Live Your Best Lives
My husband and I are ordinary office workers, but our acquaintance is inseparable from the hobby of "loving freedom and loving nature". Busy work year after year, but we have a surprisingly similar habit of always arranging a long trip for ourselves once a year, no matter how busy.
Since the last time I went to the Everest base camp to watch the sunrise by chance, I went back and forth from Lhasa to Dingri in 3 days, and I also swept all the attractions that could be walked on the way. We hope to discover another original ecological destination.
After reading "The Vanishing Horizon", the place I couldn't find on the earth kept haunting my heart, I was just a little rebellious, the more I couldn't find it, the more I wanted to look for it, I forgot how I found the book "Dream Sanctuary Muli", just reading it made me particularly yearn for the place of Muli. Coincidentally, my husband also flipped through the donkey friend's Muli travelogue on the Internet, and there is very little information about the route of Muli, Muli Temple, Kangwu Temple and then Daocheng Aden. So the two of us hit it off and set off to draw a trajectory on the map.
A very ordinary day, landing in Chengdu, I went straight to AVIS My husband said that this road is a bit difficult, and it is more reliable to find a big car rental company. The result is really worrying about what's coming. When I picked up the car, I found that the water in the tank was a little low, and I hit the road without thinking too much. After picking up the car, go straight to Xichang.
The Yaxi section of the Beijing-Kunming Expressway has seven of the world's best, which can be called a "world miracle". Many foreign experts even said: This highway can only be done by China! It is the pride of our country's real-name system as an "infrastructure maniac". I got in the car and looked forward to feeling its wonders.
I arrived in Xichang in the evening, and after settling down, I went to the snack street to eat a skewer of hot pot, I forgot the name of the snack street, but the whole street was full of hot pot smoke. Thinking about continuing to hurry tomorrow, I didn't dare to enjoy the nightlife of Xichang.
At noon the next day, I arrived in Yanyuan County, stopped to find a place to have lunch, and found many apple stalls on the side of the road, each about the size of a man's fist, and it was the first time I saw such a big and ugly apple. The seller said it was an ugly apple from Yanyuan. Because of the sufficient light and the large temperature difference between day and night, the apples taste very good, and the sweetness of the soft heart can taste the taste of sunshine. I bought 4 of them, regretting not buying a few more, and in the past few years since I went home, I will buy some ugly apples every year, which is really unsurpassable. Lunch was solved in a small restaurant, and the two children in the store kept circling peek-a-boo around us during the meal.
After lunch, we set off for our mysterious destination - Muli (Muli Tibetan Autonomous County). Maybe because I read the book, I always feel that Muli is a city in the clouds shrouded in light. Then, it really suddenly entered a no-man's land, and Shangri-La jumped in front of him.
The natural colors here are different from those in the west, the blue sky and white clouds are not as sharp as in Tibet, and the blue, white and green are harmoniously soft together, quiet, gentle and thorough, just like the meaning of "blue moon valley" in Tibetan. When we first entered the wood, we couldn't move our legs (wheels). Seeing that time passed minute by minute, I still had to take a walk. I went to Changhaizi first. It was Sunday and the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, and the people resting in the green grass near Haizi were chatting in groups of three or five, and on a mountain shoulder not far away, there were several lamas, what kind of ceremony was being held, and the crowd around them was like a family party, I guess it was a wedding ceremony, but I waited for a long time and didn't see the newlyweds. We left without seeing the ceremony over. Because we are also going to the second largest temple in Muli, the Great Temple of Kangwu Temple.
Kangwu Temple is very conspicuous in the color of a blue-green sea, and you can see the golden one from a long distance. The door of the hall was closed and I couldn't get in. The book says that there are 64 pillars in the hall. Kangwu Temple is the second largest temple in Muli, with more than 300 temples and monks' dormitories. The Great Scripture Hall has 80 giant columns and 6 pillars of heaven, which can accommodate 500 monks chanting.
