yowyowyow

Deqin to Yubeng- a Wonderful Circuate

Posted on 29. Nov, 2009 by yoyo in Yunnan

Or: Deqin-Xidang-Yubeng-Xidang-Deqin

Hoping for better weather than in Zongdian (Shangri-La), although against most odds, we took a 9:20AM bus to Deqin (bus station, 46RMB, 6-8hours). the ride is long, but relatively not very bumpy, as it has an actuall road. the road climbs through a series of beautiful, and freezing, mountain passes.

Deqin itself is an ugly valley town, it’s as if somebody picked up the only ugliest valley around to put there 60,000 people. on the other hand, for us travellers, it prooved to be useful with a couple of internet cafes, food shops and a tiny market (just 500m up from the bus station). making all the necessary arrangements, which means buying food and cookies for cafe, we made our way to Feilai Si (15 minutes by taxi, 30RMB).

We thought  Feilai Si is a tiny village with a couple of hostels, famous for watching the sunrise over Meili-Shan (Meili-Xue-Shan= beautiful snow mountain, a holy mountain for Buddhists). it is, only with no village. it’s just a big row of hotels for various prices, all having the best balconys for viewing the sunrise. oh, yeah, there is also a pay-for balcony outside, but who, other than Chinese tourists, pays for that?

From Feilai Si we took the road heading North-West (by foot, right?), and went off it at the first major curve to the right (marked by antenas). from here we made our own way down to the trail leading to the river from the little valley on our left. the descent was beautiful, and the very muddy Ninnong river gave it all a nice character. an unexpectedly good bridge, much better than the ones I saw connecting bigger villages in central Asia, connects the Eastern bank to the Western one, and Xidang, a Tibetan village with, of course, a nice big white stupa (Tibetan Pyramid like holy structure) on the shore.

In Xidang we found a tiny shop (bought some more cookies) and directions for the hot-springs site, where the trail to Yubeng village was suppose to be. there is a narrow path leading up from the shop’s right, just ask. we spent the night by the river, planning to make most of the ascent the next morning.

Surprise Surpeise! the hot-springs site (detested even by Chinese tourists) is also a ticketing office, where you pay 80RMB!!! (40 with a student card) for climbing to the pass, hot springs are extra. but - not to worry - it’s also surprisingly easy to bypass it on both sides of the mountain. the climb up took us about 5 hours, and provided very good views, especially from the top. as most Chinese tour-sites the trail has a few restaurants along it’s way, and hurrying Chinese travellers, usually on horseback. climbing down from the pass is much shorter on Yubeng’s side. upper-Yubeng has about 20 houses, 15 of them are guesthouses. 20RMB is easy to find, off-season. we found Yubeng to be the cullinary low-point of china, having bad Chao-Fan (fried rice) and worse noodles.

From Yubeng it is possible to hike up to an Iced Lake, or a Waterfall (both claim to be majestic, mystic, wonderful and full of Chinese tourists). we “used” the Iced Lake as an excuse to hike up the valleys around Yubeng. and, of course, drinking coffee and chewing cookies…

After two days in Yubeng area we took the way down, planning to catch a ride on the road our Soviet map showes down the valley. the walk down was one of the most beautiful walks any of us had, with a little water canal leading the way mid-hight on the mountain side, with great views of the whole valley. BEAUTIFUL.

On the way down we met a Chinese woman with a Tibetan guide who told us there is no road down the valley, and we could walk all the way to Xidang with them, where a minivan will take us all to Deqin. it was, after all, the best option for getting back to Deqin (minivan costs 150RMB). after 3 days of eating lousy Chao-Fan in Yubeng we were very very happy to enjoy the ‘cuisine’ we could find in Deqin, including three rounds up to a local bakery…

Next stop was back to Zhongdian (Shangri-La) the next day, when, surprise surprise, the little Chinese woman from the last ride offered us to join a jeep going down to Zhongdian, paying 40RMB (instead of 46RMB for the bus) and having a private ride, and a translator. good deal for us.

Tags: blogsherpa, China, Yunnan