Out of the cities and into the relative wild
Lanzhou to Labrang Monastary & Tongren
At last, I have been able to escape the bustle of the cities, having met my driver, Daniel (a charming and patient fellow who turned out to be Tibetan) in Lanzhou.
After the failed DJI drone acquisition ordeal and nearly 2.5 hours of poor Daniel’s time, we departed Lanzhou for Labrang Monastary and Tongren. From Lanzhou, which is itself technically in mountain foothills, we headed further into the Qilian Mountain range.
After several hours drive we arrived at Labrang and Labrang Monastary, which was a site which the tour company (I will write a substantive review on Adventure Tour China at the conclusion of this journey) had recommended (and which I knew nothing about). I do want to visit Tibet and Nepal but it was always planned for a separate trip, so it was a very pleasant surprise to visit Labrang Monastary, which was in a word, impressive. After running into the ticket building to relieve myself after the drive, I had a quick look at a diorama of Labrang which was on display, it makes quite clear that Labrang is a sprawling complex.
Diorama of Labrang:
I purchased a ticket and was beckoned to follow some chap who walked at a brisk pace to take me to the tour guide’s location; I was snapping photos and running along to keep up with him so that we could reach the sole English speaking monk who was providing a tour that day, and whom seems to have started his tour a little earlier than the 15:15 time expected. Finally, I arrived at the tour group, quite out of breath, I recalled that we were now at over 3000 meters of altitude which I was certainly feeling! After composing myself I finally had a chance to take more in.
Labrang:
The monastery buildings are well kept and elegant in that distinctive style which only a Tibetan monastery can evoke. I was reminded of previous photos I had seen of Lhasa and similar sites (I had never heard of Labrang) and famous films, such as Seven Years in Tibet. The buildings are mix of some which look likely for habitation, temples and great halls, as well as various support structures, statuary and gardens.
I was permitted to take photos of the outside of all buildings, but only the inside of some. Understandably, photo and film are not permitted in the temple halls which contain images of the Bhudda, Bhodisattvas and various deities and iconography, so you will have to take my word for it that they are magnificent sites. High ceilings and dark corners conceal innumerable details, everywhere festooned with paintings and symbolism. It is maximalism in a word, and very elegant. Incense burns and the relative darkness adds a certain ambience, more so if distant chanting is overheard. I have read that during the time of the Great Game and later, Western explorers attempting to penetrate Tibet (to reach Lhasa) noted that the monastaries were found to be rather caked in layers of soot, incense, wax and animal fat residue from the ever burning braziers and non-electrical light sources; I would submit that such things would add to the atmosphere, though some of these explorers were critical. Today, fortunately, some remnants of this remains in terms of the soot stains, incense and the aroma. I found that the interior of the temples and the great halls had a fairly distinct and slightly cloying (though not unpleasant) aroma, combing incense, smoke, animal fat, and woods, which all seemed to blend together to provide a stark contrast to the fresh and cool mountain air outside. Perhaps I am being silly, but I felt that describing this was an integral part of the experience worthy of description, as it assists one in feeling the vibe of a place.
A small peek inside one of the temples at Labrang:
Some of the impressively detailed decorations at Labrang:
There were two sections of Labrang Monastary which I found to be most impressive, aside from of course the glorious surrounding mountains. The first would be a great hall with a ceiling of approximately 5 meters height, lined with many pillars arranged roughly in a square (which bought to mind the now derelict great hall of Persepolis, or the cisterns beneath Istanbul); lain between each pillar, there were pillows on which monks might sit. Naturally, every centimetre was adorned with art and iconography. The interior walls of this hall were filled with alcoves (“Do you know these alcoves?”) containing stupas and various other statuary. Unfortunately, as with the inside of the temples, photos and film were not permitted, so I removed my hat and simply enjoyed the moment. The second area I really enjoyed was actually a section where they had some fantastic multi-coloured gardens neatly laid out, with various monastery buildings and the mountains in the background. I would have liked to sit here for a while and contemplate, alas, the tour continued.
Labrang:
The next spot was a great square near the top of the monastery which provided both its own charm and some thrilling vistas.
Labrang:
Following the visit to the square and some other temple interiors which could not be photographed, I exited the monastery along a street which looked like it formed some fine residences which must have had neat courtyards among them. I would have liked to explore this area further, but it had begun to rain, and my driver was waiting.
