My Journey to the West of Tibet —— caravan Yong Cuo

It was already more than nine o'clock in the evening when I arrived at Hall Township, Pulan County. Along the 2 19 national highway, you can vaguely see a quiet lake under the dark blue sky, reflecting the bright starry sky-that is, Yongcuo on Mabian. The cold wind is blowing violently, and the snow has begun to fall. At this point, the temperature has dropped below-10 degrees Celsius. In fact, this temperature is very common in Ali with an average altitude of more than 4500 meters. We discussed in the car whether to go directly to Baga under Ganrinpoche or stop at Hall Township. Because this temperature is already frozen for the lake, just like Namco, which was visited more than a month ago, the boundless ice surface is covered with snow, just like coming to a vast snowfield, losing the significance of enjoying the lake in Tibetan areas.

Our schedule was not very tight, so we stopped at Hall Town. Just to gamble, maybe the sun is shining and you have a wish?

There is only one main road in Hall Town, and the biting wind outside the window covers Mense of every household tightly. We turned into Hall Main Road via National Highway 2 19, and we still don't know the name of the road. Not far from the intersection, there is a small shop, the owner's signboard is not eye-catching, as if to tell us that it is closed at this time. I parked my car on the side of the road, and Hong got off and knocked at the door. I didn't see that this is a casserole shop, and the door is very kind, because I saw a word-Yu, the name of the shop is Yu-Wan casserole shop. Unfortunately, the door didn't open, so we continued to turn back to this main road. From beginning to end, we didn't see a dining shop.

We finally found a two-story building similar to a guest house. The owner is Han nationality. Seeing the car coming from the mainland, he was very enthusiastic, holding boiling water and helping to cook noodles. But the noodles here are not cheap, each serving is 30 yuan RMB. We looked at the thin snowflakes falling outside the window and felt that this bowl of noodles was not so expensive.

There is no heating or air conditioning here-there is no heating equipment. The only thing is the old-fashioned hot water bottle and two bottles of boiling water sent by the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper specially told me that this hot water bottle should not be too full, so try to pour out the water when not in use, or try not to put it near the window sill, it will freeze and crack, so the hot water bottle will not be used. I seem to imagine that after the warm breath of the thermos bottle, we are holding a piece of ice and trying to make it melt.

We each brought two thermos bottles, so we waited in our respective rooms all morning. More importantly, we waited for the weather to clear up, because in our trip, besides Gang Rinpoche, there was Ma Bangyong's fault.

Nightmare after nightmare may have a lot to do with altitude, or it may be because the cold wind is raging outside the window. I opened the curtains several times and stared at the dark window. Snowflakes as big as leaves hit the window covered with window grilles, melting, slipping and forming ice. I'm afraid I will stay in this hotel until it clears up tomorrow! Thinking about it, I was a little sleepy, and then I went back to bed.

So back and forth, insomnia.

I checked the weather with my mobile phone the next day-sunny,-15-2℃. But once again, when I opened the curtains and watched the snowflakes falling, I once again suspected that Pulan County mentioned in the weather forecast did not include us, because Pulan County is very large and the Tibetan area is vast. Another thing worth looking forward to is that the weather in Tibetan areas is changeable, and this snow does not seem to be shown in the weather forecast.

At half past seven, it's dawn. The curtains can't cover the light reflected by the snow outside the window. I struggled to get out of bed, wrapped up a thick down jacket, and then I heard Hong's knock at the door. Come and have a look! It's beautiful outside!

I opened the door, picked up my toothbrush and went to the bathroom by the corridor. Hong stopped me and said, don't go, it's freezing. Go to the restaurant on the first floor and wash it. We have already washed it there. I went downstairs in fear, keeping my eyes on the distance. There is nothing to be happy about in the distance except white. At this time, I just remembered that Ah Hong is from Foshan, and he has never seen snow since he was a child, so it is the first time to see it. However, he seems to forget that one of the main goals of our trip is to get rid of Gon Rinpoche.

