Category: 2018-10 US China

This morning we still had enough time to hike to the largest prayer wheel in the world at 21 meters. It is located in the old town on a hill at Guishan Temple. For the view of the wooden roofs of the city, the stairway is worthwhile. You have to work with several people to get the gold-shining mill going.

At one o’clock at noon we went by bus again 4 hours in the direction of Lijiang. On the way, the bus takes a pipi break at a road stall. You can also buy sweets or drinks there. The buses are washed by the rest area staff with high-pressure cleaners, brooms and pullers.

In Shangri-La we had -2 to 14 degrees and in Lijiang it is 7 to 22 degrees. (jacket on/jacket off).

Silke

Today we were driven by a private car to Napahai Lake (150 yuan). The lake at an altitude of 3266 m and the surrounding grasslands have been illuminated in colourful autumn colours. We have seen many yaks, cows, horses and pigs running around freely. Our driver said she all go to her stable in the evening.

Afterwards we were allowed to see the home of a Tibetan family. We stayed in a traditional house with fantastic wood carvings. The ground floor consists of stables. An outside staircase leads to a veranda, where the grandmother has just turned pasta dough by hand through a machine. A large oven stands in the middle of the huge living room, which is kitchen, living room and bedroom in one.

A cat slept on the stove bench. But there is also a TV.Then we hiked up a little bit of a mountain to enjoy the view of the lake. After we were back in the hotel, we went in the old town in the “Three Brother’s Cafe” very tasty food. Reiner had yak meat on the hot stone and I had fried vegetable balls in sauce, spinach and rice. Afterwards I took part in the round dance again and Reiner drank tea and watched through the window.

Silke

Today we rented bikes for one day and took a tour to the Tibetan Buddhist monastery Ganden Sumtseling (at about 3320 m altitude)! We cycled there in less than an hour, with no bike lanes and you have to drive on the road.The last piece we did not smell the wheels and had to take the shuttle bus to the entrance gate. The bus is included in the ticket (115 yuan). The large prayer halls with the golden roofs and various large Budda and God figures can be reached via a long staircase. The monastery was built in 1679 from the 5th century. Dalai Lama.

A couple in costume had just taken pictures. The small lake in front of the temple town, lamuyangcuo Lake, is surrounded by a walking path, partly above the water, on wooden paths. It’s very nice to go there. It takes about 45 min to do so. There are some photopoints and there are a lot of yaks and black pigs running around. Yaks, pigs and wild dogs generally run through the area!

Silke

The bus took us to Shangri-La today in 4 hours. We stay in the nice little hotel “Kevin’s Trekker Inn” right next to the old town! In sunshine but quite cool temperatures we went to the food market. This is a large market hall. Incredible what is offered there. There were wonderful colorful vegetables and fruit that we have never seen before. And there were innards, pig stomachs, intestines, pig heads, yak tails (with fur), chicken feet living toads and worms, … . We didn’t really have any hunger after that.

In the evening we were in the old town. In one square, traditional music is danced every evening from 19:00. Everyone is allowed to participate – of course I was there!

Silke

We were walking at Black Dragon Pool Park today and drinking coffee. The lake has the color of Jade, just like the small river that flows through Lijiang.

Lijiang has a beautiful Old Town (Unesco World Heritage Site) reserved exclusively for pedestrians. Especially in the evening it is pretty, because hundreds of lampignons, flowers and lanterns create a romantic atmosphere.

Silke

Today we actually wanted to do a bike ride to the lake. Instead, we took the metro to the station and made a few rebookings. The night train today we now drive soft-not hardsleeper. We cancelled two subsequent train journeys and booked one flight for it. In addition, hotel reservations had to be adjusted. Thus Kunming has been a little shorter !

In any case, the night train is a positive surprise. It is double-storey. In the lower aisle are 4-bed compartments in which the odd numbers are the lower beds. In the upper aisle there are 7 VIP compartments with double bed at the bottom and single bed at the top.

Everything is very clean and the beds already covered. There is a thermos, slippers and toothbrushes in each compartment. Also the train restaurant is nicely furnished and it is freshly cooked! We enjoyed a portion of fried rice and a beer.

Silke

Today we started with the G1373 at 8:55 a.m. in Shanghai and arrived at Kunming South at 19:34!According to Wikipedia, this is the longest express train line in the world. 2264 Km at a top speed of 350 km/h. The line will probably not be completed until 2016. Before that, it took 34 hours! In the wide-body cars there are always 2 and 3 seats! This time we sat in wagon 4, row 3, place A+B. This is a 3-seater bank with a window seat. The 2-seat bench with seats D+F was already reserved. The train also has a restaurant, but we didn’t go. The service staff come to the place with hot, plastic-packed food and a caddy with sweetstuff and drinks. There is also a hot water heater in each car. You can see a bit of the landscape on the trip. Cities, fields and then mountains pass by. But there are also many tunnels. From Kunming South it is still over an hour metro into the city – so we did not reach our hotel until about 22:00.

Silke

Today we looked at the skyline from the other side. From the Shanghai Tower. It is currently the 2 tallest building in the world at 632 m. (The tallest is in Dubai) The elevator is even the fastest in the world. It brings one with 18 m / sec in under 1 min to the all-round glazed viewing platform on the 118 floor. The ticket office is located outside the building. We were there an hour before sunset and were lucky to be up in time. The queue was quite long! But upstairs you had a good view, because people are dispersed.

Silke