When is the best time to play in Bangda grassland?

The best time for Bangda grassland: near Bangda airport in Qamdo area, you can go all year round. Other places are located in alpine valleys. From June 165438+ 10 to March of the following year, most places are closed by heavy snow, while there are many mudslides and landslides in the rainy season in July and August, so May, June and March are the golden seasons for traveling to Changdu.

The ancient tea-horse road left Zuogong, passed Tian Tuo, which is famous for its many beautiful women, crossed the Yujiang River Valley, and suddenly got lost in the vast Bangda grass dam. It is a vast undulating and vigorous Yuan Ye. Tibetans call this Yuan Ye Bangda. How big is the Bunda grassland? Up to now, I'm afraid no one can tell, because it spans five or six counties, and many places have been completely deserted. It is said that it is so big that even birds can't fly off its edge. The caravan called it a 500-mile-long grass dam.

This is a charming and frightening prairie with an average elevation of over 4200 meters. In summer, there are swamps everywhere on the grassland, and there are melted water and rain from the snow-capped mountains everywhere. It pours when it doesn't rain on the plateau. It's dark and sometimes it hails. Melting water and rain from the snow-capped mountains slowly converge into countless streams and finally flow into the Jade Song. This scene is like a ribbon fluttering on the boundless grassland. At the far end of the horizon, there are gentle and changeable hills. When we return from Lhasa in autumn, the grass dam is often covered with heavy snow. The endless Yuan Ye seems lifeless, and even crows everywhere hide their shadows.

Sometimes looking back, in a vast and silent white wilderness, the caravan is just a string of small black spots. They move slowly like a group of ants, as if carrying something much heavier than themselves back to their homes. The huge snowfield has formed a peculiar natural landscape, which highlights the courage and perseverance of the caravan in taking risks.

There is only a small village called Bangda and a Lama Temple in this big grass dam. Because it is located in the middle of Yunnan-Tibet and Sichuan-Tibet highways, some firms have set up a little here, and sent people to live and guard, responsible for handing over the goods and looking for yaks to put their feet down. Now a military station and a traffic station have been built at the intersection, which is several miles away from Bonda Township. There are also military families and snack bars opened by Sichuanese at the intersection. The houses there are covered with iron sheets, and the front and back of the houses are full of beer bottles and rusty military cans. There are also some nomadic herders on the grassland, each with a yak felt tent, scattered in places with rich water plants. Someone passing by waved and shouted at a distance. It was nothing but loneliness. Their Tibetan mastiff chained to the tent growled.

The state reaches the direction of thirty or forty kilometers in Qamdo, while vilen is more tolerant. During India's war against China in the 1960s, the PLA built a military airport here, and a dozen soldiers gave their lives for it. 1993 When passing by here, it was raining and I walked around their monument. After years of wind, frost, rain, snow and sunshine erosion on the plateau, this monument has become very old, as old as a lost myth. It stood there, looking at the endless runway of the airport, looking at the endless wet wasteland, and the runway was brightly exposed on the Yuan Ye, feeling strange.

At that time, Bonda Airport was being expanded. Soldiers, migrant workers, vehicles, and the sound of blasting make this deserted land full of vitality after years of silence. Later, I read in the newspaper that Bangda Airport was open to traffic, which was a great event. The altitude of Bonda Airport is much higher than that of Bilasa Airport. I think it may be the highest airport in China. I want to know how the traffic is. The caravan trudging on the ancient tea-horse road probably didn't expect that there would be a modern airport on that wasteland.

Despite the airport, Bangda Yuanye is still desolate, and even on summer nights, the temperature there seems to be able to freeze bone marrow into ice. Black clouds cling to the grassland, fog and steam evaporate, and the evil wind is miserable. Far away, from time to time pulled out two lightning, pitifully small. At that time, in this wasteland, the only hot air was exhaled by the caravan. In the past, the road to Tibet was divided into three roads to Bangda, all the way to Changdu, Leiwuqi and Naqu. The caravan was customarily called Dabei Road. Starting from Linzhi, you can go north to Gongbu Jiangda, or south to Yarlung Zangbo River Valley, and then go to Lhasa via Chacha, Zedang, Gongga and Qushui. 1923, Davinier, a 55-year-old famous French Tibetan scholar and explorer, accompanied by his adopted son Lama Yongdeng, set foot on this road from Yunnan and finally entered Lhasa.

