Sangke Grasslands (桑科大草原）
13 June 2019.
Early this morning, I planned to visit Sangke Grasslands and explore the rest of Labrang Monastery again but before that, I paid for another night at the reception. 0806 hr. They arranged another room for me at a higher price of 138 yuan as the one I stayed in had already been previously booked for the night.
Then, I walked down the main road to purchase a ticket to Langmusi for the next day. Along the way, I bought a banana for breakfast at 1.20 yuan, the first time I heard cents whilst in China. Xiahe only sold same day and next day tickets on a first come first serve basis and I managed to get the ticket at 74 yuan.
Labrang Monastery. 0932 hr. The shared cab service to Sangke Grasslands can be found within the grounds of Labrang Monastery, near the Canal area.
Along the way to Sangke Grasslands. 0948 hr.
I then got a shared cab for 4 yuan to Sangke Grasslands. The cab stopped in a small dusty town after 10 minutes and the grasslands were simply straight ahead. Walking down a wide road out of town, I soon realised the grasslands were on both sides of this main road. The road seemed to go on and on in front of me and it was the same for the grasslands on both sides which stretched into the far horizon. For the first half an hour, the sides of the road were lined with homestays and recreational areas with horses out in the open for tourists to ride. They were probably meant for busloads of tourists who would drive into their massive unmarked parking space. Unfortunately, I appeared to be the only tourist walking down the road. Once in a while, the owners of these horses called out from their shelters to ask if I wanted a horse ride as I walked past.
Sangke Grasslands. 1120 hr.
Vehicles that drove by this straight road were far and between. It was around 1100 and I would soon be getting lunch. In the meantime, walking in the quiet along a straight line amongst vast expanse of green was rather enjoyable, especially since I knew that a simple U-turn was all I need to do to return back to the town.
At about 1200, a cab driver drove down the road towards my direction. This was the only shared cab that passed by me earlier and I was certain it was the same vehicle, just that it was now making a u turn back to town after dropping off his passengers.
“Get in, I can drive you back.” the driver called out from his seat as his vehicle approached. His was a legal shared cab so I agreed.
“It’s not fun to be alone.” he said.
“True, I hardly see Tibetans alone by themselves.”
“I saw you walking alone.”
“I was looking around.”
“Come with people, it’s fun in a group. You can do a lot of things.”
Tibetans are hardly on their own, according to him. It surprised him to see me walking alone. I had walked for about two hours towards a horizon that seemed to recede into the distance each time i got closer and was grateful that his communal cab was around the area at the right time and I could hail a ride back without walking all the way back to the small town to get a ride.
Back at Xiahe, I decided to ascend a hill which I had noticed behind the canal that morning. A few locals were doing so, it was an area for them to see an aerial view of the city.
Xiahe City. The layout of the Labang Monastey occupies almost half of the entire city area. 1229 hr.
Decided to try the local fast food chain, Pala for lunch. They do delivery services too! The Pala outlet is located back at the local mall just a few minutes walk from Labrang Monastery. I was most surprised to see monks eating fried chicken at the outlet.
Fast food delight! 20 yuan. 1447 hr.
For the rest of the afternoon, I strolled along the main road looking for an SD card. I was taking way too many photos and videos of the surrounding landscapes and needed more storage space for my journey ahead. I eventually bought a 32 GB SD card for 150 yuan.
This second evening in Xiahe, I decided to return to Labrang Monastery to experience walking the entire 3 circumambulations. The skies will be fully dark at around 2100 and although time seemed plentiful, I had to hurry. When the skies started to darken around 2000, I started to notice and match up to the pace of three monks ahead of me. They seemed to be constantly present amongst the other pilgrims who dwindled in numbers as darkness set. Half of the circumambulatory route was set in the hills behind the monastery which were poorly lit and I was getting somewhat afraid. The constant sight of these three monks led me through my second circumambulation though and as we came to the end of the second round at the entrance of the Monastery, I was surprised to see that the three monks seemed to be walking in the direction of a third round. By now, the skies were already dark. As much as I wanted to complete the third and final round, I knew I won’t manage navigating the dark hills alone but if these three monks remained in front of me as if guiding the way.. I could try to finish the last round.
Labrang Monastery at night. 2120 hr.
I followed them tightly. I have been following them for an hour and it was evident to them. This time, they slowed down until I was walking beside them. One of them spoke a little Chinese. He asked me where I was from. I answered and he translated my reply to his companions. They tried to tell me more about Labrang in the next half hour or so. For them, they complete one round in the early mornings and two in the evenings, totalling three for each day. I asked about the om mani padme hum chant, the only thing I knew that has seemed to save dying conversations thus far. After half an hour, just as we were about to make the turn to the hills, the monks turned towards a dark alleyway and bade farewell. They were going back to their living quarters. Politely I waved and thanked them for their company. I watched in disbelief as little by little, they were gradually got swallowed by the darkness of the alleyways leading deeper within the monastery complex. I had never seen anyone walk into pitch black without any hint of fear. I was now alone, halfway through the circumambulatory route. The road I was on was a major one in the monastery and it was lit but the light shining on the dirt paths in the hills ahead was scarce. I didn’t think any pilgrims would be on the route. Without the lead of the fearless monks, I could not complete this final round. I had to turn back to walk the way I had just come, back to exit at the entrance of the monastery.
I was still worried about my physical ability to cope during my subsequent journey towards Kham Tibet in Sichuan province where the altitude stands at 4000m so I went to a pharmacy to buy a Chinese herb known as Hong Jing Tian. For 50 yuan, I got the liquid version, I had heard this remedy for altitude sickness might not be effective but it was something to try, at the very least.
I would be leaving for Langmusi tomorrow and decided to rest early. 2135 hr.