I washed my face, brushed my teeth and had a simple breakfast.

At the dinner table, the four of us discussed whether to stay here or not, and the result was fifty-fifty. As a "driver", I couldn't insist on staying, but followed Hong to Mabangyongcuo.

Hall township is about five or six kilometers away from the nearest shore of Mabangyong fault, but it is really uncertain whether it can reach the shore of Mabangyong fault smoothly and successfully complete the trip around the lake. But when it comes, it is safe. After dinner, we set off.

At this time, there are still sparse snowflakes.

According to the navigation, you should turn right to an unknown path less than one kilometer from National Highway 2 19 in Hall Township. However, after getting off the 2 19 national highway, except for the direction that navigation can identify, the road under the wheels could not be found, and even yesterday's rut was covered with heavy snow. The wind is still blowing, and the cold inside the car has not gone down. For a period of time, it is necessary to turn on the air conditioner and blow the glass to cool down, keep the temperature consistent with the outside of the glass, and relieve the breath. Turn on the heating later to ensure that the four people in the car will not freeze to death. At this time, a gust of wind blew, and the ice slag hit the window, hood and door, just like the wind and sand all over the sky, and the tiny pebbles slammed violently. We were overwhelmed by what we saw. Hongdao: Why don't we go back and wait until it clears up, so we can't see anything even when we get to the lake. If-

If what? I said.

Although it is cold here, it is a lake after all. What if we don't realize that we have reached the lake, can't see the route clearly, keep driving, meet a swamp or drive into the lake?

The three of us were really shocked by what he said and collectively decided to go back. Fortunately, we just got off the 2 19 national highway, less than a few hundred meters, and it's not too late to come back. So, I tried to turn around, and Ah Hong set the hotel where he stayed yesterday as the destination and began to navigate.

I said, it's only one kilometer. Why use navigation? Hong said that in this weather, nothing can be seen outside the window. What if I turn around and don't go straight to the rear? At this time, Hong seems to be a different person, not the one who just said at the dinner table that he is not a hero of the fox.

The story will eventually become an "accident". In such an early morning trapped by a snowstorm, an "expedition" with only four people is preparing to return. As soon as I turned around, I drove out of the roadbed, with four wheels and two sags. I slowly stepped on the accelerator, trying to reverse the direction, trying to get the car out of this damn whirlpool. But it backfired. Although I tried several times, the car was still difficult to move, just like growing into the sand. In addition to the roaring motor sound and the choking smell of burning rubber tires, it is the cold wind whistling through the window at MINUS ten degrees.

Hong said, let's get off!

I said, wait a minute, they are girls, don't get off the bus yet. Let's go down and have a look, take some road cornerstones from the national highway and pad them up. Maybe we can get the car out. I turned on the fog lights and headlights and told the two ladies that if they heard us shouting, they would try to honk the horn-what if we couldn't find the car?

Hong nodded and we got off.

As soon as I opened the car door, the snow poured into the car like an angry lion. Hong and I have a left front door and a right front door, forming a circle, and the whole cockpit is covered with snow in an instant. Besides, Hong and I have full cuffs, neckline and trouser legs. Even so, we still have to get off!

After I briefly looked at the sinking of the wheel, I went to the front of the car to find Hong.

I made an appointment with Hong to walk hand in hand in front of the car and walk against the wind together.

Strangely, we just got off the bus and just walked out of a few steps when the wind suddenly died down and it snowed a lot. We seem to have entered a "whirlpool" dedicated to welcoming us. When we looked back, the car stopped there quietly. What just happened is like a dream. We looked at each other puzzled. Seeing this, we gave up picking up the cornerstone of the road and looked back at the car being stuck.

The right front wheel and the right rear wheel of the car sank into the soft subgrade together-riding on the side of the road. Hong motioned for you two to get off. Hong and I dug some buffer zones beside the wheels with our bare hands. I got in the car to refuel, and the three of them pushed the cart behind the car. In a few minutes, the car came out and returned to the road that was not so wide.