On the way out of Labrang:
With many hours of driving still to go before we would reach Tongren, we left Labrang and headed back up into the mountain passes. We climbed steadily up winding mountain roads, past many a group of Yaks, sheep and other livestock. As we climbed, the mountain vistas disappeared into dense fog, at which point we could only see perhaps 10-20 meters in any direction. Nearing the top of a pass at around 3600 meters, I confess it was slightly unnerving knowing that to one side of the road, now utterly cloaked in fog, was certainly a significant drop! Fortunately, Daniel knew the road well. We reached the zenith of that climb and began to descend only to be assaulted by a herd of goats, each appearing with their horns out of the gloom.
Goats from the mist:
We stopped at a further Monastary called Wutun Monastary close to Tongren where I took a few quick photos, and we then headed to the hotel in Tongren.
Wutun Monastary en route to Tongren:
Tongren to Zhangye
The following day we commenced the long drive to Zhangye and we were again spoiled with many grand vistas of alpine scenery and Tibetan grassland valleys. We had lunch in a small town largely set up for tourists to enjoy horses and yurts on the plains, which I decided to skip given I didn’t feel like riding about in a corral, my own romantic fantasy of riding alone in an empty plain would not permit me to accept less – my curse. We ascended once again to two separate mountain passes - the highest being nearly 3800 meters - we stopped at each to take in the vista given the clear day and to take some photos for some friends at my club.
High mountain passes and Vistas:
As we descended we were greeted by a grand vista of the green plains below. Given that our vantage point was a narrow highway pass crowded with trucks, it would have been quite unsafe to stop so I unfortunately did not manage to get out the tripod and take a proper photo, and my Nikon Z5 is not great at taking images whilst moving, so the following will need to suffice to describe it. At a village beneath one of the passes we stopped to get some Yak yoghurt; it has a fairly strong flavour and is incredibly creamy, a bit like Greek yoghurt.
Vistas as we decented mountain passes from Tongren towards Zhangye, Yak Yoghurt and Poplars:
Arriving at Zhangye, I settled in at the hotel, which to date has been the only really disappointing one (I will send them some comments when I have a chance), at least the slightly unnerving elevator didn’t collapse… I went for another bowl of noodles that evening, which was excellent. I didn’t bother to explore more of Zhangye.
Zhangye to Jiuquan
The following day we headed to Jiuquan. On the way we visited Mati Temple which is nestled in mountain foothills. As the photos below will indicate it largely consists of temples carved into sandstone cliffs. I have added a selection of images of these below.
The most impressive in my view was the large cave carved imposingly into an enormous cliff and which was called The Standing Bhudda Cave or Tibetan Bhuddist Hall. Similar to the monastaries I visite earlier, photos and video were generally not permitted to be taken within the inner sanctum of the temples. Within the largest cliff temple there is a large gold coloured and rather effeminate Bhudda statue and altar, behind which sits a large carved passageway arranged in a square. The walls of this passage are lined with reclining statues of the Bhudda and various other iconography. This spot had a certain unexplainable vibe to it, I can only imagine that it must be similar when entering the back of the famous Egyptian temple/monument at Abu Simbel (which I hope to visit someday soon). I snapped a few shots of the excellent misty mountain vista at Mati, and we departed again for Jiuquan.
Mati Cliff Temples and Vista - and a shot I managed to sneak within one of the temples ;)
The remainder of the road to Jiuquan was very flat and largely consisted of farmland, with a distant view of the grand Qilian Mountains behind us, and with many poplar lined streets (apparently many tourists seek to visit when the leaves of these turn a vibrant yellow). I did attempt to take some shots of the Qilian Mountains as they receded into the distance, I will let the viewer be the judge of the quality. Unfortunately, we were a bit pressed for time so neglected to stop.
The road to Jiuquan:
After finally arriving in Jiuquan I checked in at the hotel and ventured out, as per my posts on Instagram, to the night market, where I was determined only to purchase food from stalls, as to have a sit-down meal again just would not be adventurous enough. After purchasing the half crispy duck with the usual trimmings and some seasoned potatoes and a few cans of Tsingtao beer, I decided it was a bit much to eat on the street so headed back to my hotel room to eat and be antisocial.
Jiuquan night market and a fair amount of food...
The following day I would finally buy a drone (albeit not the one I wanted, so we will see how it fairs above 4000 meters in Tajikistan), and then we would then head across the Gobi to Ejin Banner and the nearby Heicheng Historic Site which I was very much looking forward to seeing. However, that journey is worth a separate post, so that’s all for now folks.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Simon
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