In fact, this is not the original appearance of the Kangwu Monastery, because the 300-year-old temple was completely destroyed in 66-76. This one began to be replied to in 91. Next to the Kangwu Temple are the remains of the chapter.
took a photo of the Lajan ruins and the temple.
I wanted to go to the third largest temple - Valzhai Monastery, but when I asked on the way, it took several hours to go back and forth, and it was dark there and I couldn't see any scenery. A lama also suggested that we change the day. So we went to Muli County.
When we went to the hotel, the parking lot was basically full, and each car was gray-headed, and we stopped temporarily like them. What impressed me particularly was that my deposit-free check-in privilege on China-TravelNote was not easy to use here, haha, the front desk lady must let us pay the deposit, so cute.
After putting down the luggage, we turned on the foot measurement mode again. The county center is actually similar to most county towns, with public exercise infrastructure, basketball courts and games, and the main road is almost two-way two-lane, with small shops on both sides, and the streets are very clean. At that time, it was almost time to eat, and many people were sitting on the edge of the square chatting. We walked into a small restaurant on the second floor. A small bag sits down and a pot of matsutake mushroom chicken soup solves dinner.
Starting from Muli County, the road is smooth, and you can see the golden roof of Muli Temple on the top of the mountain from a long distance, but strangely it always feels that it is far away and out of reach. Muli Daiji Temple is the youngest of the three major temples, founded in 1656, which is a treasure trove of Tibetan Buddhist culture and a museum of Tibetan culture. The Chumbakang (Maitreya Hall) enshrines the bronze gilt seated Maitreya Buddha statue that shocked the world, and was completed in 1713. The Buddha statue is 26.73 meters high and stands tall, and later modern instruments measured the altitude of Qiang Bakang at exactly 2,673 meters.
Full view of the Great Monastery of Muli We will hand over a package of clothes we brought from home to a lama in the hope of helping the children of Muli, and the lama will give us a golden hada. Perhaps it is these two Hadas that guard us to arrive safely in Shangri-La Town in the midst of difficulties and dangers (it can be said to be catastrophic).
Next to the Muli Temple is the Muli Temple Guest House, and my husband said that if we had known that there was accommodation next to the temple, we could come over the day before, so that we could watch the sunrise of the temple and stay for a while. Indeed, when we arrived at the Great Temple, we didn't want to leave so early. But when we thought of the unknown road ahead, we were still reluctant to leave.
Next, we will go to the starting point of this tribulation, in order to be able to go to the Mana Tea Gold Platform where you can see the three sacred mountains of Gongga. There is basically no donkey friend strategy on the next road, there is no map route, everything depends on it. Intuition + mouth + guts. But even if we are mentally prepared, this ordeal is more mind-sharpening than we think. In the afternoon, I arrived at the 915 Forest Farm Guest House, in order to feel the mana tea gold to watch the sunrise tomorrow morning (later I imagined that this was a fool's dream).
The guest house where I temporarily rested was fortunately clean, and the road was being built downstairs, and the sky was covered with flying sand. Thinking that today is the Dragon Boat Festival, we ordered a few good dishes at the small restaurant downstairs of the guest house (because there are no restaurants nearby) to treat ourselves. After a while, a few fellow villagers who were building roads sat next to us, and during the chat, we knew that they were also opening meat for themselves because of the Dragon Boat Festival (in fact, just vegetables and a little meat), we quietly ordered a pot of wine for them, and then settled the bill together. Dragon Boat Festival, if it weren't for life, who would want to be alone and not reunite with their families?
husband asked many people before and after, how much time does it take to go to Mana Chajin? Some say 5-6 hours, some say 14 hours, some say it is very close, and some say it is very far. But no one told us that it was impossible to see the sunrise tomorrow. We still have ambitious plans to see the sunrise. My husband and I set off around 3 a.m.He should have been nervous all night, because he is not a person who is good at dealing with uncertainty, and boys in science and engineering like clear paths and clear solutions. When he encounters an ambiguous dilemma, his anxiety is greater than anyone else's.
