JULY 2, 2020
Phồn hoa ngoài cửa không phải là phồn hoa của ta.
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门外的繁华不是我的繁华。
//
The prosperity outside the door is not my prosperity.
P.s.: Picture taken in Barkam, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan, China in 2019.
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JULY 2, 2020
JUNE 12, 2020
Đối xử với mọi người thân thiện là tu dưỡng, độc lai độc vãng là tính cách.
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待人友善是修养 独来独往是性格。
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Treating people well is cultivation, being alone is character.
P.s.: Picture taken in Barkam, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan, China in 2019.
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JUNE 12, 2020
JUNE 10, 2020
Cho tôi đi theo người, hãy cho tôi đi theo người,
Đi ngược với dòng người hối hả,
Về nơi đồi núi hoang vắng kia,
Phất phất tay áo bay bay.
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就让我随你去，让我随你去，
逆着背影婆娑的人流，
向着那座荒芜的山丘，
挥挥衣袖。
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Just let me go with you, let me go with you,
Against the flow of whirling people,
Toward the deserted hill,
While our sleeves are swinging.
P.s.: Picture taken in Barkam, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan, China in 2019.
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JUNE 10, 2020
Ngawa Tibetan And Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Day 10: Barkam To Mt. Siguniang
Barkam to Aba/Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture was like Kangding to Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, meaning it was the seat of the prefecture. There was a river flowing alongside the town, too. But I felt that Barkam seemed to be much less crowded than Kangding and had no sign of international travelers.
Today was a great public transport experience. Because the driver said 8:30AM the bus to Xiaojin would depart, this morning, I came to the station early to buy a new ticket. Turned out I was too early, again. The bus would depart around noon, again.
When I went back to the hostel for a seat, they invited me to have breakfast. So kind. Or they didn’t know that I had already checked out. And it was a square meal with green bean and rice porridge, two Chinese steamed buns (mantou), a boiled egg, peanuts, and pickled cucumber. Best breakfast so far.
It was a bumpy bus ride to Xiaojin via winding roads and passes. Sometimes, I thought the bus couldn’t get through some big stone piles on the road. But thanks to the onsite wheel loader and rotary mixer, plus the help of the bus staff, there was a connecting bus waiting for us somewhere on the way to Mt. Siguniang.
The 10-hour on the bus ride yesterday was not as tiring as 6 hours today; however, I enjoyed this crowded bus from Xiaojin to Mt. Siguniang, and moreover, kindness of Chinese people.
They stopped near the Changping Valley site under the rain, so I picked that hostel right there. Its decoration looked warm and comfortable.
The Changping Inn hostel’s owner didn’t speak English, but I found their bookcase interesting.
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Ngawa Tibetan And Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Day 10: Barkam To Mt. Siguniang
Ngawa Tibetan And Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Day 9: Langmusi To Barkam, Transit In Zoigê
I didn’t know that I saw the Hui mosque the day I arrived in Langmusi. It was on the right side of the Kirti Gompa and on the way to the hill that I trekked in that evening. I found out when I saw the photos I took that day.
Before getting on the bus back to Zoige (Ruoergai), I went inside the mosque but all doors were closed. I was at the Ruoergai station before 8:30AM but the tickets wrote that the bus to Xiaojin started at 12:10PM.
This place must be the highest place I’ve been to in this trip. It was cold today, too. I followed the Hanoian teacher girl to buy some flat peaches. They tasted just like other peaches I’d eaten before. But at least I tried.
After having potatoes and beef rice for lunch, I found a cat playing with my backpack hit belt.
After 1 hour, we were stuck again in a traffic jam for 1 and a half hours. First time I got to use my paper fan. 10 years later, Sichuan traffic jams were much more orderly and polite.
It was so hard to ask for the direction to Mt. Siguniang here because the station was closed when we arrived in Barkam aka Maerkang at 7:30PM. The bus driver told me there’d be one early tomorrow morning.
Then I leaded my team to find a hotel. I saw one looking kinda luxury next to the bus station. I realized that Chinese people used a face recognition machine to check in to the hotels here. After waiting for a while, I got the boot because I was a foreigner. I got the same result from one or two places nearby.
After wheeling my suitcase faster to the downtown worrying it would be dark soon, I saw another luxury hotel after crossing a small bridge. Luckily, they accepted 4 foreigners in 1 room. But the receptionist took so long to register me that I had to tell her I’d come back to get my passport after dinner.
The room was the most well-equipped I’d ever seen in Sichuan, and the bathroom looked extravagant too.
Later, when I was out seeking a place for dinner at 9:00 PM, I realized that this town was almost empty. It was hard to find a noodles restaurant that was open. Didn’t know why the chef kept laughing while talking to me. He didn’t believe I wasn’t Chinese until I showed him my passport. However, he cooked delicious noodles.
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Ngawa Tibetan And Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Day 9: Langmusi To Barkam, Transit In Zoigê