Imogen Page-Jarrett, Beijing – October 2014

Journey to the South-West 西南游记

Every year on October the 1^st celebrations are held throughout China to celebrate the founding of the People’s Republic. This is just one of the nation’s Golden Week holidays, which are aimed at  the domestic tourism market, as well as allowing people to make long-distance family visits. This means travelling during this week can be described as a mad rush to say the least. Our group of six mapped out a route around Sichuan province in south-west China. Chengdu, the provincial capital, known for its spicy food and even more fiery women, would act as our hub as we travelled out to China’s most famous national park, Jiuzhaigou and the Leshan Buddha.

 

每年十月一日中国各地会举行庆祝的活动，庆祝的是中华人民共和国的成立。十一是中国黄金周之一，黄金周假期鼓励国内旅游，而且允许长途家庭探访。因此，黄金周中去旅游一定能描述为疯狂抢占座位。我们一族人，六个学生，安排在中国西南方的四川省去旅行。四川省会成都因辣菜和火爆的女人而闻名于世，这座城市会做我们旅行时候的中心，从那里游到中国最著名的国家公园九寨沟和乐山大佛。

 

We arrived close to midnight at our hostel, located in Chengdu’s famous snack street, which during the daytime was packed out with vendors selling Chengdu’s typical snacks such as such as fiery cold noodles, sweet roast duck and stinky tofu. It turned out not to be the best of starts when the hostel could not find our booking and we faced a night sleeping in reception. Luckily, the kindly staff lent us their dorm room and we crashed out before an early start to see Chengdu’s panda sanctuary, China’s largest. Having only ever seen the cute black and white creatures in photos and a lot of Chinese emblems, coming face to face with the real thing was quite a surprise. My favourite tableau of all was seeing a group of five huge fat adults draped over each other in a pile of black and white, covered in bamboo stems, all contentedly munching away. That’s excluding the newborn bundles we saw snoozing in the nursery, and having a red panda brush past our very ankles!

 

第一日午夜才到青年旅舍，坐落在成都有名的小吃街，白日的时候街道的全部挤满了小贩，他们卖的是成都传统小吃，比如伤心冷面，张烤鸭并臭豆腐。原来，我们旅程没有最佳的开端。旅舍找不到我们的预订。我们正在面临一整夜在客厅里睡觉时，幸亏员工让我们住他们的宿舍睡。我们两分钟之内就入睡了，因为次日早晨就要出发去看熊猫在中国最大的熊猫基础。那日子之前只有在照片里面和中国象征上能够看到这种黑白可爱的动物。面对一只真的熊猫挺让我们吃惊的。除了我们在幼儿园里看到的刚出生的宝贝熊猫、感到一只小熊猫擦踝而过以外，我最喜欢的情景是看到五只肥胖的大熊猫躺在一起，成为一堆黑白色，上面盖着笋茎，都是充满满意而大嚼着。

 

The next day begun with yet another early start and an eight hour bus ride to Jiuzhaigou. A beaming man donning a cowboy cap picked us up at the bus station and drove us up into the mountains where lay our home-stay for the night, owned by a Tibetan family, which looked out onto the valley and village below. Head of this family was Zhuo Ma, an equally jovial woman as her son, dressed in brightly coloured traditional Tibetan attire, often seen chasing her hens around the yard and feeding her guests green tea and walnuts. The home itself was decorated in red, pink and gold, outside were gold prayer wheels which were spun every morning to release the prayers into the cool mountain air. Every evening the family would serve all the guests a traditional meal, including local yak meat and barley wine.  Most fortunately, we met an Italian lady who came every year and suggested we spend one day at the fairy lakes instead of two at the national park.

 

次日再次早起，直接去坐大巴去九寨沟，一共要8个小时。笑容满面戴牛仔帽的男人来车站接我们，开上山坡送我们那夜要住的西藏民宿，透过窗可以远眺下面山谷的乡村。家长就是卓玛老太太，跟他儿子一样快活。她穿的都是五彩缤纷的传统西藏衣服，常会见到她院子里追鸡或者给她客户端来绿茶和胡桃。他们的房子以红、分红、黄金颜色而装饰。外面每天早晨卓玛会摇动转经筒超度。每天晚上家人给客人端来传统的一顿饭，包括牦牛肉和青稞酒。幸亏，我们认识一位意大利女人。她每年都来九寨沟。他推荐我们去神仙池一天，也不在国家公园两天。

 

The next day we heeded her advice and set off through the snow topped mountains. The fairy lakes were hidden away and almost no other tourists were to be seen. The lakes themselves are surrounded my pine forest at an altitude of 2000 metres. They are a series of terraced calcified pools. The high levels of calcium make the running water a jewel like turquoise blue. The deadly alkaline levels mean they are completely clear of all life, and so take on a crystalline appearance as they cascade down the silvery rocks. As we are sitting admiring the scenery, one of our party suddenly called out in alarm; we looked down to where he was pointing, and saw his phone lying below in one of the waterfalls. The locals called out that the legendary fairies had playfully snatched it from his pocket. It turns out the immortals didn’t mean us too much harm however, as the water mysteriously left no damage whatsoever.