On the side of the road when it was dark, there were small tents set up with raincloths, so small that they could only cover their heads, and the workers built roads day after day in such an environment. The first fork in the road, there was no street sign, and the husband found the direction with the only travelogue he had read, and the road was very muddy. After a while, a bridge appeared in front of me, and the mud on the bridge was very deep, and the water in the mud pit could be seen reflecting the car lights at night. Visible to the naked eye, the puddle is not shallow. I just wanted to get out of the car and test the depth of the water with a stone, and my husband decided to drive over. He said that the chassis of our car is not low, and it can pass through ordinary ponds. In the past, I found that the road was getting muddy and muddy, like a mud pond that had just been excavated, and there were soil folds that were raised because of the car driving, which was very high and mixed with stones, and my husband tried to drive forward on the raised mound, one was afraid of falling into the second and scraping the bottom. The sky was still glimmering, and when I passed by two sheds, some workers had already gotten up. Suddenly the temperature of the car's water tank soared. The car stopped and found that the water tank was leaking (what the fxxk). There was no signal on the phone, and I felt like I was in a catastrophe. I asked the workers in the shed to borrow tools, but failed. Back? Back in Muli County, it is estimated that the engine has exploded. After a delay of about an hour, a small car passed by and said that there was a car repair shop in front of the repair vehicle. The dawn of hope has emerged. But how to get on the road when the water is gone? My husband gathered all the water bottles in the car, asked the workers for all their bottles, and told me, "The road we drove is along this stream," and he pointed to a small river next to it. "We drove all morning to call the alarm, which means that the leakage point is not big, we will drive slower, the temperature of the water tank rises, we will stop, and then fill the water tank horizontally." In this way, we opened the mode of infinite circulation of water leakage and water irrigation, worried that the path behind us would deviate from the river, and we also stored a lot of bottles of water in advance. Our speed slowed down significantly, and at this time our question was no longer "how far is it from Mana Chajin" but "how far is it from the next village?" “。
After almost 2 hours, I finally drove to the nearest village, and the fellow villagers at the entrance of the village said that if you drive further, you will find a car repair point. When I met the car mechanic, it felt like a savior was born.
The master groped and said, "The water tank is cracked, but I don't have the tools to repair the cart here, so I can only use glue to temporarily fix the opening, but the road is too bad and may crack." The young man was like his early twenties, sitting in the next room with his wife and newborn child, the husband was tossing and repairing the car, I chatted with the child's mother for a while, they were from the village below, and they would come up to repair the big car during the road construction season. The car repair wooden house is very simple, just a wooden bed.
There happens to be a street sign here
The master can feel the crack, but he can't see it. Without tools, it cannot be removed, and in the end it can only be glued by hand. The young man was very nice, and he specially painted us more, for fear that it would open again on the road.
The glue set for a while before we hit the road. We turned on slow play mode.
The road conditions are still bumpy, and occasionally there are cars, and the locals are on the road on motorcycles. The weather is still very good, and Muli is still the "garden of God". The car drove all the way, the sand and dust accompanied us all the way, we couldn't turn on the air conditioner, and the windows were wide open. The temperature is gradually rising, and in addition to the heat, it has been eating ash.I don't know how long it has been driving, and finally I drove to a street sign with the direction of Mana Chajin, and at that moment it was a feeling of relief, finally. I survived. However, bad news also came, the water tank began to leak again, and I felt a little like abandoning the car. But no, you must see three sacred mountains before despair. The road after the road sign is the road into the mountain, and it keeps winding. Vegetation, flowers, and plants, the next hour or so is repeated between hope, disappointment, hope and disappointment, feeling that it is almost coming, who knows that it is a long coil.
During this period, I met a farmer's house, which was so peculiar, there were still farmhouses in this barren mountain, and what was even more amazing was that there was a Nissan SUV that was ready to go, and the open trunk was stuffed with luggage, it turned out that it was a few uncles and aunts who went out to travel together, and they arrived here very late yesterday, for this morning's Mana Tea Golden Sunrise, staying at the farmhouse. The two drivers chatted about the hellish road conditions for a while, not knowing whether to go in or retreat. After a few small talks, we continued to set off. Finally arrived around 2 p.m., and the public toilet that had not been used for a long time was full of gadflies. It scared me to death.
