Thorn Tree travel forum

1

Me and a friend joined a couple on a 4WD trip from Zhongdian to Feilaisi, then to Meilixueshan's glacier (Mingyong) late last year. The HK couple did the negotiations with the driver and we paid only a couple of hundred RMB each for the trip. It would be cheaper to get to Deqin and then organise transport, or even to use public transport. There are medium buses and miny vans that do the route. Vans will even come get you from the hot springs at the start of the hike to Yubeng.

It's a great trip, highly recommended. There are several hotels and hostels in Feilisi, all along the same short strip of road. It's easy to just arrive and have a quick look at a couple of places. Sunrise was gorgeous.

2

Zhongdian in itself is not that nice as a city - unless you have a special interest in these kind of places I'd say Xiahe etc. is enough. Also I note in your other posts that your travel companions might not appreciate the more touristic places. Returning to Zhongdian this summer after not having been for a couple of years I was surprised to find a new 'old city'. They've done a good job, for sure, but it is just like Lijiang. Apparently it was designed by the American guy who desgined Xintiandi in Shanghai (!).

I also have to say i was not that impressed by Deqin & Feilaisi - though when i was there cloud suddelny descended so we could not actually see the mountain.

One place I could relly recommend is a place called Cizhong, along the Lancang Jiang. A friend and I trekked in Nujiang and that was the finishing point before we headed to deqin for onward tranport. It is a couple of hours from Deqin along steep roads of stunning mountain scenery. Cizhong itself is a peaceful Tibetan town, not much going on but interesting - it has a brautiful and bizarre catholic church in the middle of it - lots of locals in this part are Catholics thanks to French Miisionaries visiting this area in the 19th(?) century. There are busses from Deqin, or you can negotiate a car of there's a few of you.

3

Reagrding the second part of your question, I think that Deqin to Feiliai si is about 30 kuai by cab - might be a bit less. Also, I seem to remember being quoted 400 from Deqin to Zhongdian - though again, i might be a bit off. Loads of busses.

4

P.S. Zhongdian is not really unmissable. Take it or leave it, given the travel you've done. It's one of those places that grows on you, can be fun to lounge around in with some good mates, but not really a must see destination. I've stayed at a few places there, Harmony Guesthouse is my pick of the lot for their cosy downstairs lounge with a big wood heater in the middle, friendly staff and adorable dog. There is good Indian and Tibetan food around town. Try the "old" town (newly rebuilt...) for Indian, the edges of the new town for Tibetan. Warm sweet yak cheese with home made bread... mmmm....

5

I've been to both Xining and Zhongdian but not to Xiahe. Zhongdians main claim to fame is the nearby monastery and in all my ignorance I find all these Tibetan monasteries very much the same . Otherwise, Zhongdian itself is pretty tacky but it still has some charm...
Ta'er Si nearby Xining was as I recall more impressive. Still, it's only an opinion.

6

Ah 4, ya, Harmony GH, very good!!!

7

Might as well just rent a vehicle all the way to Feilaisi. A friend booked a little van (mianbao che) from ZD to Xidang Hot Springs. I don't remember what she paid but it was pretty low. There were plenty of drivers outside of the bus station looking for work so shop around.

8

We got a fabulous sunset at Feili Si but the sunrise just wasnt there due to low cloud. Seems a bit hit and miss.
Feili Si has a public toilet with a fabulous sign:-
Lavatory of Environmental Protection of the Travel.

"The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat."

9

it depends on what your interests are

if you want a newly opened touristic spot exspecially inchinese taste zhongdian - shangri-la is a must
if you are interested in tibetan culture and monestaries just skip it tongren would be a must then

of course meili is nice but the view and walk abouts of amye manchen i think are better it would be half way between Xining and Yukendo
there are plenty of pilgrims and almost no infrastructure

10

Apart from the monastery on the outskirts Zhongdian was not really interesting, being turned quickly into a tourist theme park while lacking the charm of Lijiang. I found Xiahe much better.

