Five Days in Shangri-la (2) By dandelion

2005-10-3

I got up about 6:30AM. According to the weather of yesterday, it was so hard to see sunrise. But I could not but hope that God Mountain would give me a smile. After almost one hour’s waiting, it proved in vain. Many disappointed persons gathered here, some of them set up professional cameras. Only a special funny man was shouting on the platform: Look, the peak appears. There. There…But no other people could see what he saw. Maybe he was too hopeful to see sunrise, and got hallucinosis.

Sigh! I left the huge pity in this place. I don’t know when I can get here and see sunrise the next time. I bought a book of album, including 48 postcards. All of photos were extremely exquisite; I can imagine how tremendous the sunrise/sunset of Meli Snow Mountain could be.

Our driver arrived here 9:00AM. We met two foreigners and their guide, but a taxi could only let 4 persons sit in. So we could not share our taxi with them.

On the way, Virgin Forest seemed so colorful. In fact, if we came here half month later, we would see more colorful trees. Colors ranged from green, yellow to red, from bright to dark. I asked him:” Is there any swordsman who is practicing his Kong Fu Bible in a deep hole“

--“Yes. When he can do Kong Fu well, his master will ask him to walk in River&Lake.”

>_<

Ming Yong Glacier’s ticket was RMB63. Past through the ticket office, road became to two directions, the other one was to Yu Beng.

Glacier was in the top of mountain, so we could choose to walk up there or ride horse. Usually, a round trip ticket by horse is RMB80, but on the National days, this price was just to send you to the top, didn’t include sending back. The last stretch could not be opened to horse, so I had to walk by myself about almost one hour.

To me, climbing mountain in high altitude was very tiring—I had a little bit “High Altitude Reaction”. I cannot climb too fast, not to mention running, otherwise, my heart would be beating faster and faster.(BTW: One of my friends told me, he and his wife would be breathless, even when they went to their room from the ground floor to the second floor. )

Once, I heard a story that a strong man was died in Tibet because of “High Altitude Reaction”, so I slowed down my movement in order not to die in Shangri-la. There are many beautiful spots I haven’t seen, I didn’t want to be dead at that time.

When I was climbing down the mountain, I felt better. I could walk very fast. The fresh air, the sunny shine, the blue sky, the gentle breeze, my sweat, even the smelly horse shit could really make me high.

This is Sha Ji(沙棘). It's edible.

We arrived at the bottom of mountain about 2:30PM. On the way back to Di Qing, we came to Fei Lai Temple飞来寺 about 4:30PM. There were three places most suitable to viewing Meli Mountain: Viewing Platform, Tai Zi temple 太子庙(on Glacier, We missed.) and Fei Lai Temple. This was a very small temple; we stayed here just for a while, and took some photos.

Came to Di Qing, we met two drivers came from Zhong Dian, so we hitched a ride to Zhong Dian, only cost RMB100. In fact, this price was not cheap to us, but it’s really cheap to them. Because renting a taxi from Di Qing to Zhong Dian often costs RMB 300-400.

After about 5h, we got Zhong Dian. I suggested we get accommodation into multi-rooms of hostel, but he didn’t agree with me. At last, we spent RMB350 into a three stars hotel. We ate some stir-fried dishes in a small restaurant. It’s very tasty, only cost RMN 24, including a bottle of wine.

Tips:

l If you have a little bit “High Altitude Reaction”, don’t climb mountain by yourself. Rent a horse, and save you life.

l You also can stay in Di Qing town for one night, and take the morning bus back to Zhong Dian, but this town has no special attractions, as you choose.