The Guge Kingdom
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2005
1
134
158
Trip End
Jul 21, 2007
Zanda,
China
Sunday, May 27, 2007
As i've already related, the Tibetan countryside is entirely devoid of drainage and running water. So its no surprise that the toilets provided are not pleasant (and in fact it's usually a better idea to go in the fields!). However, being human, as you are alerted to the call of nature, you follow the distinct aroma and sound of flies until you reach a concrete or stone hut. It will either have a roof or not, and you can view that as a benefit or a hazard. It will of course afford extra privacy, but it will also harbour the stench quite a lot more too.
On entry you will behold 3 or 4 slots cut into the precarious wattle and daub or rusting metal floor. These are your target
crazy hills near Zanda
. Again, there may be partitions separating the apertures or not, depending upon the whim of the architect, but invariably if you have the nerve or the stupidity to look down, you will see a pyramid of faeces staring back at you from the pit below. My only advice is hold your breath, expedite your business, try to avoid the possibility of splashback, and the little known but potentially deadly phenomenon of the icy backdraft blowing the soiled paper you have just dropped, back into your face! Then exit as quickly as possible.
We had been on the hard road for 9 days now and were all feeling the pace to some extent. My right knee was buggered, Nick was suffering from some kind of waterborne parasite that was causing an unstemmable stream of dark brown gravy to run out of his anus. And Kerrys face was spasming due to an overdose of Diamox, which gave her lips the not unattractive appearance of a perpetual pout.
Morale was not high, and we were only piercing further into the remotest areas of the plateau, heading due west for the abandoned city of Tsaparang. To be fair the terrain worsened as the day wore on. We crossed valleys and passes with icy peaks looming overhead and the track deteriorated until we were being thrown around the cabin, as the unstoppable landcruiser lurched from one ravine to the next
its a hard road theres no turning back
. And then the scenery took yet another miraculous turn and we were on the edge of a huge canyon, composed of the most incredibly and intricately eroded sandstone cliffs. Some of them were so detailed that they looked as if they were turrets that had been carved out to a human design. And we descended on a dusty track heading directly into the middle of it, the golden cliffs rising up on all sides and the greater snowy peaks as ever on the horizon to further enhance the epic flavour of the view. Absolutely amazing! and more than made up for the bumpiness, shit food and squat toilets!!
The largely Chinese one street army town of Zanda is perched on a hillside above the Sutlej river which cleaves its way past the remarkable looking yellow and orange cliffs. Despite the dramatic setting the Chinese with their drab concrete buildings and tastless stainless steel statues have ruined the look of the town, and all the restaurants play mind games with you by displaying technicoloured posters of food you would never ever get here like fresh fruit, bagels, croissants, dressed crab etc.!! And then they give you a menu of fried rice or noodles. Sickos.
The Buddhist Guge kingdom was founded in the 10th century AD and abandoned in 1629. The next day we drove for an hour into the hills to see the civilisations capital of Tsaparang which looks down on the valley from its perch on a loney crest of towering rock
As the city is so remote and was already largely deserted when the cultural revolution was in full swing, it wasn't subjected to quite the same level of vandalistic fury as other religious buildings, and even though the large ornate statues that once stood in the chapel have been wrecked, the paintings have been left largely untouched, and are some of the finest examples you can see in Tibet
Kerry in tunnel up to summer palace
. You can detect Kashmiri influences in the depictions of the Buddha and the colours are particularly vivid.The place looks amazing, all the buildings and monastic dwellings have been hewn out of the eroded hillside. As you climb the sandstone steps, you come first to whats left of the chapels, then, as you wind up the hill, the monks caves surround you, black holes with soot covered ceilings, you cannot imagine anyone spending their life in one. At the top, staring down you see the summer palace which is basically a citadel and was the residence of the royal family. To get up to it, you have to crouch through a tunnel which pierces the hillside and leads up and around. Coming out at the top, the 360 degree view of the surrounding valley stretches for many miles and the mad eroded cliffsides all around make for a surreal and breathtaking vista. From a defensive standpoint, the location was a perfect one: any invaders would be spotted from miles away. What a place this must have been in it's hayday, crowded with monks and other cityfolk.
You can also crawl underground some 12 metres down a steep staircase located near the summer palace, into the winter palace, which is an ants nest of darkened caves carved out of the rock, the ones on the edge, presumably reserved for the royals and their retinue, enjoy an enviable view looking out way down the cliffside. What a great place to explore! Indiana Jones style, inching down the silent pitch black corridor with the head torch to light the way, and we had the whole place to ourselves, not seeing another soul all the time.
This place was well worth the seven hour detour!!
