September 22, 2015 Xiahe to Hongyuan

The description in the Plan Ahead scouting journal for today was short - only 3 paragraphs.  We were not expecting much from today’s ride.  Boy were we wrong!

We left the hotel, the Labrang Civil Aviation Hotel, after a simple Chinese breakfast. 

Xiahe is home to the Labrang Monastery.  Founded in 1709,  at its peak the facility housed over 4,000 monks.  The numbers were greatly reduced during the Cultural Revolution.  The maximum number of monks for this monastery is now restricted to 1,200.  The monastery is home to six monastic colleges. 

There is a 3 km pilgrims' path around the monastery that we should have walked.  However, feeling the strain from yesterday’s ride, we did not get up early enough to walk around the monastery grounds, but had to settle for pictures and hit the road. 

We left Xiahe for the Tibetan countryside.  It was beautiful.  Some snow had fallen the night before, adding to the grandeur of the scenery. 

Tibetan nomadic life was on display - simple tents surrounded by the owner's herd, sometimes a small car, truck, or motorcycle.

Yaks were herded down the road.  

This Tibetan herder threw rocks to get the yaks to head in the desired direction.

The herds are being “harvested” today.  Yesterday and today we’ve noticed the herders taking their flocks to market.  This group was using the bridge to direct their sheep into the trucks.

Our morning ride couldn’t have been any better – no construction or traffic.  Just the immense plains surrounded by mountains... then, a famous teakettle fuel adventure.

Our morning gas stop was made longer ...John and Mike were our service station attendants

The official attendants were very unfriendly and overbearing.  They kept a determined watch over us, making sure we did not leave our assigned area or take pictures of them or the gasoline tank area.  Jeez!

The native Tibetans, however, couldn’t have been more friendly, curious or welcoming. 

Alain made another friend for life when he gave one of the guys a ride on his bike.  These are sheep herders, live in the 4th century, yet cary cell phones, powered by small solar panels on their horses or yurts.

We rode off again.  I sat behind David in awe of the beautiful landscape.

As we came close to a Buddhist shrine, we noticed some people turning the prayer drums and stopped for a visit.  They welcomed our presence and explained some of their traditions.

An elderly woman approached the shrine, bowed over and using two sticks to balance.  Box went to help her up the steps, but retreated as she fell to her knees and bowed over and over again for almost a minute.  It was a moving moment.

I was surprised by the neat homes we saw by the roadside.  Each had a little enclosed yard and glassed-in room.  We weren't expecting suburbia - must have been a government program of some kind.

Around lunchtime we came into a small “Crested Butte” style village.

We met several English speakers just outside the Black Tent Café, where we ordered lunch while sitting on some comfortable sofas.  

The wall had a map of local treks.   Foreigners use this town as a base camp.

Dave and Boz ordered a Yak pizza.  It took a long time to come, but was delicious.  Too bad we had to hurry through the meal.

Brick production plant:

The afternoon brought us more fantastic scenery – mountains, monasteries, brick kilns, herds and herders.

The next gas stop had fewer people, but this little girl was adorable.  Her mom and dad came in on two brand new motorcycles.

Then we came to the most amazing Buddhist shrine of the trip.  First it was in the distance, then got bigger, and then was overwhelming.

Our final stop of the day was unbelievable.  The monastery has dozens of acres of prayer flags.  We paid a nominal fee for entrance and walked back into the flags.  There were several buildings with people and prayer drums inside.  Some of the drums were bigger than Mike!  My camera went dead, so no pictures inside.  Oh well.