Blogs from Litang, Sichuan, China, Asia - page 2

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Asia » China » Sichuan » Litang October 25th 2007

Sichuan-Tibet Highland Highway: Kangding, Litang, Xiancheng Saturday, October 20th, I am thirty today, a long day beginning at Xinnanmen, boarding the coach for Kangding, gateway to Tibet, 2560m above sea level, six grey hours drive west of Chengdu. The passengers are dressed in head to toe gortex and equipped with fancy cameras. I burry into a copy of Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad from which I learn of the author's unappreciated talent as a travel writer and the late nineteenth century's mistrust of his less than honourable commentaries of American tourists relic hunting in the Holy Land. I find his cynicism and blunt though at times racist analysis brilliantly entertaining. He cautions the reader to reconsider society's accepted worship of what is beautiful and who is virtuous. I'd have enjoyed his company traveling in China where no ... read more
crossing the pass, Litang - Xiancheng
adolescent boys begging for food
Zheduo River, Kangding

Asia » China » Sichuan » Litang October 21st 2007

23.oct. Litang Hier schneit es nicht und die Sonne scheit den ganzen Tag und es gibt blauen Himmel. Kalt ist es. Aber das macht nix. In einem netten Hotel haben wir Zimmer mit heizbaren Decken! Fuer 2.- euro pro Person. Die Kleinstadt ist voll von tibetischen Cowboys. Wenig Chinesen sind hier wohnhaft. Am ersten Tag war klar, dass wir durch die Gassen zum Kloster auf den Berg laufen. Kurzatmig bin ich hier. Litang liegt auf 4000m. Eigentlich hatten wir beschlossen gestern schon weiter zu fahren. Auf dem Rueckweg vom Kloster sprach uns ein Tibeter auf englisch an. Es gibt morgen ein Pferderennen der Nomaden und wir koennten da hier fahren. Weiter auf dem Weg wurden wir auf eine Hochzeit eingeladen. Fotos folgen. Somit blieben wir bis heute und fahren erst morgen ab. Das Pferderennen wurde abgesagt, ... read more
Am Klosterdach
Wolle wickeln
Kloster Litang

Asia » China » Sichuan » Litang August 24th 2007

Perched at 4014 meters(13,246 feet-- 314m higher than Lhasa!), Litang is an absolute gem in so many different ways. The town is surrounded by livestock-dotted rolling green hills, and there is a range of large mountains towering over the town from the south. The town has a wild west feel and reputation, long known as a rebellious enclave of Tibetan nationalism. While home to a significant number of Han Chinese, the town is still predominantly Tibetan, and possesses a distinctly Tibetan "feel". Yaks and pigs wander through the dusty streets as farmers cruise by on deafening tractors and monks and long haired Tibetan men speed past on loud Chinese motorcycles. Traditionally dressed Tibetan women wash clothes on the curb or stroll the sidewalks with their plum cheeked little kids in tow, looking at drying mushrooms and ... read more
brothers
is that a hawk?
the monastery

Asia » China » Sichuan » Litang August 20th 2007

Litang, 9h00 du matin. D'un bord, un canadien, un espagnol et 2 israéliens. De l'autre bord, 7 tibétains qui préparent gentiment du thé. On échange quelques mots qui s'avèrent être davantage des rires. Je tends à l'un d'eux une feuille sur laquelle sont inscrit des caractères tibétains. Il me fait signe que oui après avoir pris connaissances des écrits. On est bien au bon endroit. Dans la prochaine heure, nous allons ensemble vivre l'expérience culturelle la plus choquante de notre vie. Quinze minutes plus tard, cinq 4 par 4 apparaissent au pied de la colline. Une quinzaine de personnes s'ajoutent au groupe. Un prête bouddhisme s’installe alors sur la colline et récite des prières en tibétain. Un autre prête s'éloigne du groupe pour finalement disparaître de l'autre bord de la colline. Il réapparait quelques minutes plus ... read more
Les copains en marche vers...
Temple Litang
Litang