When I took out the wet wipes, I asked them to clean up the yellow sand and snow on their hands, go back to the car and drink steaming hot water. Music flows out gently like a lullaby.

Wow!

I heard Hong exclaim, and all three of us looked not far away.

At this time, nothing appeared before our eyes except the "God Fox".

The sun hangs on a snowy mountain in the southeast, but we can feel the warmth of the sun before we take care of that unknown hill. For the first time, I can feel what a nursery rhyme said when I was a child-Grandpa Sun coming over.

We can't believe what we saw. Although we had seen the tranquil Erhai Lake, the blue Lugu Lake, the leisurely Yang Zhuo Yongcuo, the jade Peku Cuo and the ice and snow Namco before we came to Ma Bangyong Cuo, of course, we had never seen Ma Bangyong Cuo in front of us.

She is like a mother. Sitting quietly and gently on the plateau at an altitude of more than 4500 meters, the peaks of her children and grandchildren echoed each other, and the white clouds on the lake could not bear to leave. This may be a white cloud that has just been ravaged by a snowstorm, or it may be a white cloud that was scared away by "kind grandfather Sun".

Mabangyongcuo covers an area of 4 12 square kilometers, which means "invincible Jasper Lake" in Tibetan. Tang Xuanzang, a famous monk in the Tang Dynasty, once watched Ma Bangyong Cuo from my perspective in The Tale of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, and called this lake "the West Heaven Yaochi". The lake is also called "the mother of rivers in the world". Why do you say that? Because it originated from four famous long rivers of civilization: Shiquan River (shiquanhe town, the capital of Ali region, is the main source of the Indus River), Satraj River (Xiangquan River), Peacock River (a tributary of Ganges River) and Ma Quan River (also known as Yarlung Zangbo River).

For hundreds of years, even dating back to thousands of years ago, devout Tibetans have endowed Mabangyongcuo Lake with eight merits: sweet, cool, soft, light, clean, tasteless, beneficial to the throat and beneficial to the Dantian. Tibetans also believe that bathing in this lake will be the most glorious and sacred thing in a limited life.

Ma Bangyong spent a week, with different perspectives and different feelings. Looking from the east coast to the west coast, the lake, bluer than the sky, is sometimes rippling in blue waves, sometimes the waves with flowers rolling on the shore, and sometimes it is as quiet as the mirror of the sky-all kinds of birds are playing on the water, reflecting the rubbing white clouds in the sky and the rolling snow-capped mountains in the distance, without any barbaric momentum.

Ma Bangyong measures about 85 kilometers a week. When you visit the lake here, you will often see some devout Tibetan Buddhists walking around the lake like the 3 18 national highway. We were fortunate to meet a young Tibetan named Mima Tsering, who came to worship with his parents. They came all the way from Ganzi Yajiang, went to Lhasa first, and worshipped in Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple for a month. They arrived in Lhasa around March 10, with the goal of holding a commemorative event in Jokhang Temple Square on March 14. They didn't say much to us, so they went on. We left each other a WeChat and agreed that he would travel to the mainland, and I could be his guide. Looking at the distant backs of pious people, the feeling of moving is beyond words, just like a magnificent concert, I can't describe how excited the audience is.

In the early days of Tibet, Ma Bangyong CuO was also called "Ma Tui CuO", a Catholic. The following is Baidu Encyclopedia's introduction to "Catholics":