I haven't been to Deqin and Feilai Si but immagine it can be great. Instead went north to Xiancheng and Litang and loved it. A piece of real Tibet! I think however that it can be pretty harsh (or perhaps even unpassable) in January.

11

PS. You can find the details of my route on meczko.blog.onet.pl

12

Xiahe is much more impressive than Zhongdian. Zhongdian is more of a theme park, I guess that's what happens when you baptise yourself Shangri-La?! Xiahe has much more atmosphere. If you end up there, we stayed at a brand new hostel called the Labrang Red Rock, it is run by monks, one who is a famed thangka painter. He raised money to open a thangka painting school and cultural centre to train young monks and locals, one wing of the thangka centre is a lovely youth hostel. No one speaks English, but I think that's ok for you. Monks are incredibly friendly, will give you tours of the thangka centre, and you can watch the young monks training. Beautiful wooden Tibetan building. Ok, there's my plug for the hostel, we really enjoyed our stay there. Intended to spend two days in Xiahe and spent 4.

13

OP, you haven't told us your preferences. What kind of things do you like to see? What's your budget?

"Hang your chemistry and electricity! If you want to make a pile of money, invent something that will enable those Europeans to cut each other's throats with greater facility."

14

Looks like we'll be skipping Zhongdian, except as a transit point. Heck, we'll skip it for sure if we find a bus going directly to Deqin, from Lijiang.

All 3 of us have been to Xiahe; myself and one other have been to Xining and around. We're pretty much "Tibetaned-out", if you could say it that way. It might sound biased, but we're not really keen on any more Tibetan culture/areas other than our future trip to the TAR itself.

And I've also been to Zhongdian once, basically saw EVERYTHING that I ever wanted to see there. If not for the fact that one of my friends is dying to see the Meilixueshan sunrise, Zhongdian wouldn't even be a consideration on our itinerary.

I agree that Xiahe was much more impressive and authentic. Definitely non-touristy, we visited in winter 2005 when there seemed to be absolutely no tourists at all.

Yes, I found Xining's Ta'er Si (Kumbum Monastery) quite impressive when I visited in July this year. Especially awed by the yak butter sculptures (worth every RMB of the ticket money!) and the view from the hill opposite the monastery.

I agree that Zhongdian's new "old town" felt quite like a tourist circus. Was only in there about twice -- once when some touts were trying to persuade us that some other place was the Dukezong Hotel we were looking for; the other when some other travellers wanted to go for the dance in the square. It sounds like it has become even more of a tourist circus than before, I'll keep that in mind.

Lijiang might also be a tourist circus, but it's quainter. And they don't have big Tibetan dogs in the guesthouses, which's a plus for me. I'm sure many people love dogs, but personally I love them best when they're far enough away from me -- eg in a photo book. ;)

On the other hand, apart from the Meilixueshan sunrise, Baishuitai was one of my better memories of the area. Probably because I still haven't seen Huanglong and thus can't compare them.

Still looking for recommendations of places to stay at Feilai Si. The one I ended up at the last time was totally lousy -- no running water and only 1 toilet (no water to flush either) for the entire block. Not sure if we had heating. This time we're going in winter so we want something better! Not expecting 5-star luxury, but just don't want to repeat the bad accommodation experience.

#2: Thanks for the recommendation of Cizhong, I've read about it before but it just didn't come to mind previously. I'll try to get there if we have the time. Although I'm not sure how keen my friends are to travel there just to see a church.

#3: Thanks for the price quote. I think your prices aren't too far off, I think we spent about 600 RMB for a minivan Zhongdian -- Feilai Si round-trip last September. If we can get a bus directly to Deqin from Lijiang I'll be looking to save some money on the vehicle hire!

#7: Sorry, what're the ZD hot springs???

#8: Thanks for the Chinglish! :)

#11: That corner of Sichuan is what I've missed even after 2 visits to Sichuan. Guess it'll have to wait. Thanks very much for the link to your blog, bookmarked for future reference. :)

#12: That sounds like a really nice place to stay! Unfortunately I don't think I'll be going back to Xiahe anytime in the near future. :( Pity!

Cheers!