The clouds are some thick and obscure the mountains in the distance. But the shock of this glance cannot be recorded with a camera. Although the scenery was beautiful, because of the leaky car and the unknown road, we set off after sitting on the platform for half an hour.
First returned the same way out of the mountain to the place where the road sign just came. The next is the road that is not on the map, it is a new road under construction, and the first section is a mountain road that has just exploded. I remember there was a slope with a big slope, and a car in front of us couldn't rush up, and we thought we were going to turn back. Who knows, Skoda is still very powerful. Although this road is difficult, fortunately there is always a way forward, and what we are most afraid of is turning back. This road under construction is connected to Daocheng, and there is a street sign, which I forgot when I saw it. Now the road should be repaired.
It has been driving on the exploded mountain road for a long time, and the implementation on the side of the mountain has been rolling. The stones on the ground also need to be noted, the water tank has cracked, and the bottom of the car can no longer be damaged. My husband got out of the car several times and risked being hit by rolling stones to move the stones on the road, panicking. Although the road is bad, we can always find a small stream of mountain water at the foot of the mountain when we want to fill it. At a corner, when we met a car driven by a shift worker, our car was moving almost next to the edge of the cliff. After returning the car, the worker said to us, "Come on." When we were about to arrive in Mengzi Township, we met two young men driving a Harvard V9. They asked us if there was a signal on our mobile phones to call for help. It turned out that one of their wheels rolled into the canyon, and they set off from Daocheng Aden, just opposite us.
The road conditions on the road from Mengzi Township are starting to improve, and it may be almost to Daocheng Aden. After crossing this bridge, our car can speed up.
This is the last water we picked up before we went to Daocheng Aden, and we went to the concrete mixing site to pick it up.
I arrived at my destination at almost 5 o'clock and looked for a car repair shop as soon as possible. The water tank that accompanies the car should be sent from the town, which can be delivered the next day and picked up on the third day. It fits perfectly with our play plan in Daocheng Aden. The heart that had been hanging for a day was finally let go, and from three o'clock in the morning to that moment, it felt like a century had passed. In the evening, I walked up with matsutake mushroom chicken soup and highland barley wine to wash away the dust.
next morning, I went to the scenic spot to run wild in the milk sea, the five-colored sea, and watch the fairy day from a distance.
One day I ran 20KM at high altitude, and met an uncle on the shuttle bus on the way back, driving a motorcycle and traveling around China with his wife, and his wife was afraid of high rebellion. So today he is alone to go around.
Compared with the unknown move forward the day before, the physical exhaustion of this day is a piece of cake. After going back, I went to the car repair shop to take care of our car, and when I saw it, something happened, and the boss told us that the model of the water tank sent was wrong, and it was instantly thunderous, saying that there was no one in the town, and it would take a few more days to send it from Chengdu. We can wait, but we can't wait for the flight back to Hangzhou from Chengdu in a few days. We turned on the full analysis mode. The first option is to call back to the car rental company, and AVIS's reply is "You can leave the car in Daocheng Aden, and they will send someone to pick up the car back to Chengdu, and we will bear the pick-up fee, and we will bear the repair fee, and we will arrange the rest of the itinerary ourselves." Instantly made me think, "So many multinational companies choose AVIS as a bus rental provider, they are blind". At this time, the car repair boss said that he could make up for it for you, and he could last until he drove back to Chengdu. We decided to continue testing the car.
AVIS is an international car rental company anyway, we have contacted the insurance company on the road to report, the car rental shop has no choice, we will contact AVIS official customer service, a phone call, a WeChat, crackle to operate together, and finally say that we will be reimbursed for all the repair costs we paid in advance this time, no matter if we leave the car there later, there is no need to pick up the fare. This posture is like the pattern of a large company.
