Zhongdian Favorites

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Favorite thing: Street scenes while walking around the town on early morning: this has been my favourite thing in Zhongdian.
People in local dresses ging to the temple, going to the market, washing clothes, it just appeared as a peaceful mountain town, not as a tourist spot, at least not yet.

Fondest memory: Women meeting together at the fountain near the temple to wash clothes it was so nice to see people living their town, I was even more impressed as in Italy some twon forbid even to eat in the squares or to drink a beer or even, for some events they forbid to dry clothes outside of the balcony because it ruins the image of the city, as if it's something to show to tourists instead of a place to live in.
As a tourist I prefer much more to be able to see how people live instead of an empty clean square where you are only allowed to take pictures.

Fondest memory: It was a bit of rain in the morning. I was the ONLY TOURIST walking on this moist meadow, everybody else was taking a horse ride, except me! This little girl was trying to sell me the horse ride earlier, I rejected her. Half way while I was walking towards the lake, she suddenly appear next to me (where did she walk from? I thought). She asked "Where are you going?" "I wanted to see the lake, and yaks" still concentrated on my footsteps. "There's no road here, over there!" She said, while still walks fast & relax, and she knows where to step to avoid the mud. And a contrast, my shoes was full of dirty mud. Now I noticed I was actually quite far from the horse path walking towards the other side... What a idiot I was!!!

Fondest memory: A few stalls down, I smell something really nice... Guess what? Deep Fried Spicy Potato. After I paid for my One Yuan stick of potato, these boy told me that they actually charge 0.5 Yuan for locals, tourist have to pay double, and if I want to buy drinks I can buy them at 50% off at local price... blablabla... They were actually local gansters, local Tibetan, their parents' food stalls were facing strong competition, that outsiders were opening new business here as number of tourists grown. This shop owner was from SiChuan, that's why they were here to disturb the business.

Fondest memory: Second day morning, 13Sep2003, I took bus #3 to this Tibetan Monestary. Located 5 km away, less than 30 mins by bus from ZhongDian city, this is the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan province, as well as one of the 13 large lamaseries in the KangZang region (the joint area of Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan).

Fondest memory: First thing upon arrival of ZhongDian was to find a place to sleep, was 5pm already. With only a name on hand, that a traveller I met in Kunming gave and recommended me, I asked around and found this Dragon Cloud Guest House. Very sactisfied. Details written in my Accomodation Tips

Fondest memory: Road conditions in Yunnan always unexpected. On the way back from Bai Shui Tai, we had to pass through this running stone river. This van here got stuck, passengers all came down to remove rocks beneath the bus, others like me enjoy watching and taking photos. Luckily, our bus driver was very experience, we successfully drive through in one shot! Hurray!!!

Back to guesthouse, dinner & rest, I would be heading to Deqin tomorrow.

Fondest memory: Finally, I am here!!! YooHoo...... This is SO BEAUTIFUL! 2,380 metres above sea level, mountains, clouds at the back of this yellow terrace, simply breathtaking. Most likely, we were the first group of tourist arriving here, only 4 of us, very quiet & peaceful! The water is cool and clear, there're tiny wires surrounding the terrace so that people cannot walk on it. Instead of white color, the stone was yellow. An old man told me that it will turn to pure white color in winter, while remains yellow in summer / autumn time.

Check out my Travelogue for more photos.

Fondest memory: OK. Here is the second security check on the way up to BaiShui Tai... These kids were playing in a corner. They ran to me immediately when they saw me, asking "Do you want to see Naxi dance?" "Do you want to hear Naxi song?" "I don't have money to go to school, I want to study" Begging for money. There's an American Chinese tourist beside me, he told these kids straightly in a teacher's tone, "Go home to study, do your homework, do not stay here to beg money. What do you think you can do begging money here? No use! You must study, contribute to your country, and give good life to your parents..." It lasted for more than 15 mins until these children could not stand & ran away. Not finished yet, when he walked down from the terrace, he spoke to the street vendors, "Who are these kids parents? Do not ask them to stay here, go home, study, you want them to beg money forever? Go study and serve the country in the future!" I was trying to ignore him as well, I started ask for my opinion, and he'll never finish this topic then.