Deqin, Meili Snow Mountain and Mingyong Glacier
Trip Start
Oct 30, 2005
1
66
122
Trip End
Ongoing
Deqin,
China
Sunday, April 23, 2006
We made it to Benzalin, a town described by our guidebook as a small Tibetan town, but it had also succumbed to being developed and didn't hold a lot of charm
Christie The Tour Group Photographer
. We stopped for lunch and had our first taste of the food to come - it was delicious, some of the best Chinese food we had during our travels in China. It certainly helped having two local Chinese people ordering the food for us.Our next stop was along the roadside - it was the Yangtze River, winding around a mountain to form an omega shape - known simply as the Omega Bend in Yangtze River. We scrambled for a good viewpoint amongst other Chinese tourists that were armed with flash photography gear. It was quite a sight, and the beauty of the region was becoming more apparent.
Continuing on, we stopped at the Dongzhulin Monastery, smaller than the one in Zhongdian, but still quite interesting. The town around this monastery was the living quarters of the monks. In an effort to conserve the monastery from cooking fires and potential accidents, the government had assisted to set up living quarters outside the monastery for the monks. Being that there were around 800 monks here, the town along the side of a cliff was quite impressive.
Leaving the monks, we continued on towards and then over the Baima Mountains - beautiful and snow capped
Friendly Locals At The Glacier (1)
. As we climbed high, the first pass we crossed at 4000m was surrounded by snow. The road was clear due to the hot sun, and we were lucky that the sky was so clear. We jumped out of the car and started to have a snow fight! Glenn ran over to a little snow man, but was so puffed from the altitude he needed to stop and chat to the snowman for a while to catch his breath!The second pass we climbed was at 4292m, and again held breathtaking views of the snow mountains around. Continuing on, as evening was approaching, we passed Deqin - not much interest in the town itself, and made our way to the main focus - a lookout point at Fe Lai Shi (which means Flying Temple - legend has it that the temple flew there!) which has the most open view of the Meili Snow Mountain range - the highest Himilayan mountains in the Yunnan province.
We finally arrived, after many requests to stop along the way for photos, and we saw the Meili mountain range in its glory - except accompanied with cloud around the peaks. Watching the sunset in the icy conditions was difficult, but the chance to have another fantastic meal in the nearby bar soon helped us to forget the cold. Our accommodation for the night was quite basic - ok, very basic, with toilets that can only be described as "wrong", but at least we had electric blankets and managed to get nice and warm before nodding off to sleep
Friendly Locals At The Glacier (2)
.We rose early the next morning - not an easy feat when outside it is still freezing, and rugged up to see the sunrise. Today was clearer, and we were able to see the main peak without cloud. Again, the scene was amazing, and Christie had to pull Glenn away to come and get breakfast.
After yet another good meal, we made our way to Mingyong Village (altitude just above 2000m), about 2 hours away. Here we had a really nice hotel room with bathroom (clean!) and hot water, but still quite cheap. We freshened up and packed our gear for a hike up to the Mingyong Glacier. Kevin advised that it was quite warm, being at a lower altitude, but thinking that we were going to an ice glacier and that it must be cold, we packed a number of layers.
The Mingyong Glacier starts at about 2000m and continues for about 12km up towards the peak of the mountains. We walked from the village, and soon realised what Kevin was talking about - our layers began peeling off as it was both hot and very sunny.
We reached the start of the trail and still couldn't see the glacier. Thinking that we would be hiking up the glacier, we soon understood that we would be following a path to a viewpoint part way up the glacier. The hike turned out to be quite steep, and again quite beautiful, as the surrounding green forest was quite contrasting to the snow peaks of the mountains high above. The glacier came into view near the start - but it seemed so far away, and we didn't have sight of it again until the path reached the glacier
Glacier Detail (1)
. Chun Li was doing it quite tough as she had an upset stomach the night before, and thinking that she wouldn't make it, we were surprised by her determination to push on. It was quite handy having her trail behind, as it allowed us breather stops! Kevin of course was always bouncing ahead, seemingly full of energy.We were passed by Chinese tourists on horseback, being led up the trail, and for an instant it seemed a good choice - until we saw others being led down the steep path - the saddle being wedged in certain places that made us wince. Continuing on, we finally made it to the top for a view of the glacier, and passing through a small Tibetan village - a wonderful sight in itself, we came across the glacier and occasionally sounds of an explosion. It actually turned out to be lumps of ice cracking off the glacier and falling down that made the noise, and we realised why we weren't hiking on the glacier - parts of it seemed very dangerous, with deep crevices, and ice that didn't seem that stable. Also for conservation - with all the Chinese tourists alone, the glacier would soon feel the effects.
From passing the village, there was a long walkway climbing further up the mountain with view platforms along the way. Starting to put our layers on, we were thankful that we did bring all our cold gear, and the view over the glacier was amazing as we climbed higher. Finally reaching the top after many photo stops at the various viewpoints, we marvelled the whole of the glacier - all that below from where we had climbed and all that above that rose right up towards the snow mountain peaks. The peaks unfortunately were covered in snow clouds, but the majority of the glacier was in clear view.
Glacier Detail (2)
Stopping for a lunch snack at the top (biscuits and the thick bread from breakfast) we now had to use all our layers to keep warm - when we stopped admiring the view we realised how cold it actually was!
Climbing back down was much easier and we walked back to the hotel for a well deserved hot shower. We chatted for a while downstairs before being interrupted by someone from the restaurant carrying a chicken to be prepared for dinner (not ours - they were quite expensive - free range style). We watched as the chicken was killed and the boiling water poured over it to make it easier to remove the feathers. Kevin told us that at the local market they have washing machines for that - in goes the dead chicken, along with boiling water, a few minutes in the wash and bingo - no feathers!