Bonism (the word "benzene" is a transliteration of Tibetan, and now it is often used as "Benjiao" or "Yongzhong Benjiao"). Yong Zhong Ben Jue is the Tathagata Buddhism spread by Tathagata Fortunately Rao Mitha, also known as the oldest elephant-male Buddhism in Tibet. Before the Tathagata luckily Rao Miwo was born, there were many kinds of "Ben" in Xiangxiong area, such as Shenben, Long Ben, Phantom Ben and Lie Ben. These "Ben" are collectively called "Spaban" and "Primitive Spaban". In order to distinguish it from the original "Spaban", people call the Buddhism preached by Buddha Xing Rao "Yong". We can understand that "Spaben" is the oldest primitive religion and traditional culture in Tibet, and "Yongzhong Benjiao" is the oldest Buddhism in Tibet formed in the area of the ancient Xiangxiong Dynasty, because "Yongzhong Benjiao" has its own perfect Buddhist skills. Yongzhong Benjue originated from the "Gangdise Mountain" in Ali, Tibet, an ancient elephant. It has a history of 18000 years, based on the theories of "fairy rice", "dense rice" and "dzogchen". The splendid and prosperous ancient elephant-male civilization was developed with the spread of "eternal religion" as the main line. Because the ancient Xiangxiong culture has a long and splendid history, it has been included in the scope of world cultural heritage protection.

In addition, according to legend, the bottom of the lake is a place where many exotic treasures gather, so Catholics named it "Mati". Later, Tibetan Buddhism defeated Catholicism, so the original Matoucuo in the mouth of Catholics was renamed as today's Matouyongcuo.

I remember that my brother Ade, whom I met in Shangri-La a few months ago, told me that all roads related to the Tibetan "turn", including Shangri-La Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, were clockwise. Even the White Pagoda (Tibetan prayer tower) in the middle of the road passes through the tower from the left, that is, from the left. Except for Catholics, their way is counterclockwise.

We turned a little clockwise along the lake, and now the temperature has risen enough to take off our gloves and hats. The warm sunshine shines into the car, and the warm sunshine left on the clothes seems to have passed through the magnifying glass. A little carelessness will burn a hole in the clothes.

We walked on, but we were attracted by a pair of cranes by the lake. We are surprised that this angelic bird can be found on such a plateau. Just when we were surprised, several villagers came.

We got off the bus, walked to the lake and followed in their footsteps. They wear typical Tibetan clothes, big, long sleeves, wide waist and right front. The sleeves are the same length, and the robe is longer than the body. Fancy ruffles, sleeves and skirts, fur with silk piping at the bottom of clothes and white satin shirts are more suitable as linings.

About six or seven people, each with a large and small kettle or bottles. I saw them along the way, maybe there was something happy, and they looked like they were dancing briskly. Of course, in our eyes, their lives are normal, but in their eyes, we are simply ordinary people without faith.

They passed by me and I looked into the eyes of a Tibetan brother. He quickly looked away like a girl. He looked back at the burning sun and squinted at us. I waved to him, and he turned around and smiled to show his yellow front teeth.

He greeted us in Tibetan: Tashildler!

We replied with one voice: Tashildler!

He smiled and said, I can speak Chinese. Are you here to go around the lake?

We are very happy to go so deep into Tibetan areas that even Tibetan compatriots wearing such "Tibetan places" speak Chinese. You know, we often have difficulty communicating with local Tibetans along the way, but fortunately, we can stay when we are full, and we can fill our stomachs or complete our stay without explaining our purpose.

During the conversation, I learned that his name is Basang, and he is only 2 1 year old this year. The reason why he is so happy is that his yak has given birth. He invited us to his house for butter tea, but we politely declined. Ah Hong just finished taking photos and trotted over and said, Where can I find butter tea? Let's go for a drink.

Basang walked over and handed a big mineral water bottle and said, then let's get more water together, and that's my home.

We looked in the direction he pointed, and the sun sneaked into the beach from the "gap" in the distant snow-capped mountains. We could vaguely see a "circle" half a person high next to the scattered houses, surrounded by poultry. Basang told us that my parents live here all the year round, and only keep some yaks or Tibetan sheep, not some cats and dogs, so the whole yard will be too quiet. This village is called "Bianzhuoguo", which is the nearest village to Mabangyongcuo. Looking back at the light, there are snowfields everywhere, and only a few pieces of snow on the shorter mountain are shining by the sun.

