5-20-2019 Lulang-Shannan
On the sixth day, I left the Cangjue Family Hotel in Lulang, Nyingchi, and went around to Shannan City on the bank of the Yarlung Zangbo River, where I ate The first Tibetan yak meal
In Tashigang Village, Lulang Town, Nyingchi, I went to the living room of Cangjue’s family to have breakfast, including white porridge and eggs. She was baking dough cakes by the stove. I saw her using a knife to smear butter on her pancakes, so I followed her example and smeared them on, and ate them, and it tasted really good. Pai lives upstairs in Cangjue and is not up yet. Cang Jue said he heard him talking on the phone upstairs last night, talking and laughing, and went to bed very late. We told Pai, who said he heard a family downstairs talking and laughing late at night. It seems that Tibetan houses are really not soundproofed.
It’s time to leave Lulang, and I’m a little reluctant to leave. I like how clean, orderly and unique the place is. This is all due to the hard work and wisdom of the owners, and this is based on their cultural beliefs. In addition, I would also like to thank the country for building roads here, giving them the opportunity to get rich, and also giving us the opportunity to get to know them conveniently. Regardless of the nation, isn’t it the most universal value to be able to pursue personal happiness in a clear and stable environment? I kind of want to stay and watch the four seasons. Later, I heard Wang Yang complaining that some aspects of the deluxe standard room at Cangjue's house were not up to standard. For example, there was no toilet paper in the bathroom, and the TV couldn't be watched for some reason. In any case, my personal experience is very good, and I still want to advertise her home, Linzhi Cangjue Family Hotel.
Continuing westward along 318, we climbed up not long after we passed through the forest sea. The light rain turned into drifting snow, and the wind picked up. Soon we arrived at the Sejila Pass with an altitude of 4559 meters. The sky was cloudy, so naturally we couldn’t see Namjagbarwa Peak in the Himalayas.
After Ranwu and Lulang, I didn’t seem to have much expectations for the beautiful scenery. Passing by Linzhi City, we took a section of the highway and then passed through a county road to Shannan City. The Shannan area is one of the birthplaces of Tibetan civilization. There were gathering human tribes living in groups along the Yalong River tens of thousands of years ago. Continuously developing in the long history, in the 7th century AD, Songtsen Gampo, the 33rd generation Zampu (King of Tibet) of the semi-agrarian and semi-nomadic tribe here, unified the entire Tibet, established the Tubo Dynasty, and moved the capital to what is now Lhasa. Thus began the official history of Tibet. Shannan has the legendary first piece of cultivated land in Tibet ("Sotang" in Zedangsare Village), the first palace (Yumbula Kang) and the first temple (Samye Monastery), as well as the temples of previous Tibetan kings. tomb.
However, archeology in recent years has shown that before the Tubo Dynasty, the Shangshung Dynasty, which originated from the Ngari region in western Tibet, once covered a large area of ??Tibetan areas and had a powerful military and brilliant civilization. At that time, the Shannan tribe was just a A vassal of the Shang Shung Dynasty. All aspects of modern Tibetan life and customs also show the characteristics of the ancient Zhangzhong culture, such as walking around the holy mountains and holy lakes, kowtow, pushing Niima piles, hanging prayer flags, dancing pot dance, etc.
Shannan City is located on the bank of the Brahmaputra River. The river is clear and the river is wide and calm. There are dark green and light green trees on the sandbanks, tall or short, and the dense and dense musical notes form the valley. rich melody. This is the first prefecture-level city we stayed in when we entered the Tibet Autonomous Region (National Highway 318 did not pass through Linzhi City, so we just took a look at it from a distance). Shannan City is a small urban area, with only two main east-west roads. The shops along the street sell some daily necessities and local specialties commonly used by Tibetans, including many religious items, such as butter lamp bowls, offerings and decorations for Buddhist niches, etc. The prints of various cotton fabrics in the cloth shop are very different from those in the mainland, and they are quite ethnic. If it weren't for the fear of adding weight to my luggage, I would have brought some back. When I came back after dinner, the cloth shop was closed, which saved me the trouble.