 

次日我们听她的推荐，穿过雪顶山峦开过去。神仙池藏匿在少有游客的位置，海拔高度2000多米。松林绕着池塘的周围。神仙池是钙化的，如梯田般洒落在你眼前。钙化的清水像蓝碧一样。碱性过强，不利于某些植物生长，所以清冽的水流从银色山崖上飞流直下。我们坐着欣赏景观的时候，我们族的一个成员突然发出一阵惊叫，我们直接往下看，看到他的手机落入水里面了。一位本地人叫喊说手机是被神仙人抓起的。原来神仙人没有对我们任何伤害的意思，因为手机神秘地没有任何长期水损。

 

The second day we headed into Jiuzhaigou park as planned. It was a long 10kim track uphill. We passed through pine forests, reed marshes, expansive valleys, Tibetan villages, not to mention all kind of lakes and waterfalls. Compared to industrial Beijing, the air could not have been more pure, and the colours of the changing autumn leaves more vivid. A favourite scene was standing on the edge of a cliff, fluttering Tibetan flags above and the path behind us stretching out into the distance beneath a bright blue sky. In one of the villages, we found ourselves lost when seeking a toilet. Our rescue came in the form of an old lady with deeply wrinkled skin and no teeth. We spoke no Tibetan, she spoke no Mandarin. She led us hobbling to where we wanted to go in silence, only smiling at us strange white skinned outsiders, and we thanked her with a small bow and clasped hands as we parted.

 

按照计划我们次日去九寨沟。那天走了很长的上坡路，一共10公里。我们穿过松林、芦苇沼泽地、深壑险谷、西藏乡村、各种各样的湖和瀑布，跟工业化的北京相比，空气纯洁极了，

秋天飘落的叶子鲜艳极了。最喜欢的情景之一是站在悬崖边上，上面看到西藏棋子飘动着，眼前蓝天下延伸走过旅途的景象。在我们穿过的西藏乡村之一，我们寻找洗手间的时候丢路了。一位老女人来救我们。她皮肤都是深深的皱纹，嘴巴里没有一颗牙齿。我们一句藏语都不会说，她一句普通话也不会，只会对我们白皮肤的外地人大笑。她一瘸一拐地走，沉默地带我们到寻找的地方。告别的时候，我们鞠了个躬，握了手，然后自己随着自己的路走了。

 

Next up on our itinerary was the Leshan Buddha, the largest stone Buddha in the world at 71 metres tall, dating back from the Tang dynasty. It is carved into a cliff face near the city of Leshan, facing Mount Emei, with a confluence of three rivers lying at its feet. The Buddha is supposed to bring good luck to those crossing the perilous waters. We took a boat out to beneath the Buddha’s feet where there was just time to marvel at its magnitude, and of course, take a selfie. We still, of course, had to make it to the station before sunset.

 

我们的旅程下一站是乐山大佛，世界上最大的一尊摩崖石刻弥勒佛，大约71米高，唐朝留下来的。靠近乐山市，大佛面临峨眉山，脚下是三江汇流处。佛像会给过危险河的人带来好运。我们坐了船到佛像的脚下。时间正足以欣赏它的伟大性，当然还足以自拍一下。我们还需要日落之前赶到车站。

 

Overall, the only fault I could find with the trip was that returning back to Beijing and therefore university was somewhat of a jolt back to reality. Sichuan definitely has a more relaxed way of lifestyle than the north, displayed simply by the number of tea shops lining the streets where people often spend a relaxed afternoon. The beauty of the autumn landscapes we saw I really cannot overemphasise, and the wonderful insight into Tibetan culture was an unexpected touch. I would recommend this trip to anyone wanting to see some of China outside of Beijing and Shanghai.

 

总的来说，我们的旅程只有一个缺点，那就是回到北京再开始上大学课真的很难适应。四川街上的茶馆表现出来他们那儿的生活方式一定比北方放松得多。人们常常下午去慢慢地喝一杯新茶。秋天风景的美丽我真的不会过奖，并且我们看到的西藏文化是一个没想到会得到的机会。我一定会对想离开北京和上海的游客推荐我们走了的旅行。