Most of the villagers who used to live here relied on Ma Bangyong, the "holy lake". Every day when the weather is slightly warmer at noon, they will come to the lake to get water for the whole day. We fetched water with Basang and followed him all the way to his house.

His home is not big, but it looks bright. The main entrance faces the lake, like a courtyard ready to worship. It looks unusually quiet. You can hold your breath and hear the slight wind and surging waves coming from the lake in the distance. Basang told his mother that we are from the mainland, and he invited us to have butter tea at home.

Buttered tea is a unique Tibetan music product. According to legend, there are two tribes in Tibetan areas, the ruling tribe and the angry tribe. The two tribes once forged hatred because of fighting. However, Mei Meicuo, the daughter of the chief in charge of the tribe, fell in love with Wintumba, the son of the Nu chief, in a collective labor. They know the hatred between tribes, but they are helpless. One day, the killer of the chief of the ruling tribe killed Wintunba, the son of the chief of the Nu tribe. When Wentongba's funeral was held, Mei Mei Cuo jumped into the sea of fire to double suicide. After their death, Meimeicuo became a leaf on a local tea tree, while Wentongba became salt in a salt lake in Qiangtang. Whenever Tibetans play with butter tea, tea and salt will meet again.

Basang suddenly asked me that it snowed last night and there was no sign of sunny this morning. The four of you have arrived in Bianzhuoguo at this time. How did you get here?

We told Basang about our morning experience, and Basang was ecstatic. Say, you are so brave. If it doesn't clear up today, you may be trapped here. We were surprised and wanted to hear the details. Basan went on to say that a few days ago, there were also a group of people, two men and three women walking together. That day was even bigger than the snowstorm this morning. Basang said it was the biggest snow I had since I was a child. The heavy snow lasted for nearly a week, and Ma Bangyong CuO had not yet opened the lake, so the family could not even get out of the door. At noon that day, about 1 1 half past half, they vaguely heard the sound of cars whistling in the howling cold wind. Basan and his father stared at the window in amazement, and the window blown by the wind was exposed to the cold wind. Father said, maybe foreign tourists are trapped here. Put on your coat and come with me. Ba San grabbed his coat in a panic and followed his father who had already disappeared in the snow. They shook their hands and shouted as they searched for voices. At this time, the whistle became more and more urgent, and my father slowed down and looked at a full-size off-road vehicle parked in the snow.

This is a large off-road vehicle from Guangdong, with two tires stuck in the snow. The driver seems to have never struggled with brute force, and his father is chanting: there is still salvation.

Several people in the car saw someone coming. The young man sitting in the co-pilot got off first, narrowed his eyes and said, hello! Our car is stuck. Look at the map. There is a village near here, so I tried. ...

Nothing! Father replied, leaning down and saying, I have seen this situation many times. You listen to me. Come here ...

In a few minutes, the car pulled out of the snow, like a beast imprisoned for a long time. As soon as it pulled out of the snow, it screamed.

Five people were taken home by their father and made a cup of buttered tea. Only then did they know that the weather in Yongcuo, Mabian, was very strange, thinking that it might be sunny here, at least it wouldn't snow. I responded with a smile. He is not as lucky as us. As soon as we got off the 2 19 national highway to the fork in the road, the snow stopped. When we look at the lake like a peaceful old man, we don't seem to know that snow will stop us, so we think it's worthwhile to experience anything.

Basang said that this is Ma Bangyong CuO's "opening the lake".

After bidding farewell to Basang, we moved on. We came to the hillside on the south side of the river bank, but found that the lake was not big. I felt that other mountains looked very small under the sky ... just like a "puddle", ridiculously blue.

In the end, we didn't finish a whole lap, as Hong said, and the rest will be rotated next time.

The sun sets in the west from afternoon to afternoon. We drove to the next place-Lake Ranagetso.