Yep, another bad night sleep due to altitude. But it will soon be a distant memory as we descend down to Kangding today which is “only” 2600m / 8530ft. Together with the 3 Swiss, we shared a minivan to Kangding. Pulling into the town of Kangding, we saw a very large church. Mathias noted that it would be Catholic as it has a cross on top. I said that Protestant churches have them too, but he disagreed. Apparently, in in Switzerland, they have cocks on the spires instead of crosses!
We got dropped off at the Yongzhu guesthouse where they had the perfect arrangement in a room with three beds. I opted for the luxury of a private room with a sitting toilet (whereas I could have saved Y80 for a dorm for just myself, if no one else turned up). Jeremy was now unwell and slept while the remaining Swiss went up to Paomashan. I opted to enjoy my room to the max. They came back disappointed as they didn’t see much. The cable car ticket only allowed them to the top where they needed a separate ticket to go anywhere. I had enough of views and monasteries so I had declined their invite to explore; just as well!
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- Kangding by day.
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- Kangding by day.
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- Kangding by day.
We went out to the square in the evening where local were dancing to Tibetan music. People (largely women) of all ages participated. The young ones were in their hip gear while the oldies in their everyday traditional garb. I got a very contemporary and progressive Tibetan vibe from west Sichuan. It was something I never got from Lhasa 13 years ago where it felt run (or overrun) by Han Chinese. Here, Tibetans run their own businesses and seem like the minorities in other areas such as Yunnan. Sadly, all three Tibetan families I’ve stayed with speak Mandarin or Sichuanese amongst themselves. That seems wrong when Chinese don’t even speak Mandarin at home but their own dialect.
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- Locals, young and old come out to dance to Tibetan music in Kangding’s square at night. Young ones in hip gear and oldies in the everyday traditional garb.
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- Locals, young and old come out to dance to Tibetan music in Kangding’s square at night. Young ones in hip gear and oldies in the everyday traditional garb.
As two of the Swiss were unwell, we had dinner at Dico’s which is like a Chinese version of McDonald’s. It was surprisingly good but small. The chicken burger bun was more like a deli roll than a soft McDonald’s bun and that surprised me as Asian bread is usually soft and sweet.