Urban Crawl 4

White Pagoda Park

The next day I decided to check out the massive White Pagoda park complex across the river.

Dumpling brekky

I joined the throngs, and headed across the Zhongshan Bridge

It was cloudy, but not rainy, thankfully.

Reader quiz:

The next two pics were taken from roughly the same spot.

Q: Which way is the river flowing?

A: Right to left. The wake heading upstream is gonna be a lot longer and rougher than when heading downstream.

Was that too obvious?

Up I went.

The area is beautiful, basically a forest and gardens dotted with gorgeous temples, gateways, shrines, and quaint natural spots to sit and hang out.

And of course, there were lots of views

The white pagoda

The spring blossoms are still beautiful up here in the north. Down in Yunnan many of the trees are already bursting with fresh green leaves, and have lost their flowers.

This ancient drum was a gift from an Indian prince in the 1700s. The original drum was made from elephant skin.

Chinese writing is so beautifully flowery and philosophical. And it's everywhere. Places are often described in terms of how you might feel being there, rather than just giving factual information about the place. Public signs marking important sites have the same vibe everywhere.

I felt the spring, they were right about that one.

The Baitreya pavilion, a massive building and grounds containing hundreds of historical steles (stone tablets describing historical events), towers in the distance.

When in Rome. After the long walk in the hills I sat and pondered life, right here by the river, with this delicious tea. It was the best ever place to hang out.

I pretty much got through the whole thermos of hot water. The tea remained flavoursome throughout. Note the patchy jeans, I finally replaced my other home-made patchy jeans that sadly went missing in India, after Milena had so lovingly and creatively stitched them. I replaced them with more patchy jeans from the night market here.

I basically had nothing else to wear, as all my luggage is stored.

Satays are big here, and this selection, with a healthy number of veg options, was good.

Fall in Spring

As it turns out, Bewdy didn't arrive on time, and, when she finally did, I made the snap decision to leave her, and almost all of my luggage, at the freight company for a few days, as it wasn't an option to store stuff at my hotel. There was absolutely no space inside there even for guests, let alone for an extra bike and panniers.

To A Freezing Wonderland

You see, the main reason I journeyed to Lanzhou was to visit one of the most important Tibetan monasteries in the world, Labrang, a few hours away by bus, and at a much higher altitude.

I read about this sacred place decades ago, and saw incredible pics of monks and devout pilgrims bowing and prostrating, and lighting yak butter lamps, in ancient temples set in a barren hilly moonscape. I've always wanted to see it with my very own third eye.

And I'm so excited that now, finally, I can do it.

There's something incredibly beautiful about fulfilling your own dreams, especially ones you've had for such a long time.

I feel so lucky, and I'm so grateful that I always seem to somehow have the motivation to make things like that happen, if I can.

I'm also ever conscious of the movement of time, and my current windows of opportunity.

Yeah, time's a-tickin.'

If not now, when?❤️

http://buymeacoffee.com/krolesh9