiem te patik vislabak. Galvena iela gan ir visnotalj turistiga, bet sakopta un restaureta! Ari daudz tiraka ka citur, kaut gan jau tapat atkritumi ir shur tur redzami. Vel, runajot, par sho temu, japiemin, ka tados mazos ciematinjos, iemitnieki mierigi karto savas mazas un lielas darishanas dazhadas, pec musu definicijas, publiskas vietas. Ne nu gluzhi ielas vidu, bet tai garam tekoshas upites krasta gan😊)

Celja posma no Zoigi uz Songpenu notiek
Driver.
Driver.
He stopped at a small village and brought back a full loastic bag- which I thought was hid lunch.All was revealed when he pulled over at high pass and reached into the bag, pulling out fistfulls of c...
visnotalj ieverojami celtniecibas darbi, proti, plasha celju un tiltu buve. Ari majas shini puse tadas pamatigakas un lielakas.
Un vislielakais prieks bija atklat, ka laiks sheit ir daudz siltaks!!!! Urraaaa!!!! Atkal noirejam divvietigu iztabinju ar visu vannasistabu, bet, tas bija labakais un cenas zinja neatpaliekoshakais, no visiem piedavajumiem (20yuanas no purna).

It ka viss ir baigi skaisti, bet nedaudz tas turista statuss ir piegriezies - jo principa mes ta ljoti virspuseji iepazistam vietas un cilvekus, - paris dienas viena vieta un aiziet atkal uz nakamo un brizhiem rodas sajuta, ka tas izjutas un pieredze rutinejas. Tapec mes abi divi ta ljoti nopietni apsveram iespeju iesaistities darba (vai brivpratiga darba)meklejumos - paris kontakti mums jau ir, bet, acimredzot, darba netrukstot, nu katra zinja Stivens noteikti, acis nemirkshkjinot, var atrast anglju valodas skolotaja posteni.

A, gribeju aprakstit kads te (shaja regjiona) virieshiem ir nacionalais kostims - tads ljoti garsh metelis, kuru vinji sacelj augsha ap vidukli un sasien jostasvieta ar garu, parasti sarkanu, auduma jostu, tapat ari piedurknes ir divtikgaras, pie kam vinji "uzvelk" tikai vienu piedurkni, otra nokarajas gar plecu un tiek parasti apmesta ap kaklu. Metelji ir ljoti biezi ar aitas iekshadinju.

Steven/
We caught a bus from Langmusi at 7am this morning. There were two nuns on the bus and a host of other characters. If you come to China, you cannot help noticing that the locals like to spit a lot. This is usually preceded by an almighty hacking to loosen the insides. There was a guy on the bus behind us who engaged in this process throughout the journey, depositting the results on the floor of the bus- luckily we moved in time to avoid being too close, but no-one seemed bothered by him. The journey took 2 hours at 20 yuan- both half the figures quoted by our copy of a certain guidebook- no doubt because it's 2 years old now(?). We were facing an uninspiring night stopover in a backwater called Zoige, but as it turned out, there were no tickets for the next day to Songpan(our destination), and we also bumped into 4 Chinese young people, who arranged a car to do the journey- just the right number of people! So we saved money and time.
I can only apologise if the blog has recently become focused on practicalitys, but it's what we think about, as otherwise we'd probably find ourselves pretty unstuck or at the least lost.
First impressions of Songpan are that it's very clean. It seems to be a kind of tourist Mecca(Chinese and Western), as it's the gateway to national parks and a centre of horse trekking in mountainous Northern Sichuan.
There are some nice old covered bridges across a fast flowing river and areas filled with character ( tea houses etc.)away from the main shopping street.
I am looking forward to my first shower in nearly a week, as circumstances have conspired to keep me away from hot water.
We're still deciding what to do here- will probably go to Juizaigou national park for the clear lakes there( see pics on other blogs!). The big thing here is horsetrekking, but i think we've agreed that a better place for this would be northern Mongolia- we have not yet had enough of Mongolia.

