Travel Notes | Cycling in Sichuan and Tibet—Three Things to Do in Kangding—Hot Springs, Guozhuang, and Tibetan Food

We were too tired from traveling all night last night, so we decided to take a day's rest here to relax our little hearts from the brutal Sichuan-Tibet Line.

Let me tell you how I was teased last night: After dinner late at night, I asked to go out to buy something. The landlady said it was not safe for you to be alone at night, so I would accompany you. I was still thinking, what are you afraid of? I am a female man from the Sichuan-Tibet line! After shopping and walking back, three burly Khampa men walked towards me. They had red eyes and were mumbling . they were drunk and pulling on my clothes. Don't let go... I was so scared that I didn't dare to move. The Tibetans might have knives on them... Fortunately, the landlady was there and immediately pulled me to the restaurant. I went to the hotel and told them about this incident. Mouse took out the knife angrily and everyone sighed. This is an autonomous prefecture. It's better not to cause trouble. We must travel together in the future.

Because I was molested by Tibetans last night, I felt uneasy. After all, this is their territory. But in the morning we encountered another scary thing. We were ordering food at a halal ramen restaurant. A shy guy came in with a bun bought from another restaurant. The Hui guy who was cutting noodles took a knife and shouted at us, "Don't come in! Take it." "Get out!" "Brother, this is not a meat bun" "Get out!" Okay, okay, it's so scary that we have to pack the halal beef ramen and eat buns together at the hotel...

Focus on it! For ethnic minority areas, local customs must be respected. For example, you cannot bring steamed buns into halal restaurants, even vegetable steamed buns.

Fortunately, the city of Kangding during the day was not in a trance as it was booming. She is not big, surrounded by mountains, and many Buddha statues are painted on the mountains; she is very beautiful, with a beautiful Kangding River passing through the city. She is like a woman from Danba, tall and fit.

How beautiful is Kangding River? I just remember listening to its voice last night and being deeply fascinated by it (so noisy that I couldn't sleep). When I got up in the morning, I went everywhere to look for it.

Kangding's city

Buddha statue on the mountain

Looking closer, there is Manjushri on the left and Green Tara on the right.

After passing Kangding and going forward, it belongs to the Tibetan area. Cycling is really a good way to travel. It is not as fast as driving by train, nor as slow as hiking. It is just enough for me to appreciate the beauty of the Sichuan-Tibet Line during this journey, and Folk culture in Tibetan areas. Later I met a very good tour guide. After listening to him tell the story about the development and inheritance of Tibetan Buddhism and the history of Tibet, I became very interested in Tibetan Buddhism.

There are shops on both sides of the river. I was surprised that there was an Apple mobile phone store here! It turns out that when I walked through these places, I discovered that they were not as backward as people had heard. Before I went to Yunnan, I had always thought that the streets were full of people wearing national costumes and carrying bamboo baskets. Sometimes it is better to travel thousands of miles than to read thousands of books.

I've only been riding for two days, and it's already so black that only one good tooth is left.

People here are very relaxed. There is a guard box at the entrance of the city. In front of the guard box is a tattered sofa. Several locals are sitting there, smoking cigarettes, basking in the sun, and quietly watching us people come and go.

Today I’m here just for shopping and eating.

A dashing policewoman

I bought a pair of diamond knots to keep me safe.

Authentic herders’ homemade yogurt, so sour! But delicious!

This is delicious! Ice powder! Cool and refreshing, and sweet with brown sugar water! to still remember this smell! typical!

The fruits here are very beautiful and delicious (not pictured here). Mouse bought a big watermelon, it was so big, it cost 50 yuan. A bit of luxury.

Opposite is Paoma Mountain, which is popular with tourists. It is said that they go up there to ride horses. The six of us have always felt that money is tight, so we try to save as much as we can, and try not to participate in expensive activities. After all, the trip is nearly a month.

However, there is an activity that still needs to be experienced, and that is, well, hot spring bathingThe hot springs here are relatively famous.

The captain and the others are looking for a place, but I don’t remember the name of it.

Seriously waiting

High energy warning ahead! How could there be no picture here? I also found it through Xiao Qiao’s camera after a lot of hard work. Today’s benefit is for the girls~

Look at our shy brother, how charming he is with his chin held up; look at our captain, how cute he is with his legs crossed; look at our Xiao Qiao, well, you are the most serious!

I was very lucky this time in Kangding. I saw the Guozhuang Dance in the square in the evening. It was so powerful!

Guozhuang, a Tibetan folk dance, men and women Form a circle, from right to left, singing and dancing.

The kid and the shy guy were also in the crowd

In that era when camera cards had limited capacity, we still retained this precious video to watch the child dance with the shy brother!

Isn’t it enough? Do you want to see Shy Brother’s dancing skills up close? To satisfy you, I have a video!

It gets dark late on the plateau here, so we went to have dinner at 8 o'clock at a Tibetan restaurant - Dejilin Tibetan Food. I tell you that when you are out of town, you must go to a restaurant where the locals go. There is also a skill in ordering food, which is to silently watch the locals order and then follow the order.

Hand-caught mutton, tsampa, sweet butter tea, highland barley wine...Super delicious.

While eating, I watched an episode of the Tibetan version of "Journey to the West". It was so interesting that I couldn't understand a word of it!

At this time, a lama came and had dinner with his family. His two daughters were very beautiful. Wait, can a lama get married? I quickly searched on Baidu. It turns out that lamas are divided into monks and lay people. Lay people can get married.

I spent the whole day eating and shopping leisurely in the small town of Kangding. I was so happy that I completely forgot about the Zheduo Mountain that I have to climb tomorrow, with an altitude of 4298 meters!