Even, there is a road that starts directly from Zalaite Banner in Yuquan Valley, not going north to Bangda Grassland, but going west through Ranwu and Bomi in southern Tibet to Gongbujiangda and Lhasa. This is of course the shortest straight line. But it is said that this road is extremely difficult and dangerous, and the caravan can't pass at all, so no one dares to walk. However, some people must have gone this way. According to Davinier's description in her Adventures of a Parisian Woman in Lhasa, they met many pilgrims after entering the Palong Zangbo Canyon. Some of these pilgrims came from southern Tibet, and they can reach Ranwu and Bomi as long as they cross Boshula Ridge. Zhao Yingxian also remembers that Bomi's musk is the best. Palong Zangbo is flanked by ancient virgin forests. This road is particularly dangerous, sparsely populated and haunted by wild animals. At that time, few people dared to take this road, and the caravan hardly took this road. Now the southern Sichuan-Tibet line passes through this line, but it is washed away by mudslides every year, making it impassable. It is precisely because of its dangers that the scenery in that area is magnificent, and it is no exaggeration to describe it as a fairyland on earth. 1989 when I walked that road, I was shocked by the beauty I had never seen before. The mountains on both sides of Palong Zangbo are completely covered by virgin forests, and the river is black and oily, as if it had solidified. Silent, heavy and cool undercurrent makes people afraid. There are plenty of big trees in the forest that can only be hugged by a few people. The bushes under the trees are cold and damp, and there are countless snakes lurking. You can hear them sticking out their tongues. From time to time, some beautiful and charming birds pass by the water, and their songs are the real nature. The third road goes directly from Bangda to the west, that is, the long and vast Bangda grassland (called Changcaoba or 500-mile-long post by caravan), which extends all the way through Guo Qing until it reaches the foot of Mobola Pass at an altitude of 4,800 meters. Of course, later I found the altitude. It is said that the mountain pass is not difficult to walk, and the horse driver who is in good health can jump like a monkey at the mountain pass.

The caravan that entered Tibet from Sichuan came out from Kangding, operated Tangjia and Batang, and crossed Chaya (Tibetans generally think that Chaya people are rough and wild), or from Daofu, Luhuo, Ganzi and Dege, and then to Qamdo (formerly known as Chamudo). Most of them didn't take the Dabei Line, but went to Wahezhai or Enda, joined the Yunnan-Tibet Road and went from Jiayu. This is the traditional official road. When we arrived at Changcaoba in Bangda, the population became less and less. Except for a few dark herdsmen's tents, caravans often face a barren wilderness, and they can only pick up fuel by cow dung along the way.

At that time, there were many animals and wild animals in the wilderness of Tibet, especially the Bangda grassland. Groups of Tibetan antelopes can often be seen on the vast grassland. They have long, sharp black horns. The dogs led by the caravan are all excited to see them. As soon as they shouted, they were thrown out. The frightened antelope jumped over the caravan and escaped. The speed is amazing, and the dog can't catch up at all. Half a century later, I walked through that area many times, but I couldn't see the shadow of Tibetan antelope at all. They are likely to be hunted to death. There are still a certain number of Tibetan antelopes in northern Tibet, and suddenly it is popular in the western world to wear clothes made of Tibetan antelopes. The price of Tibetan antelope is more expensive than gold at once, so Tibetan antelope is miserable and hunted, although it has already become a national protected animal. Therefore, talents are the most ferocious animals on the earth, and their endless greedy demand has led to the extinction of many creatures and the sharp deterioration of the earth's ecology. In addition to the terrible wolves, Bangda also has beasts such as bears and leopards.

On some quiet nights, the caravan can hear the earth-shattering roar, and experienced people will know that it is the cry of the tiger who came to the river to drink water after a full meal. Although the caravans all carry guns, they all know that this may not work. If wild animals such as bears and leopards can't be killed with one shot, they will pounce desperately, which is terrible. It is said that even if they can't fight hard at that time, they will remember to attack their enemies afterwards and then wait for revenge. Beasts have their own rules. Poor mules and horses tremble with fear at the smell of leopards or old bears. Therefore, caravans never shoot at those wild animals easily, although they often see leopards and bears.

Zhao Yingxian has seen tigers several times. But one thing, as long as they don't provoke these beasts, they generally don't take the initiative to provoke the caravan. But no one can guarantee that there will be no exceptions. In those years when Zhao Yingxian walked on the Tibetan grassland, there was a Tibetan girl running in the column, whose name Zhao Yingxian couldn't remember clearly. That's an unfortunate guy. He tried to catch horses on the ancient tea-horse road, and his ideal was to have his own mule one day. This reminds me of the story of Camel Xiangzi written by Mr. Lao She. His fate is similar to that of Xiangzi the camel. He is a very capable bag, and he can catch 12 mules and horses every time. Because of his outstanding performance, his boss specially rewarded him with a mule. Only in this way can this girl be happy. He finally got his own mule. Although there is only one, with the first one, there will be a second one. One day, he may become the head of his caravan.