/Lelde/
Is friday evening. We decided not to go to the National park as it's weekend comming up and it might end up as a very expensive experience... A girl from Switzerland, said it's not worth it to go there, but we were still going to untill
we realized it's Saturday tomorrow. It's been a rather nice day today, we climed up to the top of the hill, where the monastry is built. My ankel is more or less fine. The view was fantastic, but the monastry - nothing special to be honest, -just plane walls and empty from inside.
Yeah, traveling together might be rather challanging for relationship... I think it might either damage them or take people closer together. We'll see.... The couple we traveled together for a bit seem to be in perfect harmony - Luke (from Birmingham) and Caroline (Bristol). Guys, if you read this - best of luck to you!!! Might be cool to meet up with you again! 😊
Horsetrakking might be really cool, but one of the reasons I 'm not that keen on doing it is the problem with my ankel, maybe when it wont cause any more struggle I will be up for riding a horse, but now I;m a bit scared.
We spend a lot of time in a tea house this afternoon, well, more like a tea garden- tea was delicious and so were snacs, and it cost us only 10 youan each, well, I'm rather certain they stukk ripped us of, but that's fine😊
We are going to Changdu tomorrow early.
Songpen seems to be really developing- a lot of new, big, beautiful houses are being built, lots of construction going on. Rather prosperous place.

Joprojam jauks un silts laiks - super!!! Lielako dienas dalju pavadijam tada ka tejas naminja (vairak jau darza), dzeram ljoti garshigo teju, jo konstanti papildinaja, ka ari grauzam siemites un sausos zirnjus (sacepti ar garshvielam tie garshoja ljiti labi!!!)
Pirms tam ari uzkapa augsta kalna, kur atrodas templis. Pats templis gan nebija nekas sevishkjsh, bet viss tas process jau nu ljoti "iepera" 😊
Shini regjiona ir ljoti daudz jaku (nezinu vai latvieshu valoda ta shie dzivnieki tiek saukti, bet angliski ir - yak- kads ludzu varetu paskatities vardnica un pateikt ka tas ir latviski? Paldies) - govjveidigu dzivnieku ar kuplu, lidzigu zirgiem, asti.Un vinji nevis Muu moo, bet gan ta ipatneji urkshkj visu laiku. Izklausas baigi labi!!!😊
Vel viena kjinieshu ipatniba, ar ko man nacies saskarties - vinji nenosjem apvalkus, uzlimes, proti, piemeram, musu viesnicas istaba, logi un durvis jau sen ka ielikti, bet plastmasa uzlimes joprojam stav, tapat ari kresliem aizsargpleve kur bija tur ir joprojam un autobusos uz kreslu atzveltnem razhotaju plastmasas maisinji vel uzmauti stav. Nezinu vai tas tapec, ka vinji grib mantu pec iespejas ilgak saglabat vai tas prasa parak daudz energjijas to visu nonjemt....nezinu...
Rit no rita braucam uz Changdu - ta ir visnotalj liela pilseta (shkjiet kadi 4 milj.iedzivotaju).

---

Photos

Yak, Yak, Yak
On our drive Langmusi- Songpan.

Driver.
He stopped at a small village and brought back a full loastic bag- which I thought was hid lunch.All was revealed when he pulled over at high pass and reached into the bag, pulling out fistfulls of coloured paper, which he flung high into the air. It was magic- like large spinning confetti, until the moment was slighty squashed when, at the end he just tossed the plastic bag onto the floor!Oh well...

Wooden house.
Although the main street is a testament to the tourism business here, around it are many lovely wooden houses. Like with this one, the houses are either going up or coming down can't tell which is side of the equation is winning.

Temple Bell.
We passed through a temple on our descent.

Lelde taking in the view.
this was on our climb of one of the nearby hills.

Comments

[CarolineB]

mode
.....horse trekking sounds like the next logical mode of transportation, you should both seriously consider undertaking this as the pace of journey would become, obviously, more organic, tha gait and sway of the animal, the smell and the gentle revealling of landscape as it unfurls before you, the hindquarters of beast and human moving in that way...... erm.....great for the thighs, toning etc. Enjoy the hydro-therapy when you get the chance, mmmm, hot water and soap, such simple pleasures we take for granted. much love Caroline xxxx

[lorraine]

chhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr pppt
eeh!... these lovely sounds punctuated the morning indian air also... ah!