Journey to Western Yunnan: Deqin

D3: Feilai Temple — Yubeng Village

Last night I stayed in a room with a couple who came from Shenzhen. This room had three beds, each at 100 yuan.

Although I had already prepared myself not to see the sun illuminating the golden mountain, when it got noisy outside past seven in the morning, holding onto a sliver of hope, I still quickly jumped up. Without even putting on my jacket, I walked to the guesthouse balcony to check the snow mountain situation. Obviously, as always, disappointment.

The accommodation conditions at Feilai Temple are very poor. All along the way it’s 100 yuan a night, but only Feilai Temple made me feel like I was back at my rural hometown. But that’s not wrong either—Feilai Temple’s administrative name is “Feilai Temple Villager Group, Jushui Village Committee, Shengping Town, Deqin County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.” It’s originally just a small village. Usually not many people come here. Only during National Day do accommodation prices here rise by ten yuan every half hour.

I went to the viewing platform for a walk. The railing area was crowded with tourists who came early to try their luck. But Meili Snow Mountain didn’t give face—the clouds and mist quietly stationed on the mountainside without any courtesy, as if they had never left. I hoped a gust of wind would come from the north and blow away these unreasonable water vapors! Roll them off to sunny Tengchong!

Since the thirteen peaks of Meili rejected me from a thousand miles away, I didn’t stay long. I found a car to go directly to Xidang Hot Springs to hike to Yubeng.

There are two routes to Yubeng: one from Ninong along the Lancang River, and one from Xidang Hot Springs. The minibus from Feilai Temple to Xidang Hot Springs isn’t far—the village is visible from Feilai Temple at a glance. However, the car winds around the mountain for 2 hours, and the fare is 20 yuan. I thought only private car bosses would drive while making phone calls, but I didn’t expect the bus driver to do the same. On the cliffs on both sides of the unfathomably deep Lancang River Grand Canyon, they can steer with one hand while dialing numbers with the other. Besides reverence, I was also nervous. They drive on this road every day, transporting tens of thousands of passengers. May that low-probability event never happen to me.

It started drizzling when entering Yubeng. Luckily, the Shenzhen couple who shared the room with me last night lent me a plastic raincoat. They originally wanted to go to Yubeng too, but afraid there wasn’t enough time, they changed to Mingyong Glacier instead. Seeing I didn’t have rain gear, they gave me theirs. It was a very thin one, but a thousand times better than having none.

The only way to Yubeng is by hiking or riding horses. A considerable portion of tourists get off at Xidang Hot Springs and ride horses straight there. The horses’ path and the hikers’ path are the same road. The muddy surface is mixed with horse urine and horse manure. I told my companions that this road must be great for growing wheat.

I don’t want to elaborate on the hardships along the way. When you’re carrying twenty to thirty pounds of gear on your back, walking for six hours on muddy rainy roads, you’ll experience that kind of hardship where you feel like you’re about to collapse but can only keep going forward. Along the way, you’ll also meet many impressive people—wearing flat shoes, breaking off a tree branch, carrying no gear at all, still going into Yubeng. But later they all fell behind the hikers wearing hiking shoes.

It took me about six hours to reach Upper Yubeng. My clothes were almost completely soaked—half of it was probably sweat. The weather upon arriving at Upper Yubeng was still overcast. The snow mountain peak above showed no trace. Quite boring.

D4: Sacred Waterfall

Also due to time constraints, I gave up the trip to Ice Lake and went to the Sacred Waterfall with a few girls from Guizhou. The Sacred Waterfall is a waterfall formed by snow mountain meltwater. From Lower Yubeng, you can reach it by following the small stream formed by many waterfalls. Both sides of the road are dense primeval forest. Some fallen thick tree trunks are covered with fresh green moss, and some trunks are also dotted with mushrooms of various shapes. I hoped to encounter a living matsutake here, but until I left Deqin, I never saw a single one.

D5: Deqin — Shangri-La

Departed from Yubeng at 7, arrived at Xidang Hot Springs around 12. Paid 25 yuan to get to Feilai Temple, then hitched a ride from Feilai Temple to Shangri-La. The driver who picked us up was a Tibetan uncle. His Mandarin wasn’t good. I sat in the passenger seat. He often muttered for a long time and I couldn’t understand what he was saying. It wasn’t until we passed Baima Snow Mountain that I understood he was chanting: “Baima Snow Mountain &%#@*#&…” Because every time we crossed a pass, he would chant roughly the same content. It must be out of respect for the great mountain, praying for it to protect the safety of everyone in the car.

We arrived in Shangri-La county town around 11 PM. A student from Dali College and I found a standard room in the old town to stay in. Each person spent 90 yuan. Then I thoroughly washed up and fell into a deep sleep. Since the 1st when I came out, I hadn’t slept in such a warm quilt.