Zhao Yingxian carries this bag with him. He took his mule and set foot on the snowy mountain grassland again. There is a rule in the caravan on the front line of Yunnan and Tibet: you can help the big businessmen catch up with the caravan, or you can put the mules given by the owner in the caravan and spend all the forage in the caravan. If you ship the owner's goods, you can get a freight. If you bring your own goods, all the money you earn is yours. At the same time, clues should also catch other horses and earn a salary. This is the concern of business owners for coachmen. These bosses themselves developed in this way. In their words, if you want to find money yourself, you should also let others find money. Businessmen and horse pot heads on the ancient tea-horse road generally have such tolerance.

But the girl with her own mule is not so lucky. One day, they came to a place called Bucket Lane in Bangda and camped as usual. As usual, the girls shot at random before going to bed to scare away the wild animals. However, something strange happened that night: a leopard broke into the caravan camp and silently killed a mule, which happened to be the only one in the bag. Of the forty or fifty mules and horses, the damn leopard only chose the damn mule with the bag, which can only be said to be unlucky. This may not be bad luck for mules, but it may be a relief-from endless hard work.

The mule was bitten and left there, but the leopard didn't eat it. That's not because it's not hungry, but the leopard likes to eat bad meat, and it won't turn around and have a good meal until the mule stinks. The next morning, when she saw the body of her mule, the girl wept bitterly, just like Xiangzi's car was taken away by soldiers. At that time, a good mule was worth 120 silver. The girl worked hard for many years and finally got a mule of her own, but she was killed by a leopard. This is probably fate? Later, the girl had to hand over her goods to others to help carry them, and she had to continue to take his caravan road. Zhao Yingxian can't know whether he will have his own mule in the future.

It used to be common to see leopards on the ancient tea-horse road, but there were more old bears. They generally dare not provoke the caravan, because the caravan is armed, and they have to burn bonfires at night and fight a few times before going to bed. But meat can't be released or killed in the camp, otherwise those wild animals will rush in at all costs when they smell a little fishy smell. It is said that the caravan walking in the jungle of southern Yunnan has another trick. Sprinkle a handful of Amomum tsao-ko and star anise in the bonfire before going to bed, so that no wild animals dare to come near. In addition to wild animals, there were wild yaks and wild horses on the grassland at that time. On the barren grassland, they used to be the masters there. There are places like Daniugou and Yematan. Now, except for some Tibetan antelopes, antelopes and Tibetan pheasants, wild yaks and wild horses are almost extinct.

Hunting is forbidden on the holy mountain in Tibet, but the caravan of Han and Naxi nationalities is not among them and is not under their control. There are many wild animals in Tibet, such as snow chickens, silver pheasants, rock sheep, rabbits and marmots. Zhao Yingxian and others can secretly attack Tibetans without letting them know. Calling can improve a meal. Because Tibetans believe in Buddhism and don't kill casually, they don't talk about hunting. If they secretly kill any animals themselves, it is a very terrible thing, and the toast, chief or living Buddha will severely punish them. Even if they see a little toast, a chief and a Lama, they can't even lift their heads. That system is cruel. Ma Guotou in Yunnan can be on an equal footing with these chiefs. They can also leave their things lying around. When the weather is hot, they will take off Chuba and throw stones at the roadside. No one will move. Even valuable things, such as bags, can be left at will, and no one will touch them. On that magical plateau, the caravan not only witnessed all kinds of cruel systems in Tibetan society, but also witnessed the kindness and beauty of the vast number of Tibetan people, as well as all kinds of misfortunes they suffered, and also saw many strange and incredible things.

It is worth mentioning that the caravan on the Tibetan grassland has no food to eat as soon as it is on the road. In a place like Bonda, there are only weeds. Most parts of Tibet are too high and too cold to grow vegetables, and Tibetans have no habit of growing vegetables. Besides, most of the time I walk in a deserted place. Where can I find vegetables? Zhao Yingxian and others once brought some cabbages, radishes and pumpkin seeds from Lijiang and planted them in fish. When we went there 50 years later, we all ate vegetables in the villages along the Yujiang River, including cabbage, pumpkin, potatoes and even green peppers. I wonder if it's the caravan. However, when Zhao Yingxian and others walked the Tibetan grassland, there were a lot of wild vegetables on the ancient tea-horse road. Entering Tibet from Yunnan, there are all kinds of wild vegetables everywhere. Horse drivers sometimes pick while walking, and at night, when bamboo shoots are opened, there will be delicious wild vegetables to eat. If it is buttered tea and Ciba every day, it will be difficult for Lijiang people who usually pay attention to eating vegetables. Thanks to those wild vegetables. They provide a lot of vitamins and rare delicacies for the groom.

