Blogs from Langmusi, Gansu, China, Asia

Day 26: Driving to Lang Mu si Well, here we are in Langmusi, pretty high up. We are in a nice hotel, will find out the name eventually, although we are the only guests and, indeed, the only visitors in this mountain village which has been improved and extended for what must be a massive tourist influx in summer. It seems the visitors are Chinese nationals who arrive in throngs by the coachload, plus a sprinkling of what would once have been hippies, nowadays backpackers or possibly New Age? The effect is rather like being on the former set of a major Wild West movie, watching the tumbleweed roll through town. All the same, we are privileged to be here out of season, in glorious sunshine, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and at liberty to wander at ... read more

Hi All... We visited Namo Gorge today which is at the back of the Sichuan Monastery so we had to buy another ticket. We were lucky in that we caught some of the monks saying their mantras and banging drums, playing the trumpets and banging cymbals. But unlike the Gansu monastery, where we were encouraged to walk around the temple, we couldn't go inside but just look from the doorway. The walk to the gorge goes past some caves and goes along side a small stream for a way. It's easy going, pretty flat, in fact the hardest thing was avoiding the horse muck and litter, no one seems to care about the litter everywhere. I had to reposition myself for some photos because of the rubbish in the foreground. It doesn't distract from the beauty ... read more

Hi All, We asked a monk yesterday what time the sunrise is and he told us 7am, which seemed a little late to me. After a quick intenet check it said 6.20 so up early and walked to the hill in the Sichuan Monastery to catch it. We got there at about 6am . Well guess who was right the monk or the internet? You might know it was the monk.??. The sun may rise above the horizon at 6.20 but that doesn't take into account the huge mountain in the way.. Enjoy the photos Jah Bless... read more

Hi All, A long bus journey from Lanzhou to Langmusi, 10 hours, but the road was new and the scenery stunning. The only bus we could find left Lanzhou at 7.30 am from the long distance bus station near the train station. The bus goes to jiuzhaigou but stopped to let us off. A young man in his car took us the rest of the way. The town is split in half with a river running through the middle which is the border between Gansu and Sichuan. There are two monasteries, one on either side of the river . This morning we visited the Gansu monastery. The monks are of the yellow hat sect and we were lucky enough to catch them at prayer, banging drums and cymbals and blowing trumpets while they were chanting the ... read more

28 octobre 2012 Depuis mon dernier blog, nous sommes passés du noir au blanc. Pour se rendre à Xian, nous avons voyagé dans un train de nuit, assis sur des sièges durs non-inclinables, placés face-à-face. Non seulement c’était inconfortable, mais l’animation continuelle dans le train et les fluorescents allumés toute la nuit ont fortement contribué à notre insomnie. Et pauvre Phil qui avait la diarrhée, qui s’est transformé en gastro le jour suivant. Une température maussade pour couronner le tout, dans une grosse ville qui n’avait rien d’attrayant sauf son marché musulman et son site archéologique des soldats de terre cuite. Disons jusque-là, j’étais déçue de la Chine et j’espérais que notre prochain 16 heures de déplacements en train et en bus en vaudrait la peine. Et je ne m’étais pas trompée!! Déjà pendant notre trajet ... read more