24th July 2009
LANGMUSI – JUIZHAIGOU: ON ROUTE TO JUIZHAIGOU
We are currently en route from Langmusi to Juizhaigou, which means crossing from Gansu province in to Sichuan province. We decided to take a private minibus to save time, as the alternative takes 3 different buses to get there, which results in loads of time being wasted as well as an overnight stay in a place we don’t want to go.
We had booked the taxi last night and intended to leave at 9am this morning – but we overslept. We had some lunch and went to see Mahon in the Nomad Youth Hostel. He kindly arranged another taxi for us. We left Langmusi at about 3.30pm for our 5 hour ride. It cost us about £65-70GPB between us for the taxi, which is a bit steep, but by the time we’d factored in the alternative 3 buses, food and overnight accommodation we weren’t really saving much, so we went ‘posh’.
As we were crossing the boarder from one province to another, we were of course stopped by gun toting police. They flagged down our vehicle and demanded to see all our documentation before we could proceed. The police asked us where we had been, where we were going and what hotel we would be staying it. They took our passports and then questioned our driver. After a little waiting, we were allowed to continue.
The driver of the taxi is not the most reliable. He has already almost killed us once, by not paying attention to the road and veering in to a ditch. We are now both too alarmed to go to sleep and are monitoring him and his crazy antics. In addition, there is whining Tibetan music in the background which he periodically joins in with.
Horses and sheep frequently wander on to the road from the grasslands either side. The driver has two general approaches to tackle this: 1. Veer crazily around the animals on to the oncoming traffic or 2. Drive directly at the animals at speed. Both have not been very enjoyable. Slowing down is apparently not an option. Last night we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on my laptop, to drown out the Chinese and what appeared to be their desire to rearrange the furniture in the entire hotel. We have really enjoyed our time in Langmusi, our walks, the rain and our new wellies. However, I didn’t get to see a sky burial, which is very disappointing as I hoped I would – but it was not meant to be… Onwards to Juizhaigou.
danilovescats - travels 