Before arriving in Bangda, wild onions and leeks were everywhere, thinner than those grown at home, and mules and horses could eat at will. The most delicious wild vegetables may be fresh bamboo leaf vegetables, which are bitter, cold and sweet. Bacon is the best. It is named because it looks like tender bamboo. This thing will only grow in high-altitude wetlands. There is also a wild fruit called Sciabarra on the plateau, which is a thorny shrub with many fruits and branches like some small lanterns. The ripe fruit is a small red lantern. But it doesn't eat much, only a little meat under the skin, and then a core almost as big as a fruit. That year, we walked on the road, put it away in our pockets when we were hungry, and then kept eating one by one, and ate something if we could. Mature Sciabarra is red and purple, very sweet, with rustling meat and full of noodles. There were many wild peaches along the way, but they were all too small to eat.

When summer is over, there are all kinds of mushrooms in grasslands and forests. Zhao Yingxian, of course, they know what to eat and what not to eat. This is taught by the caravan to each other. There are also very popular and expensive Tricholoma matsutake, a nest of bacteria and so on. The kind they often eat is white and tender. Because Lijiang has no name, it is called tremella. Tastes the best. A little beyond the ridge, there is a place called Moumen by the Nujiang River, which is actually the place where grapes are produced. Sweet grapes are as big as your fingertips and delicious. When Zhao Yingxian lived in Bangda, he once went there to buy wine brewed by Tibetans there for the New Year. That is a big village with hundreds of families. There is also the best and most decent wool called Momenlava. Lava means woolen cloth, which is completely hand-woven. This is the best. It is very famous in Lijiang. Where Lijiang people go to be guests, it is better to bring a little Momen lava as a gift. It's best to make a vest for others. Naxi women like it best.

Wool is very fine, just like fine wool now. It's terrible that they will do this. Years later, Mr. Zhao is still full of praise. At that time, many families made wooden door lava, which was usually made by women. The good wool in Moumen is related to the local sheep. Their wool is the best. Cashmere is longer and thinner than cotton. Women take an ingot from morning till night, then weave it into cloth, and finally dye it themselves. It is the favorite purple of Tibetans. Most lamas also wear purple robes. Zhao Yingxian's most common hunting prey is snow chicken, whose scientific name is Tibetan horse chicken, and now it is a national protected animal. They usually move in groups of twenty or thirty, foraging together during the day and roosting together at night, but an experienced old chicken will stay up late and be responsible for keeping watch for the chickens. As soon as there is any movement, it will call the police. Snow chicken is stupid, can't fly high, can't fly far, is beautiful, eye-catching and delicious, and naturally becomes the object of people's hunting. Other hunting objects are silver pheasants, which are a little big and quack, but the meat is a little sour. And rabbits and roe deer.

Sometimes when we can't get any game, horse drivers dig marmot holes, so we can often find an amazing number of grass seeds and a plant root called Yanshouguo. Life-prolonging fruit is smaller than peanuts and grows underground like peanuts. Actually, it's the roots of plants, which are purple and some are long. It is the most delicious wild fruit on the ancient tea-horse road and has a very good name. They can often be seen on the grassland, so people can pick them and eat them. If you mix it with ghee, it will taste better with some sugar.

Deqin people love to eat this kind of wild fruit. The caravan occasionally brings a little back to Lijiang, and everyone likes it very much. It is another precious gift for friends and relatives. Whether in Tibet or back from Tibet, caravans never lack all kinds of strange things. They brought all kinds of things that are nowhere, which greatly broadened people's horizons and promoted various exchanges. Zhao Yingxian saw a strange phenomenon on the ancient tea-horse road: there is a bird and a mouse living in the same nest in Tibet, and they are very loyal to each other. It's cold, and birds will carry mice to bask in the sun. When it doesn't eat, the mouse will share the picked fruit with the bird. I still think Mr. Zhao Lao is the most honest person I have ever met. In the caravan story he told me, I never found him mixed with water. He is not the kind of person with rich imagination, let alone the kind of guy who can make things up.

Sometimes I complain that his stories are too dry and literary. But after listening to the story of birds and mice in the same cave, land and air animals joined hands, I couldn't help but stare big eyes, but the old man assured me that what he saw with his own eyes was by no means an illusion. Horse drivers on the ancient tea-horse road all know about it. Of course I haven't seen it. I can only say that on that plateau, maybe everything is possible, and any strange natural phenomenon may exist, just as there are many strange cultural phenomena there. In fact, animals, like people, have to change their living habits to adapt to the environment in order to survive. There is not even a branch on that vast grassland. Where can birds nest? And they can't make holes, so they have to go down to the mouse hole as a nest. As for how they can get the consent of mice, live in peace and help each other, it is only for zoologists to study.