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Naoki, Jason and I got up way too early to catch our 6:30 am bus. All of China goes by Beijing time and we were way out west, so the sun didn't come up until hours into the bus ride. It was awesome to experience the sunrise over the Tibetan plateau - the dark night sky faded to deep blue, then light blue, then pink-orange in one corner. Finally the first golden morning rays hit the endless rolling hills. We drove by a few advertisements written in the hills, which one can usually find in barren landscapes out west. The advertisements were written in Tibetan and looked so beautiful! (Ha, I am rather accustomed to Chinese characters, so they have lost their mystery.) Litang to Kangding wins the prize for "Most Air Caught on a Bus Ride in China." The competition in this category is stiff, but yeah I caught more air than when we were in the top bunk in the back of a sleeper driving on a dirt road in Xinjiang. The bus must have not had any suspension or something, because we would often go flying like a foot into the air and the passengers would sigh a
Kangding
Split by a river. big chorus of "aiyooo!"
Naoki and Jason wanted to see pandas and get back to civilization (ohh we were dreaming of KFC), so they immediately transferred to a bus to Chengdu. I had time to check out Kangding, so I bought a ticket for the following afternoon and set off to wander around town. Despite not having prepared the names or phone numbers of any places, I managed to stumble/ask my way to two of the places listed in Jason's Lonely Planet. I was excited to get to one hostel way up on a hill was run by two Americans, especially because I wondered why/how they ended up in Kangding. It was closed for the holidays, so then I made it to another place that was supposedly "Tibetan," but the family who ran it spoke to each other in Mandarin. They were very helpful, and the room was clean and luxurious for only ~30 rmb/bed.
After stashing my stuff, I wandered around Kangding. It's a small city with only a few main streets, so within a few hours I knew my way around by foot. I wandered in a place labeled "travel service"-something to ask if they had
a map of the city and they were very dismissive lol. One thing about the city was that EVERYTHING was closed for the Spring Festival holiday. Whole streets had the metal doors shut on the shop fronts. It was pretty odd - Litang and Chengdu were both pretty happening, but this city between them was a ghost town. Also failed to find a Tibetan restaurant that was not closed, but did happen upon some delicious Tibetan bread. Eventually gave in and went to an imitation-KFC fast food restaurant called Discos, which happened to be the dinner of choice for a family of traditionally-dressed Tibetans and their super cute kids. We played a game of peek-a-boo over the restaurant booth. The food in the Yunnan and Sichuan highlands was generally really mediocre, so that was a goooood chicken sandwich. Did some family Christmas shopping and called it a night. Apparently Kangding has Tibetan music halls. I totally wanted to go, but the hostel owner said they were all closed for the holiday.
The next day, I hiked up Paoma Shan (maybe jumping horse mountain?), a small mountain in town. A bit of snow had fallen overnight so everything looked white
Outskirts
Some farming. and clean. Also the clouds were super low... I always felt like Kangding sat in the clouds. There were prayer flags and the usual temple at the top of the mountain. It seemed like everything on Paoma Shan was recently built, just for tourists. Me, a monk or two, and a few lonely ticket collectors were the only people around that day though. I also went down to what the the internet said would be a nasty Yak product market (awesome!!). However the market was closed along with the rest of the town.
Finally, to Chengdu! Man I should have prepared better, but thankfully I remembered that Kayleigh and I stayed at a hostel near this temple called Wuhou Si, so I took a cab there and to Dreams hostel. D'aww back to mostly-Han China kinda felt like coming back home. : ) The next day I went to PETER'S TEX MEX and got a BURRITO while listening to an expat one table over recount the story her one-night Naxi lover she left in Lijiang. Pete's Tex Mex is always the highlight of my visits to one of the food capitals of China hahaha. Whatever, superburrito >> 麻婆豆腐. (Wuhan's
热干面 though... oh how I will miss you.) I bought a (cheaper) Monday plane ticket on Ctrip, hoping to go to the airport on Sunday and fly standby. At the airport, they said I couldn't fly standby with the kind of ticket I got through Ctrip. So my advice to folks who wish to do standby is to buy your ticket at the airport and explain your intentions there. That method worked in Urumqi with no problem. Anyway, I paid a stupid expensive change fee so that I could fly out on Sunday, only to find that "the semester starts on the 14th" really means "the semester starts on the 17th."
Spring Festival Travelogue.... the end!
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