In Shannan City, I stayed in a three-person room at the Secret Garden Inn, priced at 44 yuan per bed. There was already a girl living in the room, and she greeted me enthusiastically with snacks. She had just completed a work project nearby and came to Shannan City to take a break. She is a Hubei native whose family is in Hunan, and her boyfriend is a civil servant in Sangri County, Shannan. Let's go out for dinner together? OK. She said that a client took her to a unique Tibetan restaurant two days ago and asked me if I was interested. Of course! So she started asking for the name and address of the restaurant on WeChat. We walked down the street and walked around. She has short chin-length hair, a face full of collagen, fair skin, and is more than half a head taller than me. She has a big frame, a slightly muscular but very well-proportioned figure, slender legs, and her mannerisms are a bit like my sister-in-law from Hubei. There are quite a few tall girls from Hubei. Her friends didn't reply or didn't remember the Tibetan restaurant she was referring to, so we decided to just find a random place to eat. As we walked, she said it seemed to be here, and she led me into an alley, and I actually found it - the Zang Restaurant in the hometown of our ancestors! The main entrance is in an inconspicuous alley, and there is a row of prayer wheels opposite the door. In fact, the signboard of this restaurant can also be seen on the second floor along the street.
As she said, the interior was decorated like a museum, with many antique utensils on display. There are vivid story-telling reliefs on the surrounding walls, describing the encounter between Tibetan ancestor Rosanu and the sacred monkey in the mountains and forests. There is also a sheep specimen next to it. In Shannan legends, humans are the descendants of the divine monkey and the female Rosa. I dare not say how beautiful these furnishings are. They are certainly not aesthetic in style, but there are also meticulous intentions in them. The whole thing is a little clumsy but solemn and real, without any exaggeration or pretense.
There is a small stage in the restaurant, and it is said that there will be a song and dance performance starting at 8 o'clock.
We sat down and ordered hand-picked yak meat, mushrooms and rapeseed, highland barley fruits, a pot of milk tea and a ginseng fruit yogurt. While eating, we talked about yoga and spiritual practice. She recommended to me the official account of Isha Yoga and said that she would go to India to volunteer at the Isha Center at the end of May. I also practice yoga as aerobics, but I feel that many so-called spiritual classes are just a pastime for rich and idle people. She said that Isha is different in that it is a service mainly organized by volunteers, aiming to promote the spirit of yoga to the world and teach a lifestyle of controlling one's life from the inside out. She said that she did not go to college and started working very early. She had made and lost money in business. Now she had a small income and wanted to live a simple and leisurely life. She planned to buy a yard in Sangri County and engage in organic farming.
I curiously asked her whether the environment here is conducive to the education of children in the future? She said that neither she nor her boyfriend planned to have children, and the purpose of spiritual practice was to be liberated from the world, so why would she create someone to stay here. I don’t plan to have children either because I am not brave enough and I am worried that I am not capable enough to be responsible. Life can have different practices and different missions. Both she and I are relatively sensitive and do not dare to have too much confidence in the current social situation. We do not want our children to face the current education system or live in an environment where industrial pollution is pervasive. Maybe we are all people of little faith. She is only 28 years old and has many possibilities in life. When she heard that I was going to Lhasa tomorrow, she suggested that I stay near the Jokhang Temple on Barkhor Street. It is lively during the day but quiet at night, and there are many interesting places within walking distance.
The hand-caught yak meat is super delicious! It also comes with roasted baby potatoes, like exquisite Western food, and the taste is not bad at all. The highland barley fruit is not very crispy, probably because of the ingredients. We both had ginseng fruit yogurt. Although it had added sugar, it was still a bit sour. We finished all the dishes and were just full. The singers and dancers appeared, and they turned out to be aunt and uncle. The music accompaniment started playing, and they started to sing and tap their feet. The guests eating below seemed to appreciate their careful performance, and they burst into applause from time to time. In the Mainland, if it’s not a handsome man or a beautiful woman, probably no one will look at it. It was still dark outside, so we strolled to a small square in the city, where men, women, and children were dancing in a circle, a Tibetan tap dance. The two of us imitated the dance steps nearby. Several old Tibetan ladies looked at us and laughed. .