With Kevin and Chun Li in the kitchen ordering dinner, we were again surprised at how good the food was. The only one that was not polished off was a dish with mainly pork fat slices - it was too much like the pork fat meal we had in Sapa, and although a little was not too bad, any more brought us straight back to Sapa with Mama dishing up more.
The next day, was our return trip to Zhongdian, and we had decided to combine breakfast with lunch for a meal of Yak meat at Deqin
Glacier Detail (3)
. Upon entering the restaurant, we made our way straight into the kitchen where someone was squatting behind a chopping "stump" of wood and was chopping up what we assumed was yak meat with an axe! With one eyebrow raised, we let Kevin order for us and again we had another great meal.After our fill, we continued back to Zhongdian, with less photo stops. We did manage to see the highest peak of the Meili range completely without cloud, which Kevin says is quite rare, so we have been quite lucky once again.
Back in Zhongdian, we all went out for dinner that night to a local hot pot place with Kevin and Becky (his girlfriend who also ran the guesthouse) and we had a great night with again great food. It has surprised us how much of a difference the local knowledge has made to the taste of the food. After dinner, at our request, we were taught how to play Mah Jong and settled in for a late night of several games. It was quite a lot of fun, but we still have a lot to learn!
The following day (23rd April), we tried to get up early to organise bus tickets to Kunming, but the sleep in was so tempting. Finally after some of Kevin's coffee we had the energy to get moving and Chun, Christie and Glenn headed off via bus to the bus station to get tickets. We got sleeper tickets for that night (7.30pm). Chun's was a little earlier, but we still had plenty of time. We decided to walk back and have a look at some of the local markets - and to see if we could find the chicken in the washing machine. The first market (the smaller market) was great - we were searching for a Mah Jong set, but instead came across lots of Tibetan goods that were really interesting
Glacier Detail (4)
. We bought a couple of things from a brass maker - some bells that as well as looking good really sounded impressive, and Glenn managed to get a Tibetan knife, something he regretted not getting in Tibet. Still customs ahead for that one...We wandered the rest of the market looking for a Mah Jong set, but no store appeared as though it would have it - much of the market was geared at fresh food, and Glenn couldn't help but ask for a taste of a wobbly grey substance that we had seen frying in Lijiang. It looked as though it was some sort of fat that was fried, and such had been our hesitation to try it before, but the taste was not fatty and surprisingly not too bad.
Leaving the market we asked a few shops down where we may be able to find a set, and the pointed us towards the other side of the street back towards the bus station. We wandered back past clothes shop after clothes shop and after several blocks gave up and asked another local. They said we should be able to get it in the market we just came from, so back we went, and with Chun's Chinese we were able to ask the guy that sold us the bells and knife where we could find a set. He led us to the back of the market to an unlikely shop, and when the shopkeeper returned after realising he had potential customers, he proceeded to pull out several sets
Landslide (1)
. To our disappointment, they were both way too heavy and not as nice as we had seen elsewhere. His price was over double what Kevin told us they should cost too. We decided to give the Mah Jong a miss and wandering back around the market in the reverse direction we did it before we came across a small shop with two Tibetan characters, with lots of interesting gear inside. We were browsing while we noticed the old guy sniffing some snuff from a snuff box made from a horn.He offered us a sniff of the snuff, and Chun smelling it confirmed it was tobacco powder. The old man said a sniff each day means you never have a head cold, so after all the second hand smoke already had in China, Glenn thought it wouldn't hurt to have a little try. He put a small amount on his thumbnail and had a sniff - it seemed to stick to the inside of his nose and tickled. Soon, he was sneezing, and then his nose was running. Maybe the old man was right - the snot was pouring out of him, much to the amusement of the old man.
During this time, several Tibetan ladies dressed in local attire were curious to what we were doing and watching. They were also quite interested in Christie - looking so different from the Chinese population with her blonde hair and blue eyes.
Landslide (2)
Back to the goods, we tried to negotiate on several items - a wooden plaque engraved with Tibetan writing - used as a printing block for prayer flags was too expensive for us, but we were really taken with some of the prayer wheels made of a dark wood - most of the ones we had seen were silver or brass, and made in mass as souvenirs. The old man wouldn't budge with his price and using our walking away tactic didn't work. Wandering through the market we realised the opportunity was too good to let pass and we returned with the intention to buy. Offering a little under his price - he still didn't budge and proceeded to show us that it was from a special kind of wood - he picked up the prayer wheel and scraped it along a stone block. Shocked that he was damaging our goods, he showed us the stone had been marked and not the wood. Relieved, we said we would pay his price if he agreed to getting his photo taken. Agreeing, we spent the next 10 minutes taking his photo - he happily posed for us, and we all jumped in with him for a photo. It was a lot of fun, and created quite a bit of attention in the local market.
Waving goodbye, we headed back towards town to find the other bigger market, where there were apparently "chicken washing machines". We found a few featherless chickens, but didn't come across the washing machines, but in wandering around, we came across some wonderful fresh fruit and were happy when offered to taste it
On The Road Back To Dequin (1)
. Some berries looking a little like round raspberries were really tasty, although a little sour for us. We also came across a yellow-orange fruit like an oval shaped apricot, and it tasted amazing. A bit like an apricot, but still quite different in a way we couldn't describe, so we bought a bag full as well as a watermelon and headed back to the guesthouse to share with Kevin and Becky. We pigged out on fruit - probably not the best idea before a long sleeper bus ride, but it was delicious. That evening we boarded the sleeper bus to Kunming, not after having to get confirmation that the bus the driver was showing was the correct bus - it had a different time in the window after all! All going well, 12 hours later we will be in Kunming, and then heading to the Laos border for our next adventure!
