My Heart Soars: Shangri-la : Part 4 - Slow Drive to Yajiang

After our 4-hour walk in Mugecuo Scenic Area, it was a drive back to Kangding where we had our lunch. Today, we are headed to Yajiang, and the estimated distance was 182km. Our route was a drive downwards because we are heading towards Yunnan province which is below Sichuan province. Can you visualise? If you can't, it's best to search for the map. That is what I did too!

We had lunch opposite the hotel we stayed in the night before. There was a distinctive smell coming from the dishes. I am not sure how to describe the smell.. because all I can think of is it smells sourish which is kind of wrong because sour is a taste. Haha!

My lunch - a big bowl of beef noodles. I am supposed to share this bowl with my roommate but due to miscommunication, my roommate got a small bowl of plain noodles. My big bowl costs RMB10. Pretty expensive, if you ask me.

From Kangding, it was a hilly ride to Yajiang. Here, we have reached on one of the high areas. I could see electrical cables erected on the mountains, and I am just amazed at how this is done.

I read on the place called - Xinduqiao that is a paradise for photographers especially in the autumn. What is beautiful in this stretch of road is the mountains, the rivers, the grassland, the trees and Tibetan village. We did not get to go down, because the van was giving problems and going uphill took up a lot of time, hence, the driver did not stop. I told the travel agent of this dissatisfaction too. It was disappointing to miss this opportunity. This scenery reminds me of Tibet except that Tibet does not have trees.

Xinduqiao is a stretch of road from Mt Zheduo to Xinduqiao town. I have no idea where was Mt Zheduo, but somehow you go 'wow' and 'woo' as you drive along Xinduqiao, even without knowing it's Xinduqiao. I read in my research, and found that when you cross the Xinduqiao town, there is nothing to see. And you know Xinduqiao is completed.

It was another 75km drive from Xinduqiao to Yajiang. But because of the extremely bumpy bad road, it took us 4 hours to get to Yajiang.

Finally, the van was not able to go uphill. We had to get out from the van and walk uphill for a bit. The roads were dusty as there was a road construction going on. The van is a 2.0cc, and hence, the very much difficulty. This should not have been a problem at all, because the agent and the driver should have known better. After offloading the passengers, the van managed to go uphill easily.

We reached the highest pass for the day at 4412m.

Tibetan millions of scriptures summarised in these 6 characters - Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum. This is commonly seen on the mountains.

At about 8pm, we reached Yajiang (2600m above sea level). We had to walk towards the hotel because the van was having problem going uphill again. We walked inside a back lane towards the hotel. It was dark and quiet. I was scared that someone may just rob us. I am phobic of that because I had experiences of being robbed. So, I can't help but imagined the worst.

The hotel was quiet, but there were many vehicles parked at the compound. So, we were a bit assured that there were people staying there.

No bathing tonight, because there was no hot water. But it was okay because it was cold and I did not sweat. I was very surprised that this hotel has wifi. In my entire trip, all the hotels we stayed in had wifi except for one which was on the mountains. So, it is very much understood. But I do not mind being disconnected from the world when I am in a gorgeous place.

After settling our things, we walked to a nearby restaurant to have our dinner. It was a small eatery and my friends went into the kitchen to select the ingredients to be cooked.

The driver had the same liquor. And I was amazed that this liquor is ISO guaranteed (ISO 14001: Environmental Management, ISO 9001: Quality Management), and has went through HACCP (Safety of Food)! The bottle of liquor costs RMB10.

For dinner, it was a simple meal of vegetables with pork, soup (a must!), and after such a long time since my trip to Tibet, one of Tibet's famous dish - tomato and egg.