The water tank is repaired, but my husband is still worried that it will crack at any time on the road, and he is worried along the way. Fortunately, Daocheng Aden's rest is not bad, and the state of restarting is still quite neat. The road to Litang was very smooth, more than 4,000 meters away from the county seat, Ding Zhen was not yet popular at that time, but he was purely running to the "Sky City".
Lama's birthplace The car stopped at the hotel, intending to measure Litang County on foot, but who knew that we, wearing slippers and jackets, were panting unconsciously after walking a few steps. Finally, turn back to the hotel and drive around. In the winding alleys, I found the birthplace of the seventh Dalai Lama.
I held back from taking a shower at night, but I couldn't hold back from drinking. It is said that you cannot drink alcohol at high altitudes, and it is easy to rebel. But we have never been disciplined in drinking. I drank and vomited at Langmu Temple in 3800, and my husband drank in Aden, Daocheng, which was called a good night's sleep. We are in Litang, still drinking. As a result, that night, my husband touched my pulse every 2 hours, afraid that I would fall asleep and go over. Haha
It wasvery early in the morning in Litang, and we couldn't sleep much, so we checked out early and drove to the street. I bought some matsutake mushrooms and set off for Kangding.
Some people say that Tagong Grassland is beautiful, and Xindu Bridge is beautiful in autumn. Maybe it's the wrong time. On the way to Tagong, I ate a meal of 28 oceans of tomato scrambled eggs. Tagong is a fenced hillside. When we were going down the mountain, someone suddenly collected tickets for us, 10 yuan per person. You can leave only after paying the money. Enter the village and follow the customs.
Tagong County 
The legendary photography paradise is a bit desolate with few people. There are many B&Bs!! I have no desire to take pictures at all.
After climbing over the mountains, you will arrive at Kangding, a very lively city. The road began to block before entering the city. When you enter the city, you will find that this is a city nestled in a canyon. In the middle of the city is the Kangding River, and the construction of the city stretches along the river. Sitting upstairs in a restaurant by the river to eat, looking downstairs, on both sides of the river, all the functions and infrastructure of the city are carefully built on the side of the road that is not wide. Some were also built on the hills. The road is very narrow, but it does not affect the continuous flow of vehicles and electric vehicles. Kangding is much more developed than imagined. I have an inexplicable affection for this city. It's a pity that it rained for 2 days in Kangding, and it was really cold to walk on the road in slippers.
returned to Chengdu from Kangding that day, passed by Luding, and went to experience the road that was won back then. Chains and boards. The water flow of the Moxi River under the bridge is fast. Standing and looking at my feet, I still feel a little trembling.
The car was returned quite smoothly, and the waiter at the store didn't say much. Returning to Chengdu again, there is an illusion of being in another world.From nature to the real world, the clock seems to be 1 times faster, and I always feel a little dizzy. In fact, every time you return to the city after returning from a trip to the West, this feeling of dizziness will always appear in the first few days.
A quarter of this road was a road that had no map tracks at the time, but there will be traces of small paths on the AutoNavi map. Looking back now, the most important premise of self-driving travel is the quality of the rental car, and don't compromise on any defects in the vehicle, otherwise it will only bring unknown risks to the subsequent trip. My husband did a lot of homework before departure and deliberately set aside a day to deal with emergencies, but the road conditions and car conditions still made us feel fearful. After coming back, we recalled the whole journey together: fortunately, the falling rocks did not hit us, fortunately, the width of the cliff was just enough when the mountain road intersected, fortunately there was a car repair master on the way to Mana Chajin, fortunately the tire was not broken, fortunately the power of this car was just enough to rush up that slope, there were really countless lucky ones, it didn't let us never return. We later laughed and said: Is it Hada of Muli Temple who protects us all the way?
To this day, the visual shock of standing on the Mana Tea Gold Platform and looking at the three sacred mountains hits my memory from time to time. I said to my husband, "When will I go back to Mana Chajin to take a look". I hope the road will be repaired next time I go, and I hope it will still be so isolated and magnificent.
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