Asia » China » Sichuan » Litang July 27th 2007

The rain had finally finished as we left Zhongdian and we started the hellish journey to Litang to see the Tibetean horse festival. And I think hellish bus journey is an understatement. I think the bus nearly went over the cliff side a million times on the sharp hill turns on the way to Litang. It was literally painful to watch and scary! As we worked our way up the mountains all I could think of was how will they take my body back to Australia? But we actually made it and after a pit stop in Xiangcheng we arrived in the very traditional town of Litang. The town was great if was extremly tibetean and there were no banks or western facilities. We stayed in a newly built hostel which was great. We shared an ... read more
Traditional Dancing
More dancing

Asia » China » Sichuan » Litang July 26th 2007

Au coeur de montagnes immaculees d un vert parfait Tagong petit village tibetain se developpe doucement au tourisme. Il est compose d une allee principale ou la vie economique fait son beurre ( de yack), les guesthouses ici sont de belles maisons tibetaines tenues par des familles. Il y regne une atmosphere douce, c est un lieu de repos. Le village a son monastere entouree de moulins a prieres de differents tailles. Ils tournent en permanence car les pelerins y font le tour (dans le sens des aiguilles d une montre) toute la journee en marmonnant des mantras. Le soir les moines jouent au football pres de la riviere tandis que de l autre cote de celle ci les nomades essaient d attraper les petits yacks pour les rentrer dans la tente. Des que l on ... read more
tibetan young
drapeaux tibetains
yeahhh

Asia » China » Sichuan » Litang July 19th 2007

Z Chengdu do Kangdingu wyruszylismy o 6:30. Po 8 godzinach jazdy autobusem w pieknej scenerii, wsrod coraz wyzszych gor, dotarlismy do celu. Cala droge towarzyszyly nam z jednej strony pionowa sciana, a z drugiej z reguly tez poionowa sciana + gorski potok. Droga, mimo ze waska, kreta i czasem zawalona jakimis odlamkami skal byla w dosc dobrym stanie. Kierowca tez jakos specjalnie nie szalal, przy kazdym wyprzedzaniu na ostrym zakrecie trabil dlugo (panuje tu taki przepis, ze przy wyprzedzaniu na zakrecie, ten ma pierwszenstwo, kto pierwszy zacznie trabic:). Kangding to miasto polozone w gebokiej dolinie, ze wszystkich stron otoczone wysokimi gorami. Na zachod od Kangdingu zaczyna sie juz wlasciwie Tybet. Mimo przewagi ludnosci Han, w Kangding bardzo wyrazne sa wplywy kultury Tybetanskiej. Mieszkancy sa znacznie bardziej wyciszeni od piskliwych Chinczykow. Rzadziej tez zdarzaja sie osz ... read more
RECOVERED
RECOVERED
RECOVERED

Asia » China » Sichuan » Litang July 8th 2007

Arrives a Xiagan apres 17 heures de bus sur une route chaotique, puis direction Dali vielle ville. Apres la chaleur intolerable de Jinghong et ses immeubles modernes, nous voici donc a 2000 metres d altitude dans une villle preservee et typiquement chinoise dans l architecture. On se ballade dans la ville aux rues pavees et aux anciennes maisons avec les toits de tuiles noires qui remontent vers le ciel, touristes chinois et devantures de magasins vendant souvenirs d artisanat Bai, se fondent dand le decor. Dans la vallee entouree de montagnes le ciel du soir qui tombe inspire. Autre particularite, des femmes Bai en costumes traditionnels vendent de la marijuana, c est la seule ville en chine pour l instant ou la drogue semble exister. Il faut dire que les clients sont la, beaucoup de western ... read more
homme
Rickshaw
Femmes

Asia » China » Sichuan » Litang June 4th 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 ... read more
Local kids
Local man
Main hall at Changqingchun Ke'er monastery

Asia » China » Sichuan » Litang August 6th 2006

Friday August 4th I won't spend much time describing this day as I did nothing. I woke up late, surfed a bit but was too tired to blog (plus the kids were so annoyingly loud). I went to a "minisupermarket" and bought food for the day, instant noodles as main meal for both lunch and dinner, asked for hot water at the hotel reception and sat around in my room reading my book. I didn't want to do anything that involved me walking for the day. I did some hand laundry of my socks and pants which were just so dirty I had to change water 4 times. Late in the afternoon I went to the bus station to get a ticket to Litang but the guy told me to come back in the morning. After ... read more
Litang market 1
Litang market 2
Litang market 3




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